House to reconsider 2012 light bulb ban

[nick1985]

Jesus Christ, grow up. Incandescents are outdated. Go out and buy an air conditioner with Freon. Can you do that? No? Did big mean old government limit your choices there too? How about a car without seatbelts? No again? Well, maybe you can buy an 8 cylinder car with an old style, easy to work on carburetor. Wow, again, no. Yet, you have tons of choices of cars, tons of choices of air conditioners. And you STILL have a lot of choices for lights; it's just that one choice is being removed from the marketplace - they're inefficient & cause more pollution than the other choices. Yet, you actually have MORE choices of lightbulbs than your parents ever did, or grandparents. They didn't have a choice of CFLs. They didn't have a choice of Halogens. They didn't have a choice of LEDs.

Quit acting like a self-entitled little brat. Or is it an act...

Good rant, goat boy.

However, prefering cheap bulbs for a closet, or a night lamp, or some other rarely used device should be up to me. Buying $25 bulbs for something that gets 1 hours' use a year doesn't make a damn bit of sense.

 

[Brainonska511]

Can someone point to the where they were banning incandescent light bulbs? Because the article clearly states that it is only inefficient incandescents that would be banned.

As the article says: NRDC noted that incandescent light bulbs will still be available after the standards go into effect, just ones that are more efficient (and more expensive).

 

[Munky]

The ban should have never been passed in the first place. I don't want libtards in the government to decide what's best for everyone.

 

[Bowfinger]

Good rant, goat boy.

However, prefering cheap bulbs for a closet, or a night lamp, or some other rarely used device should be up to me. Buying $25 bulbs for something that gets 1 hours' use a year doesn't make a damn bit of sense.

Right, that's why you buy halogen bulbs for those applications. They cost much less than CFLs while still being more energy efficient than old-fashioned incandescents. It's a win-win ... unless your goal is knee-jerk railing against the ebil librul gubmint.

 

[Bowfinger]

The ban should have never been passed in the first place. I don't want libtards in the government to decide what's best for everyone.

Hate to break this to you Sparky, but this was a bi-partisan bill signed by that infamous "libtard" GW Bush. Oops. Who's the tard now?

 

[Munky]

Right, that's why you buy halogen bulbs for those applications. They cost much less than CFLs while still being more energy efficient than old-fashioned incandescents. It's a win-win ... unless your goal is knee-jerk railing against the ebil librul gubmint.

Halogen bulbs ARE incandescent bulbs.

 

[Munky]

Hate to break this to you Sparky, but this was a bi-partisan bill signed by that infamous "libtard" GW Bush. Oops. Who's the tard now?

The tard who failed to mention the bill originated in the Demo-tards House and Senate

 

[werepossum]

just tax the incandescents more, that way you can still buy them for the closet. Craig123 should be able to get on board with that.

Actually that works for me too.

 

[DrPizza]

I don't use CFL bulbs in my grandkids rooms or in any fixture where they can easily be broken. In some ways this is a huge step backwards as if the gov't was mandating parents paint their cribs with lead based paint because it saved energy. Don't let your political affiliation dictate your response to what is a bad idea. CFL bulbs suck in some applications and will be a long term hazard if broken inside a house and contaminate carpet, rugs etc. At least don't let your kids or grandkids crawl around, sleep or play in an area that has had CFL bulbs broken there.

The hazard is way overstated. 40 years ago, children PLAYED with mercury. 100 grams of mercury in their hands, as opposed to one-fiftythousandth of that amount.

 

[nick1985]

The hazard is way overstated. 40 years ago, children PLAYED with mercury. 100 grams of mercury in their hands, as opposed to one-fiftythousandth of that amount.

Yeah...and? People lived a whole lot less back then than today.

20000 years ago, children ATE mercury. 🙄

 

[PokerGuy]

Absolutely no surprises: the usual crowd of big-giant-government-knows-best-for-you libs on the side of more government mandates and control, those who appreciate freedom on the other. Very predictable.

Whenever people mention mercury in the bulbs the response is always some drivel about the overall footprint blah blah. Has anyone even considered the fact that 99% of consumers will NOT properly dispose of the CFL's after they are used? That stuff is going right into a landfill and water supply near you. Then we'll be hearing how a gazillion dollar government program is needed to help clean it up, and how more stringent government control over your trash disposal is needed. At least with power generating plants the government has some control over what happens to that waste.

