Bootleg Lightbulbs Coming to California (Starting Jan. 1, Incandescents cannot be bought .. legally)

Here's a new poll question: Should California be 1) given back to the Spanish missionaries, or 2) just allowed to go dark?

For most of us, the first option -- give it back to the Spanish Jesuits -- is most appealing. After all, if the EU is ready to bail out Spain, why not tack on its erstwhile colony and pick up that tab, too?

However, Californians unwilling to wait for the results of our poll question have already decided: apagar la luz. Old reliable, the 100-watt light bulb -- safe, cheap, and bright enough to read, write, cook, shave, and put on your makeup by, will be gone January 1.

The California Energy Commission in September 2010 published its 226-page Appliance Efficiency Regulations, whereby the 100-watt incandescent light bulb will be outlawed at midnight on December 31, 2010.

Californians with self-imposed rationing, running out of both energy and common sense, have declared that consuming electrical power is a social vice. Electric power must be curbed, along with banning Dr. Pepper and Happy Meals. And it's not just light bulbs. These appliance standards will regulate and ban hundreds of products including

refrigerators, air conditioners, space heaters, water heaters, pool heaters, pool pumps, electric spas, pool pump motors, plumbing fittings, plumbing fixtures, showerheads, spray valves, faucets, tub spout diverters, water closets, urinals, ceiling fans, ceiling fan light kits, dehumidifiers, fluorescent lamp ballasts, lamps, general purpose lighting, emergency lighting, exit signs, traffic signal modules, traffic signal lamps, luminaires, torchieres, portable lighting fixtures, metal halide luminaires, high intensity discharge fixtures, HID fixtures, under-cabinet luminaires, dishwashers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, cooking products, food service equipment, electric motors, low-voltage dry-type distribution transformers, external AC to DC and AC to AC power supplies, consumer electronics, consumer audio and video equipment, televisions, compact audio products, digital versatile disc players, digital versatile disc recorders, digital television adapters, battery charger systems[.]

Of course, California's green variety replacing the power-guzzlers will carry a purchase price premium, a performance downgrade, or a nasty surprise -- maybe all three. One of the 100-watt incandescent light bulb substitutes will be the 72-watt halogen -- a modest energy improvement, to be sure, but an improvement demanding a 200% price premium...if you can find any. The 23-watt CFL, the darling of the environmentalists, is a bit cheaper than the halogen, and you get a prize in every bulb. Consider that with a Happy Meal you get a toy; with a CFL, you get 3mg of mercury. Please, sir, may I have another?

Imagine 100-watt incandescent light bulbs as contraband in California -- persona non gratis -- but illegal immigrants get free tuition -- amigo de bienvenida.

How can California stop the dreaded 100-watt light bulbs from invading their green paradise? Simple: reprise Broderick Crawford as Chief Dan Matthews on the TV classic "Highway Patrol." Maybe his fleet of '56 Buicks could set up roadblocks along every interstate highway stretching from Oregon to Arizona.

Smuggling bootleg light bulbs into California would be a piece of cake. Just stuff them inside bales of marijuana. Or line up eight packs in the cargo bays of Greyhound buses carrying illegals on the express lane from Tijuana to any of two dozen sanctuary cities. Hey, wave 'em on in, there's nothing to check there! Ten-four!

Well, what to expect from a state having the highest taxes in the nation, one of the highest net population outflows (rivaled only by New York and New Jersey), the highest electricity rates (except for new England)? What to expect from a state whose citizenry re-elected Barbara Boxer to the U.S. Senate? What to expect from a state where protecting three-inch bait fish -- Delta smelts -- is more important than tomatoes, cantaloupes, and jobs?

And on top of the light bulb ban and more job-killing regulations, California will herald its own cap-and-trade initiative -- driving up electricity rates even higher, driving up the exodus of more taxpayers, driving up costs for the poor and impoverished, and motivating little else except to expedite bankruptcy discussions.

It was John B.L. Soule from Terra Haute Indiana in the 1850s who first coined the phrase "Go west, young man!" Today, you'd be best to keep going...across the South Pacific...at least to New Zealand, where the light bulb ban created such a firestorm that it ushered in a new government that reversed the ban in 2008.

Here's an excerpt from a dialog in the New Zealand Parliament in December of 2008 that you'll never hear in the California Assembly:

12. AARON GILMORE (National) to the Minister of Energy and Resources: Will the Government be moving to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs?

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister of Energy and Resources): I am delighted to inform the House that I have issued firm instructions to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority to stop its plans to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs. This Government, in stark contrast to the previous Government and the previous Minister of Energy, David Parker, rejects the idea that the Government knows best and must constantly meddle in the lives of New Zealanders. If people wish to buy incandescent light bulbs, then this Government will not stop them from doing so.

Aaron Gilmore: Why is the Government not going to ban incandescent light bulbs?

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: There are a number of excellent reasons why we have not moved to ban those light bulbs. The first is that this Government believes that choice not compulsion, and the ability for individuals to make their own decisions about what sorts of lives they want to lead and what contribution they want to make to climate change, is far better than nanny State telling them what to do.

At least one country has finally got it right. Gerry Brownlee, New Zealand's level-headed Minister of Energy, shouldn't plan on getting a Christmas card anytime soon from the California Energy Commission.

