Light bulbs get Congressional reprieve
Good news for survivalists and others who’ve been hoarding incandescent light bulbs — Congress has given the 19th Century technology at least one more year of shelf life.
Let there be cheap light, said Thomas Edison, who perfected the production of the incandescent bulb more than 70 years after its invention.
Traditional light bulbs (the kind featured over a cartoon character’s head when he gets an idea) were marked for extinction via a 2007 law that banned their manufacture and sale after Jan. 1, 2012. Congress’ light bulb reprieve was tucked into a 1,200-page omnibus spending bill passed by Congress Thursday night.
This was odd legislation considering the replacement technology, compact fluorescent lamps, while much cheaper to operate, are far more expensive and contain chemicals toxic to humans.
I personally like CFLs, but many hate them, saying the light they produce is too unnatural or even gives them headaches.
But, the CFL on my porch has been on non-stop for at least two years.
Newer technology, LED lightbulbs, are even more expensive, but are even cheaper to operate and provide better light. I have a 12-watt led lightbulb that retails for about $25, but is supposed to last years and save enough energy to eventually pay for itself. It provides the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent, but takes a disconcerting half-second to light my bathroom.
Since many manufacturers have quit making the uber-cheap incandescent bulbs, their days are probably numbered no matter what Congress does next year. America’s last traditional light bulb plant closed last year, effectively shipping 200 jobs overseas.
Hmmmm … maybe making laws that dictate what consumers can and can’t buy in the Home Depot lighting aisle isn’t such a bright idea.
* Read more (@TheHill.com)
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75 comments Add your comment
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 16th, 2011
3:47 pm
Recycle?
December 16th, 2011
3:24 pm
So lets all run to the recycle locations and burn gasoline to get there, using up energy, and polluting the environment as well to get it there. Or, we can do curb side recycling so the pollution belching trucks that pick it up, stop go, stop go, can be running around all day using energy and belching pollution. And then we can use energy and belch pollution at the recycle processing plants to recycle the stuff. Recycling mostly is just a feel good mechanism for the left wing libs. It has some limited validity in limited areas, but overall really is BS.
Congrats on figuring out we need energy to do things. I learned this in middle school science class, but it’s nice to see that despite your wasted education, you are finally catching on. Kudos.
Sheila
December 16th, 2011
3:47 pm
You go Billy Mays……
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 16th, 2011
3:49 pm
Sheila
December 16th, 2011
3:34 pm
You can bring them to Home Depot to recycle. There is a drop off usually at the returns registers.
Wow, finally, a little bit of reality in this thread. That’s right folks, the next time you head to Home Depot (among other places), you can recycle your old CFLs. This isn’t that hard, good lord.
Recycling??
December 16th, 2011
4:06 pm
Do you think that the waste disposal company takes them from Home Depot for free??? No, sorry to burst your bubble. Home Depot pays for disposal after you drop them off and then that cost is passed along to the consumer. Places like HD don’t do this out of the goodness of their heart. There is a cost associated with it and it gets passed along to everybody
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 16th, 2011
4:14 pm
Hmm yes I bet it adds nearly one-one thousandth of a cent to the price of products in the store. The horror, the horror!
For real–did you think you had a pertinent point, or are you just doing the usual lashing-out-at-no-one-in-particular routine? Either way, you’re stupid.
BRW
December 16th, 2011
4:14 pm
“Keep your sorry guvmunt hands off my energy wastin’, power plant pollutin’ light bulbs!!!!” Idiots. Your grandkids will hate you one day for your arrogance about “personal freedom, to hell with personal responsibility” attitude. It’s not all about you….
Craig
December 16th, 2011
4:18 pm
BILLY MAYS HERE, you seem to know a lot about this subject, which I respect. I certainly learned some things from your posts. However, why do you summarily dismiss people’s obections to having the government micromanage their lives? You seem to suggest in one of your early posts that the newer lights are the future of technology – and I have no doubt they are. As a result, the marketplace will inevitably embrace it. So, why do we need government “experts” to infringe on our liberty (just one more time) to ensure that our homes are illuminated “tidily”?
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 16th, 2011
4:22 pm
Craig
December 16th, 2011
4:18 pm
BILLY MAYS HERE, you seem to know a lot about this subject, which I respect. I certainly learned some things from your posts. However, why do you summarily dismiss people’s obections to having the government micromanage their lives?
Because no one’s life is being micromanaged by the government in this case.
Merry Christmas
December 16th, 2011
4:22 pm
I have enough of the old style bulbs to last a 100 years
Craig
December 16th, 2011
4:39 pm
BILLY MAYS HERE, that’s your opinion, which normally would affect me in no way. Except the government doesn’t engage in opinion. And summarily dismissing the objection again does nothing to justify the intrusion. This is the problem with the modern state, wherein it is believed that average citizens (the real 99%) are too “stupid” or “idiotic” to manage their own affairs. The solution? Government “experts” and other intellectual elites (the real 1%) must constantly tell us how to muddle our way through life. I, for one, hold my liberties in higher regard. No one here is saying that we should get rid of government (a common straw-man retort), but some folks just don’t seem to be willing to allow that government doesn’t need to solve all of our problems.