I should be able to buy a bulb for my house that, if dropped, doesn't put my kids/pets/own health in danger. If that costs me more in electric bills because they are not efficient, then fine, I should get to decide if the tradeoff is worth it.

CFL's also suck for certain applications. And you silly people thinking you're going to save money on electric bills: you're naive. The rates will go up to compensate for the reduction, you'll end up using less and still paying more. Duh, that's how it always works.

 

[werepossum]

$12 billion worth, annually.

The size of the house isn't nearly as important as the construction. I would expect that we are going to see more stringent regulations as to how homes are built and insulated. Low-energy housing for new construction and retrofits of the existing housing stock by tax incentive would possible options.

That works for me too. In fact, I'd put this above banning tungsten filament lamps, although both are pretty good if not perfect ideas. Commercial too; I've done projects where I could have saved 50% of the lighting electricity for an extra 10% of the project electrical costs, and projects where the architect or owner refused to disturb the "historic brick" interior & exterior walls, even to the extent of blowing in polystyrene balls - projects where a 1,400 square foot apartment requires a 400A 208V 3 phase service because of electric resistance heat combined with a total lack of insulation. There is no excuse for such shit, which is why we have energy codes and building codes.

 

[soundforbjt]

The tard who failed to mention the bill originated in the Demo-tards House and Senate

Introduced by a Republitard.

 

[ShawnD1]

The bulbs are more expensive but they cost the consumer less over the life of the bulb.

Not for me they don't. Most of my lights are rarely used. Spare bed room? I never go in there, but it still needs a light bulb for the times I do go in there. Closet? I usually don't need to turn the light on, but on rare occasions I do. Light in the refrigerator? It's on for 20 seconds then I close the fridge. A fluorescent would likely burn out sooner because they have a limited number of arc initiations, and it would need to arc very often when the fridge is never open for more than 20 seconds at a time. My shed has a light that is turned on maybe twice a year, mostly because I keep winter/summer tires in there.

Very few of my lights should be fluorescent. Kitchen, living room, bed room, and outdoor lights would all make sense. Needing to spend $2 to put a bulb in my closet instead of $0.25? What the god damn hell? Seriously.


Another problem with this is that the cheap power inverter I use for camping does not work with fluorescent bulbs. They flicker for a few seconds then the thing overloads. It does that because fluorescent lights contain electronics and capacitors, and the modified sine wave power created by the cheap inverter has lots of high frequency harmonics. Capacitors do not like high frequency harmonics, and that's why cheap inverters like mine don't work with anything that has capacitors.
Why does my inverter suck so bad? Cheap inverters are cheap. An inverter that creates a true sine waves with little or no harmonics costs about 4x as much.

 

[Bowfinger]

Halogen bulbs ARE incandescent bulbs.

Yes dear, that's why I contrasted them with "old-fashioned incandescents," and they're more energy efficient which is they're still permitted under the law. You're 0 for 2 now.

 

[werepossum]

Absolutely no surprises: the usual crowd of big-giant-government-knows-best-for-you libs on the side of more government mandates and control, those who appreciate freedom on the other. Very predictable.

Whenever people mention mercury in the bulbs the response is always some drivel about the overall footprint blah blah. Has anyone even considered the fact that 99% of consumers will NOT properly dispose of the CFL's after they are used? That stuff is going right into a landfill and water supply near you. Then we'll be hearing how a gazillion dollar government program is needed to help clean it up, and how more stringent government control over your trash disposal is needed. At least with power generating plants the government has some control over what happens to that waste.

I should be able to buy a bulb for my house that, if dropped, doesn't put my kids/pets/own health in danger. If that costs me more in electric bills because they are not efficient, then fine, I should get to decide if the tradeoff is worth it.

CFL's also suck for certain applications. And you silly people thinking you're going to save money on electric bills: you're naive. The rates will go up to compensate for the reduction, you'll end up using less and still paying more. Duh, that's how it always works.

There is some truth in that too. Government at all levels need to coordinate to make sure there are recycling centers available. Right now we throw away tons of valuable mercury and glass, knowing that we'll have to pay more in the future to mitigate that mercury, for want of available recycling options.

 

[ShawnD1]

I want to buy a light bulb that emits cancerous radiation but I can't.

🙁

Hey sorry for double posting but yes you can buy this. Halogen bulbs emit UV light and always have a plastic shield in front of them to block the UV. If you want to give people cancer, all you need to do is remove the plastic shield.

You can also give people cancer by arc welding in front of them but that seems less practical than just removing the plastic cover on your halogen lights.

