For years our government has been regulating our actions in public areas. From organized prayers on public property, to religious symbols, even speech which may be construed as discriminatory have all been banned. The FCC determines what may or may not be said on television and radio, and the Department of Education determines what your children are taught in school. More and more, the "land of the free" is becoming the land of the regulated.
A bill recently introduced in the House, H.R. 1547, would prohibit the sale of certain inefficient light bulbs, and require the development of a plan for increasing the use of more efficient light bulbs by consumers and businesses. Sponsored by Rep. Jane Harman, D-CA, this bill effectively would regulate the way Americans can light their own homes.
As World Net Daily points out, this is not a new idea:
"This follows action in the European Union, just weeks ago, to phase out incandescent bulbs within two to three years. Australia has taken similar action. Canada is well on the way to a ban. Similar legislation has already been introduced in California Legislature. But guess where the drive originated? Fidel Castro started the trend in Communist Cuba two years ago. His buddy in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, beat the rest of the West to the punch by emulating his hero and inspiration in Havana."
The alternative to incandescent bulbs would be fluorescent bulbs. As World Net Daily points out however, they are not without their own problems:
"They contain the deadly pollutant mercury. You can't just throw them in your garbage can when they burn out or they will break and contaminate land and water. Instead, you'll find out after this switch is mandated that you have to take the dead bulbs to hazardous-waste sites. Either that, or expensive new recycling programs will have to be instituted. In all likelihood, they will involve gasoline-burning trucks rumbling through your neighborhood and highly trained hazardous-materials teams."
Article comments
1 - Ron West
Just because Fidel Castro thought of this doesn't mean its a bad idea. You are right to point out the downsides of switching to flourescent lights, but there are a lot of positives, including sigificant energy (and cost) savings.
FWIW, my utility (PG&E) has been subidizing flourescent bulbs, so I've been stocking up and switching over. I'm no expert, but those corkscrew bulbs have a fairly pleasant lighting.
2 - Dave Nalle
I need to check up on it, but I don't believe that modern flourescent bulbs use mercury vapor. I think that's been gone for like 20 years. I believe the current bulbs use halon or some other noble gas that can be made to flouresce. There's certainly nothing on the package of the ones I buy that says I can't throw them away in the normal trash.
Dave
3 - Clavos
I think you're right, Dave.
I've been throwing away fluorescent tubes in the ordinary trash for years. Since they're long, they visibly stick out of the can, and the trash haulers, who are trained not to take anything hazardous, haven't balked yet.
4 - Charles
You can check this link for more information on fluorescent bulbs and mercury
5 - Dave Nalle
Ok, here's the deal on mercury in flourescent bulbs after some research.
First off, recycling them is optional and you CAN throw them away in the trash. But they do contain tiny amounts of mercury.
Recent advances in technology have reduce the level of mercury in CFL bulbs to 2mg per bulb, which is pretty low. In combination with their longer life, that means that using them puts far less mercury into the environment than that which is produced by burning coal to provide the additional power to run an incandescent bulb for the same amount of time.
So yes, despite the mercury, CFL lights are an improvement.
BTW, stick with GE and Phillips, theirs have the newest technology and about 1/3 as much mercury.
Dave
6 - moonraven
If Chavez thinks they are a good idea--that's good enough for me.
7 - moonraven
Just to contextualize: I do not know of any brighter two guys on this planet than Fidel and Chavez.
8 - Victor Plenty
Compact fluorescent lights are available in several different types, each of which produces a different quality of light. Some may share the shortcomings of older fluorescent lights, as mentioned in the main article above, but this is no longer true of all fluorescent lighting.
With a little research you can buy CFLs that are every bit as "healthy" as incandescent bulbs, and some even more so, in terms of their ability to reduce seasonal depression and other lighting related health problems.
9 - Doug Hunter
The freedom to do only the 'right' things isn't really freedom at all.
10 - moonraven
The human species is a cancer on the planet--we have abused our freedom and must now either do the right things or lose everything.
It is our choice.
11 - troll
opps - too late...
12 - Dr Dreadful
Does Mr Signorile realize how lame he sounds by trying to disguise this as a 'free market' issue? It's a bit like whining about Ford interfering with consumer choice because they discontinued the Model T.
But this is beside the point. What gets Mr Signorile's goat is that this is an environmental issue. And of course environment=liberals=bad.
13 - Clavos
It's a bit like whining about Ford interfering with consumer choice because they discontinued the Model T.
Bad analogy. Ford's not the government. You could always buy a GM or other product, and Ford doesn't have the power of coercion.
Electrical consumption an environmental issue? Not according to Al Gore.
14 - michael jefferson
Whites have called every other man upon the earth ugly, evil and inferior. Yet that which giveth life to everything upon the earth, the Sun, burneth him. That which gives life to everything upon the earth is God. God giveth life to everything on the earth but the white man and the thing which come after him and are as him. That which giveth life to everything upon the earth giveth the superior white man 10 minutes in the Sun before his 'superior' skin starts to burn. God hates the white man; and God hath given me a gift, science and knowledge to share with you as we move forward into New Jerusalem. The Sun of God Hath Returned. Jesus saith 'in the day when the Sun of God returns, you shall have power to cast out demons.' - Prophet & scientist Yacub 7 Ali
Yacub 7 Ali, the founder of the New Negro Sun Worship Movement, teaches blacks to reradiate the ultraviolet light their skin naturally absorbs to give whites skin cancers: carcinomas, sarcomas and melanomas.
15 - Zedd
Clavos
Actually its not a bad analogy.
Ford and GM are brands. So is GE. You may buy bulbs from different manufacturers. You still have a choice as Dave has highlighted. Also the Model T has horrible emissions and would pass the annual standards that most states have.
16 - Zedd
Signorile,
You sound like an old codger. Let it go. Why not just fight for the right to us a gas lamp.
As we progress we find better solutions to meet our needs and reduce damage to our environment.
I understand your feeling that it is your choice to choose something that costs 5-8X more to use to get the same result. However it is not your choice to affect the environment adversely when you don't have to. The environment is not just yours. As you know, your liberty ends where another's begins.
17 - Clavos
Zedd wrote,
Clavos
Actually its not a bad analogy.
Ford and GM are brands. So is GE. You may buy bulbs from different manufacturers. You still have a choice as Dave has highlighted
That's exactly my point, Zedd. Complaining about the government taking away your right to buy a certain light bulb is NOT analogous to complaining about Ford discontinuing a car model, because Ford has competitors and you do, as you say, still have a choice.
When the government stops the sale of incandescent bulbs, you now have no choice, except to buy fluorescents.
As I said, bad analogy.