How many bureaucrats does it take to screw in a light bulb? None...if that bulb is a traditional incandescent bulb. That's because back in 2007 the government passed a law that effectively bans traditional incandescent light bulbs starting in 2012. This is unfortunately true for Australia as well.
This light bulb-banning law was another one of those good intentions foisted upon us by the "watermelons" that now many people don't think is turning out so good. They don't like the light given off by these compact fluorescent light bulbs. They are annoyed that these bulbs can't be used on a Dimmer Switch. And to add insult-to-injury they cost a lot more, making the idea of saving money a farce. The pie-in-the-sky environmentalists who seem to be against anything that even hints of being poisonous, totally ignore the fact that the amount of mercury in one bulb is enough to contaminate up to 6,000 gallons (22,712 liters) of water beyond safe drinking levels. If you break one, you should rush to open up the windows and keep animals and children out of the room. Wear gloves as you delicately put broken pieces in a separate bag and vacuum carefully or call a HAZMAT crew. Wonderful isn't it?
A political-advocacy group in the United States, called Freedom Action (including some Federal Senators) recently launched a campaign to repeal the ban in the incandescent bulbs. The question they ask is WHY should a select few politicians four years ago be able to tell hundreds of millions of people what light bulbs are best for them? Especially when it's been shown that all this conversion won't make a hell of lot of difference to global warming. They have introduced a bill aptly called the Better Use of Light Bulbs (the BULB Act) that would repeal the 2007 Energy Law that would let the light of incandescent shine brightly once again.
The Way I See It....people should have a choice. I think it's fine if someone wants to fill his home or business with the light from the new bulbs. I also think it is fine if someone wants to buy an old-fashioned bulb because it works better for him or her. If left alone, the best bulb will win its rightful standing in the market place.
Frank
ReplyDeleteit's clearly wrong to ban a safe simple product like the regular light bulb!
It's not lead paint!
In fact, even more ironically they are being banned in favor of complex and arguably unsafe products, like you say
(CFL with mercury and radiation, LED with lead and arsenic concerns)
Any Tube amp using guitarists out there like myself?
No-one was calling for “a ban on energy guzzling tubes”
(similarities with regular incandescents, vacuum tubes originally!)
when they were abundant,
and newer transistors (similarities with LEDs, diodes!) were arriving on the market.
The tubes got used less anyway – but are still appreciated for special
uses, without breaking down any power plant, as we know!
Hence:
If a NEW product is preferred to the old one, why ban the old one?
(No point, little savings)
If an OLD product is preferred to the new one, why ban the old one?
(No point, the old one is better)
Think about it.
We can welcome the new
- it does not mean having to ban the old!
This light bulb ban is lunacy at every level:
The overall USA energy savings aren't even there
-see the below website link -
and even if there were savings, people pay for the electricity supply,
of which there is no shortage.
(continued)
(continued)
ReplyDeleteOn a deeper level, it's about celebrating Creativity – not Destruction.
Celebrating creativity is about recognizing the advantages that
different products have.
That is why they exist for people to choose.
(Some “efficient incandescents” like Halogen replacements will
temporarily be allowed, phase-out by 2020, but in a smaller range, with a whiter light and
constructional differences, apart from being much more expensive for
marginal savings, which is why neither consumers or governments like them)
President Obama, State of the Union Address 25 January 2011:
What we can do – what America does better than anyone – is spark the
creativity and imagination of our people.
We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices,
the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers…
Yes Mr President, Creative America, the nation of Edison:
Would you not have allowed him to create his popular light bulb?
And so it came to pass, in the autumn of 1879, after tireless effort
working with different materials, Thomas Edison finally arrived at the
ingenious invention we still see today, the Edison light bulb, in its
basic form the world’s single most popular electrical appliance and
the oldest electrical invention in widespread common use:
A beautifully simple, safe, cheap, bright light delivering construction.
Maybe the time will come when, like its cousin the gleaming radio
tube, it gradually fades away, the passing of old technology.
But let it be a democratic passing by the will of the people,
not a passing by committee dictats and decrees.
How many American, European or other officials should it take to
change a light bulb?
None.
How many citizens should be allowed to choose?
Everyone.
( http://ceolas.net )
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