 

[Munky]

Introduced by a Republitard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Independence_and_Security_Act_of_2007

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Pub.L. 110-140[1] originally named the Clean Energy Act of 2007) is an Act of Congress concerning the energy policy of the United States. As part of the Democratic Party's 100-Hour Plan during the 110th Congress,[2] it was introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Representative Nick Rahall of West Virginia

Better learn to read before discussing politics

 

[Thump553]

For all you that have your panties in a knot over $25 / $2+ CFL, just go to Home Depot. Four CFL bulbs for a buck here, been that way for years.

I can't believe the trivial stuff people get hysterical about when the GOP is on the brink of shoving us into a full fledged depression.

 

[K1052]

That works for me too. In fact, I'd put this above banning tungsten filament lamps, although both are pretty good if not perfect ideas. Commercial too; I've done projects where I could have saved 50% of the lighting electricity for an extra 10% of the project electrical costs, and projects where the architect or owner refused to disturb the "historic brick" interior & exterior walls, even to the extent of blowing in polystyrene balls - projects where a 1,400 square foot apartment requires a 400A 208V 3 phase service because of electric resistance heat combined with a total lack of insulation. There is no excuse for such shit, which is why we have energy codes and building codes.

I walked into one of our brand new buildings last year and saw over 100 E-base recessed cans all burning away on 1000 hour 65 watt generic R30s. These fixtures spend 20-24 hours a day switched on. Some of them were in hard to reach locations that require scaffolding or a cherry picker to change. I wanted to strangle our construction department.

 

[p0nd]

There is some truth in that too. Government at all levels need to coordinate to make sure there are recycling centers available. Right now we throw away tons of valuable mercury and glass, knowing that we'll have to pay more in the future to mitigate that mercury, for want of available recycling options.

Someone should tell the government that I can choose whatever fuck kind of trash receptacle I want for my own fucking trash. I dont give a shit what method is cleaner, I'm an adult and am more than capable of deciding which container to put my trash in.

:sneaky:

 

[Munky]

Yes dear, that's why I contrasted them with "old-fashioned incandescents," and they're more energy efficient which is they're still permitted under the law. You're 0 for 2 now.

You mean the "old fashioned" bulbs that make up 90% + of all incandescent lamps in a household? For such a progressive libtard, you should at least know how to count.

 

[ShawnD1]

The hazard is way overstated. 40 years ago, children PLAYED with mercury. 100 grams of mercury in their hands, as opposed to one-fiftythousandth of that amount.

Do you realize there's a difference between having mercury on your hands vs having mercury in your lungs?

This is not a ground breaking idea. You can touch asbestos with your hands and it's not a problem. Get it in your lungs and you're fucked.
Smoke in your hair smells bad but doesn't really do anything. Smoke in your lungs is what kills people when a building is on fire; it's not the fire itself that kills people.

Whenever people mention mercury in the bulbs the response is always some drivel about the overall footprint blah blah. Has anyone even considered the fact that 99% of consumers will NOT properly dispose of the CFL's after they are used? That stuff is going right into a landfill and water supply near you. Then we'll be hearing how a gazillion dollar government program is needed to help clean it up, and how more stringent government control over your trash disposal is needed. At least with power generating plants the government has some control over what happens to that waste.

This is actually the reason nobody uses cadmium batteries anymore. Nicad batteries are awesome, and they're perfectly safe if you take them to a battery disposal place. The problem is that people don't do that. They put them in the regular garbage and cadmium is so much worse than lead or mercury that they shouldn't be used in the same sentence. People put all kinds of shit in the normal garbage. Every policy we have should be based on the assumption that everything is going to the land fill.

 

[bobdole369]

Thank God. Srsly. CFL's are horrible for the eye and the environment. LED manufacturing isn't MUCH better, but at least when you break one you don't have to evacuate the area and basically air out the entire house.

 

[woolfe9999]

For all you that have your panties in a knot over $25 / $2+ CFL, just go to Home Depot. Four CFL bulbs for a buck here, been that way for years.

I can't believe the trivial stuff people get hysterical about when the GOP is on the brink of shoving us into a full fledged depression.

It's the slippery slope man; that's what it is. One day, the government is telling us what kind of light bulbs we can buy. The next, we can't have sex with our wifes without a government official literally in our bedroom tracking the trajectory of each thrust to make sure nothing is out of line. We must nip this in the bud. Fight the power!