Congress Overturns Incandescent Light Bulb Ban

That agreement is tucked inside the massive 1,200-page spending bill that funds the government through the rest of this fiscal year, and which both houses of Congress will vote on Friday. Mr. Obama is expected to sign the bill, which heads off a looming government shutdown.

Congressional Republicans dropped almost all of the policy restrictions they tried to attach to the bill, but won inclusion of the light bulb provision, which prevents the Obama administration from carrying through a 2007 law that would have set energy efficiency standards that effectively made the traditional light bulb obsolete.

Stopping the bulb ban was a chief GOP priority coming into this year, with all of the candidates seeking to become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee saying they would push through a repeal. That bill cleared the House but Democrats blocked its consideration in the Senate.

House Republicans then insisted on adding a provision into the year-end spending bill, and it was one of the last major sticking-points in the negotiations.

www.washingtontimes.com...




At least the Repubs got that one Right , now what am I supposed to do with these 80 Hundred Watt Bulbs I Bought last week ? We have a Right to Light , The Light of Our Choosing ! .Hurray !

reply to post by Zanti Misfit

It's getting late so I will keep it short. There was a thread here today about light bulbs but unrelated to your post... Anyway, those new energy saving bulbs (the old kind now being illegal in my country) are full of Mercury, a toxic metal. Energy efficiency is all well and good but not when they are full of poisonous brain frying death.

ETA Your username is a track by one of my more favourite bands. Coincidence or conspiracy?

reply to post by Zanti Misfit


Actually, they did no such thing. The best they were able to do was to put in a provision which prevents the administration from spending any money to promote or enforce the law. Which makes it a temporary reprieve at best.
One would think that the Washington Times would get the headline right, since in their article itself it says as much.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


Yes , I am Aware of the Health Hazards of those Bulbs Made by GENERAL ELECTRIC amoung other Companys , but I look at it this way , If the present Obama Administration Cannot Enact a Law to Ban Incandescent Bulbs, then it is also Logical to assume that it Cannot Force Americans to Buy Health Insurance under Obama Care . The Impending Ruling by the Supreme Court on that Matter might be influenced by this event . I wonder if it will ?.........Hmm.......

Well, Praise the Lord...

This was the sorty of law that really does get people to thinking revolution because it shows government dictating even the smallest of choices in people's lives. And yes, I along with more than a few ofmy farm store customers were stocking up on 100 watt bulbs.

Why? They are great for throwing off heat... enough for brooder bulbs for heating baby chicks, for nesting boxes for chickens in winter, and for use in heating well pumps in well houses in winter to keep pipes and faucets from freezing....

Besides, the little coil light bulbs were dimmer. Plus, no matter on being instructed to dispose of properly, most people just throw them in the trash like any other bulb...

Now if we could just overturn a few hundred other laws...

Originally posted by QuantumCypher
reply to post by Zanti Misfit

 

Actually, they did no such thing. The best they were able to do was to put in a provision which prevents the administration from spending any money to promote or enforce the law. Which makes it a temporary reprieve at best.
One would think that the Washington Times would get the headline right, since in their article itself it says as much.

So , are you saying this Washington Times article is Misleading ? What are we to Believe then ? With No Money to Promote it or Enforce it , then it becomes Irrevelant , yes ? It is Still Legal to Buy Incandescent Bulbs Now and in the Foreseeable Future until such time that this Issue is Addressed again . Hopefully FAR into the Future when Obama is Out of Office and his " Greenies " lose their Current Political Clout.........

It doesn't really matter there are very few if any light bulb manufactures in the US anyway and because they all thought the ban was coming in they quit making the incandescents.

Who do you think didn't retool to make the new bulbs China. Now the Public can choose between cheap Chinese bulbs or Made it the USA more expensive and more dangerous. Not to mention the Chinese have a big market share for the new bulbs.

looks like they got us again

We don't need no stinking funds

Globalization the cutting edge of screwing you

Originally posted by bakedbluedevil
It doesn't really matter there are very few if any light bulb manufactures in the US anyway and because they all thought the ban was coming in they quit making the incandescents.

Who do you think didn't retool to make the new bulbs China. Now the Public can choose between cheap Chinese bulbs or Made it the USA more expensive and more dangerous. Not to mention the Chinese have a big market share for the new bulbs.

looks like they got us again

We don't need no stinking funds

Globalization the cutting edge of screwing you

edit on 17-12-2011 by bakedbluedevil because: (no reason given)

So , do you Think the Chinese Lobbiests got to some of those Repubs to stop this planned Ban on these Bulbs ? ............LOL , you Never know.........

These new bulbs, how can put it. They Suck. Another one blew up on me and tripped the GFCI, in the process the bulb cracked open into two pieces when it blew. Darn these things will start a fire in someones home sooner or later. I guess the mercury was sucked into the return vent and was distributed though out the rest of my house. I only used that bulb because it came with this construction light. no more for me.

Sooner or later they will be a black-market for normal light bulbs, and more expensive than drugs to buy. I think it was Barbra Boxer from California who wrote and pushed this stupid law. The USA should just de-Annex California .

Originally posted by SJE98
These new bulbs, how can put it. They Suck. Another one blew up on me and tripped the GFCI, in the process the bulb cracked open into two pieces when it blew. Darn these things will start a fire in someones home sooner or later. I guess the mercury was sucked into the return vent and was distributed though out the rest of my house. I only used that bulb because it came with this construction light. no more for me.

