As the deadline of the Debt Ceiling approaches what are House Republicans huffing and puffing about? Light Bulbs. Incandescent Light Bulbs. The Tea Party's everything government does must be bad campaign has reached new heights of idiocy tonight as the Republicans are trying to cling to the power hungry, inefficient, incandescent light bulb.
Light Bulb Act: House Republicans Poised To Repeal Incandescent Light Bulb Restrictions
Though the new standards would save the country billions of dollars per year -- around $6 billion in 2015 alone, according to White House estimates -- Republicans have opposed efficiency standards on the grounds that consumer choice should not be dictated by government bureaucrats.
"This is about more than just energy consumption, it is about personal freedom," said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), a sponsor of the new bill, in a statement earlier this year. "Voters sent us a message in November that it is time for politicians and activists in Washington to stop interfering in their lives and manipulating the free market. The light bulb ban is the perfect symbol of that frustration. People don't want congress dictating what light fixtures they can use."
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and the lead sponsor of the light bulb provision when it was introduced as part of a Republican-backed energy bill signed into law in 2007, has since walked back his support for the standards: He told The Hill's Andrew Restuccia, "It was never my goal for Washington to decide what type of light bulbs Americans should use.
Yeah right Fred. You've shown that you know better, you lying coward.
The GOP’s dim idea on light bulb standards
Bulbs that meet the federal standards are more expensive than older ones. Nevertheless, Philips, the Dutch electronics giant, estimates that replacing a traditional 75-watt incandescent bulb with one of its latest light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs would save a household $160 in energy costs over its life. The company also reckons that replacing just the 90 million or so 75-watt incandescent bulbs sold in America annually with these advanced bulbs would reduce yearly energy use by 5,220 megawatts, saving $630 million and 3.26 million tons of carbon emissions — comparable to taking a million cars off the road. Not all Americans will choose to invest in one of Philips’s extremely efficient new bulbs, but, the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates, under the federal standards, the average family’s energy bill should drop by about 7 percent a year.
Light bulb ban riles up lawmakers
Even though fluorescent light bulbs cost about five times more than incandescents, Americans would save a total of $12 billion a year by 2020 if the standards are left in place due to lower electricity bills, said the Natural Resources Defense Council.
That works out to $85 per year for every household.
But what really motivated the higher standards to begin with was a desire to save energy and cut pollution. NRDC estimates the standards would eliminate the need to build 33 coal-fired power plants by 2020, when the standards are fully in effect.
Incandescent Light Bulb Insanity and the Groucho Marx Republicans
As I have explained at stultifying length, efficiency is the killer app for our energy problems. And efficiency standards – for cars, appliances, server farms and industrial machinery as well as light bulbs – are a virtually pain-free way to dramatically reduce our energy independence, our carbon emissions and our utility bills. They do involve a bit of government interference in the free market, but they set the same rules for the entire industry, so they keep a level playing field for everyone. Today’s refrigerators use one fourth the power of models from the 1970s, even though they’re bigger and cheaper. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy estimates that the light-bulb standards will save U.S. consumers $6-$12 billion a year when fully implemented.
But these policy considerations are irrelevant. The “repeal of the light bulb ban” is pure political theater; Republicans know that it’s not going to pass the Senate, and if it somehow did, President Obama would veto it. Efficiency is bad because Obama supports it.
The Republicans' purely symbolic attack on efficiency and modernity is an attempt to appeal to those who say "Bah Humbug!" to many encroachments the modern world makes into their daily lives. Rigid people, who resist every change whether its for the better or not. Republicans are making a nonsensical appeal to that get off my lawn crowd, while at the same time pleasing their coal and utility corporate sponsors.
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LATE BREAKING UPDATE: In a new report 12 minutes ago, Fox News says that the House voted 233 to 193 to take the country back to incandescent bulbs. I'm not going to provide a link to Fox. Of course this only a symbolic vote, so its going nowhere fast.
What a big farce.