Recently on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, there was a small story about IKEA ending sales of incandescent light bulbs Tuesday. Mr. Williams went on to say that IKEA is dong this because of a federal law that will ban incandescent light bulbs in 2012. The LA Times had a similar story.
Is the federal government banning the light bulb? Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck think so, and the GOP has picked up their talking points that an overreaching federal government is trying to control what kind of light bulbs we use. Apparently the gravest threat to our freedoms is the inability to purchase inefficient light bulbs. Republican lawmakers have even introduced legislation to save the light bulb, citing new-found concern for lost jobs and environmental dangers of Chinese made CFL's.
Reports of the death of the incandescent light bulb are greatly exaggerated. This diary attempts to shine some light on the illuminating subject of light bulbs.
As I watched the NBC Nightly News tonight, I heard Brian Williams reporting on IKEA's decision to stop selling incandescent light bulbs this week. Mr. Williams went on to say that a federal law that takes effect in 2012 will ban incandescent light bulbs entirely, and IKEA is just getting ahead of the ban. The LA Times ran a similar story yesterday.
Recently, rumors that the federal government will ban incandescent light bulbs has led to campaign by Erik Erickson to save the light bulb.
If you do only one thing in your time in Washington, and frankly I hope you do only one thing given your propensity to expand government (other than eradicating Obamacare), it is this: SAVE THE LIGHT BULB
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Protecting our freedom to choose inefficient lighting has become a new GOP cause as reported recently by McJoan.
Representative Marsha Blackburn, who along with Representatives Joe Barton and Michael Burgess, have introduced the "Better Use of Light Bulbs Act". Commenting on Fox News, Representative Blackburn said that Americans will have no choice but to use compact flourescent light bulbs-
They are told by federal mandate: You have to buy this mercury-filled, curlicue bulb. There has to be a stop to this overreach of the federal government.
Burgess claimed that "thousands of American jobs have been shipped overseas as a direct consequence of this light bulb provision." GE recently closed the last U.S. plant making light bulbs, but as the Washinton Post reported, it only employed 200 workers, and although it is true that most compact fluorescents ( CFL's) are now made in China, it is decisions made by GE that led to this shift in jobs oversees.
The original innovations in CFL design were made by a GE engineer, who came up with the twisted spiral tube. The problem was that making the twisted tubes would have required employing thousands of skilled glassblowers, and so GE decided to invest in other types of lighting instead. It was a Chinese innovator, Ellis Yan, who began sucessfully manufacturing the bulbs in China, employing thousands of glassblowers.
To make the bulbs here would cost around 50 cents more than made in China bulbs, but surveys indicate that U.S. consumers would be willing to pay the extra cost to get bulbs with a "made in the USA" label. Mr. Yan wants to open a U.S. CFL factory, but has been unable to get government funding to do so.
Back in the 50's, no one knew mercury was dangerous. Although it was a lot of fun, it probably wasn't a good idea when my 7th grade science teacher allowed us to coat coins with mercury. Now that we know more about the hazards of mercury to our heath, there has been concern about the mercury in CFL;s. The bulbs do contain small amounts of mercury that is released into the air if the bulb breaks.For comparison, the old mercury thermometers still lurking in many medicine cabinets have 100 times as much. Some of the GOP have exaggerated the EPA's clean-up instructions as requiring HAZmat gear. One story is circulating regarding a homeowner who received a $2,000 bill for a clean up after he broke a single CFL bulb. The Maine State Toxicologist judged this to be an overreaction by the contractor. The EPA has sensible advice on how to clean up if you accidentally break a CFL, and links on where to recycle them in your area.
Blackburn's sudden concern for our health does seem a bit cynical, given that much larger amounts of mercury are produced by the coal fired power plants that burn the coal her state produces. A small amount of mercury is also found in the kind a variety of other light bulbs, including those ubiquitous flourescent tube lights that have been around for decades without much outcry from the GOP about dangers to our health. Maybe John Bohener should start a campaign to ban tanning lights, which according to the EPA also contain mercury.
You can understand why Representative Blackburn likes light bulbs that use more electricity. That electricity is produced in coal-fired power plants, and she does represent Tennessee after all, where coal mining is part of the economy. According to the Sierra Club, , replacing just one 75-watt incandescent with a 20-watt fluorescent can keep 500 pounds of coal from being burned. However, as Blackburn should know, the law will not actually ban incandescent light bulbs. According to a recent story on National Public Radio, Incandescent Bulbs Not Going Away, Just Changing, NPR reporter Elizabeth Shogren interviewed Randy Moorhead, Vice President and lobbyist for Phillips Electronics, who says that this is simply not true. The incandescent bulb is not going away, just being made more energy efficient. To quote Mr. Moorhead -
"There has been no ban on the incandescent light bulb. The incandescent light bulb actually lives. It's just going to be 30 percent more efficient."
Never mind that incandescent light bulbs aren't actually being banned by the government. Poorly researched stories in the mainstream media give credibility by repeating right wing talking points. NBC Nightly News wasn't the only mainstream source to repeat the line about incandescent light bulbs being banned. Today'sLA Timesalso has a similar story, and called it a "federally mandated phase-out of incandescent bulbs" that "bans" incandescent bulbs.
If every American home replaced just one light with a light that's earned the ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light 3 million homes for a year, save about $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to those from about 800,000 cars.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was written with the cooperation of light bulb manufacturers, and instead of a ban on incandescents it includes provisions requiring light bulbs to be more energy efficient which begin phasing in starting in 2012. In advance of the new law, which was signed incidentally in 2007 by George W. Bush, a Republican, manufacturers are already making more energy efficient incandescent bulbs which use halogen gas, and the light they give is indistinguishable from incandescent bulbs currently in use. Manufacturers like Phillips say that the only difference consumers will see is that their electricity bills will be lower. According to the Energy Star program, one CFL bulb will save about $40 in energy costs over its lifetime.
They’re not great for interior use in a cold climate, because they produce less heat than incandescent bulbs.
Traditional incandescent bulbs are very inefficient, wasting 90% of the energy they burn as heat. They have been called "heaters that produce a little light". Apparently the Republicans see this as a good way to heat your house. CFL's use 75% less energy than incandescents.
In fact, consumers have already been changing to more energy efficient light bulbs. Manufacturers say the demand for incandescent light bulbs has dropped by 50% in recent years. In our house, we replaced most of the incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents two years ago. They now come in globes and candelabras, and although they take a minute or so to come to full brightness, the light they give off is not that different from an incandescent. Here's a couple of examples of the newer CFL's. We have globe shaped bulbs in several fixtures, and chandelier types in our kitchen ceiling fan:
They cost more than incandescents, but so far none of them have burned out. Turning them on and off frequently shortens their life, and the Energy Star website recommends leaving them on for at least 15 minutes at at time. You do need to recycle them when they burn out, and you can find places to recycle CFL's on the EPA website.
If I become chairman, we'll be reexamining the light bulb issue, no problem
Of course that doesn't stop the GOP from using this as an excuse to rail against the nanny state. Representative Fred Upton, the new chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was criticized by Glen Beck for co-sponsoring light bulb bill. Glen Beck said Upton was "all socialist" for supporting more energy efficient light bulbs" Upton has said that as chair, he will revisit the bill. Interestingly, if you go to the Repbulican Energy Committee's website, it has a picture of a halogen light bulb on it.