Sooner or later they will be a black-market for normal light bulbs, and more expensive than drugs to buy.

edit on 18-12-2011 by SJE98 because: (no reason given)

The ballasts blow up all the time. The statics on how long the bulb lasts uses cherry picked data only demonstrating the gas-filled, glass portion of the unit. I've had several units burst into clouds of rancid smoke that have set off the smoke detectors. The smoke is the resistor in the ballast burning up, not causing the release of any mercury. None the less, a significant hazard compared to when an incandescant bulb fails even in their worst possible case scenarios.

Shows where their priorities are, this and the "symbols of Christmas" debate.


*OT removed*

thanks to Already Gone

i used the bulbs for the well house, crickets too not just chicks...



but i think Boxer, the initiator of the idea that consumers in the western world economies & up to the G-20 need to impose a Darwinian extinction on just whatever 'the Committee' mindset deems proper for the culture...
i.e. make incandescent lighting obsolete, and relegated to the 3rd world populations.

that's the same mindset that has forced industry and manufacturers offshore

hey we are not all upward-mobile-professionals, and i would suggest the ban of incandescent lighting is not completely based on efficiency or safety or the economy of Quirley-Que fluorescents...




thought two:

follow this line of thought...
the Repubs know that a deflationary depression will immediately follow this inflationary period of the great recession..
hot bulbs may be all many residents in the USA will or can afford by 2013

next...if the heat producing bulbs are outlawed... then those Amish Built home heaters will need to be banned, as they use flood lights as the heat source inside those finely crafted boxes...

i presently use a 150w flood light in my studio/PC room as a heat source...until i really need to plug in the 120v portable radiator..in Jan-Feb....it keeps my electric/HVAC costs within my affordability window


really there's about 3 or more facets to this problem

there's likely kickbacks and campaign monies involved in crafting these bills sic laws

Originally posted by Zanti Misfit
We have a Right to Light , The Light of Our Choosing ! .Hurray !

Yep...keep wasting...very smart.

I am glad we in the EU banned them already. But..we all know you guys over there don't give a # about wasting energy. As long as your "rights" are not being touched.

I'd say..keep those computers running 24/7 even if no-one uses them...let the 100W bulbs light even if their energy efficiency is only about..what...2% or so...

Keep going..you are on the "right" way....

/SARCASM (3rd time i write that today already)

use LEDS for your illumination needs
simples

WOW I am soooo grateful that I am allowed to use my own free will to choose which light bulb I would like to use.

We are very lucky to have such freedoms.....

G.T.F.O. of my house and worry about the skeletons in your own closet.....

The new CFL lightbulbs have a little circuit card in them to take 110volts AC and increase it to high voltage for the CFL bulb.

If your power company can keep your 110volts AC current at 60 hertz.....your OK. If there is a surge those CFL's will burst into flames and release gasified mercury.

So if your home is sealed up as you try and keep warm for the winter....your home will be your gas chamber.


A foreign power,hacker, weather storm, or our Sun could surge our power and gas Americans in their own home.

I've had 3 CFL's smoke and crack their glass releasing the mercury gas into our home. We get lots of power surges over here.

My memory is fading, so much political trash to keep up with. Anyway, as I remember, wasn't the last American manufacturer of the old fashion bulbs forced to close when the Obama administration forced us to purchase the mercury filled bulbs? Is there a new bulb factory in China that we have to support?

reply to post by DerepentLEstranger


Regular size LED lighting is not ready for prime time.

At least not on a mass-market level yet. Sure, they are great for flashlights, but they are different. Flashlights use DC, while your LED bulbs need inverters to convert AC to DC. Inverters are not efficient at all and give off lots of heat. So much so that current LED bulbs come with heat sinks.

The manufacturers are having trouble dispelling the heat from the circuit boards. Also, the bulbs are gross looking and kind of very large. They try to make the heat sinks look cool, but they are an eyesore.

Lastly, the color they give off is not as warm as incandescent. (Yes, I know they come in several Kelvin variations, but none are as pleasant as an incandescent bulb.)

I like incandescent. Hate CFL's and florescent "office" lighting. LED's are the way to go, but they need more refinement. Give them about 2-3 more years.

Where were they four years ago when it was being voted on?

Wait...did you say harmful mercury?! How much is in there? 4.5 milligrams!?

Hold on a second...doesn't burning coal produce mercury too? How much does that produce? 75 tons per year!?!?

So let's recap: House republicans want to save us from 4.5 milligrams of mercury by voting against the enforcement of the 'ban' in a vote 296-121 for the omnibus bill. They voted against EPA regulations of mercury-emitting coal power plants in HR 2250, EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 in a vote of 275-142.

Well, the only company that makes them are GE...oh, Sylvania makes them too? So does Philips and Full Spectrum and Promolux Lighting?

Well...you can't just throw them away! You could, just like a lot of other things... You can also recycle them, just like a lot of other things!

Come on people...seriously.

Edit to add: If your lightbulbs are exploding in your house, you should call an electrician. I mean that.

reply to post by Zanti Misfit

Nice i hope Canada Follows suit and overturns Incandescent Light Bulb Ban too.