Until Jerry Brown turns into Gerry Brownlee, the only 100-watt incandescent light bulbs for sale in California will be found in the trunk of a Cadillac in the shadows of another abandoned factory and vacant office building.

But hey, why get worked up? It's only light bulbs!

Luminus Maximus is a longtime lighting industry observer.

Bloody hell. You can make me a lightbulb that would burn for 1,000 years and charge me $0.00 for it, but it may be the stupidest economic decision ever. Electricity costs money. Is it an efficient bulb?

Jeez. You can’t out-conservative me, but come on. The bulk of the costs of running a light bulb is the cost of electricity, not the cost, longevity, etc. of the bulb. Bulbs could be $0.00 to nearly $50.00 each, and they still account for a minority of the cost of operation. Get over it.

The cost of running a bright (>1,000 lumen) bulb in a low electricity cost state like Oregon is somewhere between $30.00 (halogen) and $80.00 (incandescent) for 6,000 hours. The crappy curliequeue ALGore bulbs probably cost much less to run (I’ll guess $15.00), but they suck for aesthetic and operational reasons. Nonetheless, all of the options cost more for electricity than they do for buying the bulb itself.

So, before additional folks take shots at various technologies, ground your reasoning in economics and simple math. Does the lifetime use of a bulb type that functions properly for you make economic sense compared to its alternatives?

After hours of research for my own situation, a particular halogen bulb will save me about $35 each over 6,000 hours compared to a roughly equivalent incandescent. Since I run a dozen or more of these in my house, I’ll be saving hundreds of dollars.

You can run a straight old-fashioned incandescent 100 watt bulb if you wish, but you’re probably penny wise and pound foolish for failing to have done the simple arithmetic.

And before y’all start calling me a statist who bans products, I’m not saying 100 watt bulbs should be banned. I think people have the right to choose. There may be a rare circumstance where people need / want the 100 watt bulb. Go ahead! But I’m guessing that most people who do that are looking at the cost of the bulb, and totally fail to take into account the larger cost: electricity.

Stupidity is legal, regular, and you are free to engage in it.

Stupidity is legal, regular, and you are free to engage in it.

Well, golly gee, Uncle Miltie, didn't mean to cause you to go apoplectic.

But I save electricity in other way s too - a hellava lot more than light bulbs alone save. Here's just one way: I cook with electric. When cooking, I turn the pan/pot off about a minute before the food is 'done'. the residual heat finishes the cooking. Now, get back to all you minute mathematical computations and figure out how much one would save by turning off just 5 pots/pans a day one minute early. (Take into account that an electric burner consumes much more energy per minute/hour than a light bulb - even a 100 watter.) I also "cook once to eat thrice - or more" That is, I could enough in one session for 2 to 4 meals. That saves a lot of energy.

but my biggest savings comes from having my TV/VCR,etc on a power strip, which I turn off when not watching. And I unplug appliances, like the toaster, coffee pot, slow cooker, mixer - when not in use (You DO know they draw power as long as they are plugged in, don't you ? Of COURSE you do, being such an expert and all. (Those 2 steps alone cut my bill down over $30 a month. )

I also save money by not letting getting my knickers all in a twist over any little thing - don't need doctor's visits and blood pressure meds.

You, however, sound like you could use a chill pill...or a natural spectrum light bulb.

Happy New Year.

Sorry about that. You were just the third poster (or more) who came back with points irrelevant to my posts, so you caught the < flame on >.

I posted a bunch of facts up above, and people have been taking fact-free pot shots at them all afternoon. And work sucked today for similar reasons.

I love economics and saving money. Some of your recommendations sound excellent, and I’ll give them a try.

I just researched bulbs extensively recently, so it peeved me to see such non-factual, ignorant, math-free, polemicising about light bulbs, and have those people spout off against my fact filled posts.

Again, I apologize; you caught me at the moment of losing my temper with the sum of all posters this afternoon.

Plus, if anyone can come back with a better bulb than the one I specified above (criteria below), I’ll go buy a dozen:

1) > 1,200 Lumens
2) < $47 Total Costs (Bulbs + Electricity) for 6,000 hours of operation at $0.09 / Kilowatt hour
3) Flood light with >=25 degree beam
4) Not compact flourescent (I hate the light color, the warm up time, the toxicity, the buzz, lack of focused beam, and the historic lack of dimming)

Heck, I might even learn something. If people post facts.

Have a good evening!

Here’s today’s review of lighbulbs for lamps, with the criteria being >800 lumens. My previous review was floodlights, and for that application, Halogen 60 Watt bulbs won (see above.) Today, the cheapo GE Softwhites win in my opinion. If you can stand CFLs, they are cheaper (see below). I hate CFLs and won’t buy them.

MFG GE
Name Soft White
Type Bulb
Method Tungsten
Lumens 820
Hours 6,000
Watts 60
W/H 360,000
KW/H 360
Cost / KW/H $0.09
Electricity $32.40
Hours / Bulb 1,500
Bulbs / 6K Hours 4.0
Cost / Bulb $0.47
Total Bulb Costs $1.88
6000 Hour Cost $34.28
Vendor Walmart
Cost / Lumen $0.042

MFG GE
Name Soft White
Type Bulb
Method CFL
Lumens 800
Hours 6,000
Watts 15
W/H 90,000
KW/H 90
Cost / KW/H $0.09
Electricity $8.10
Hours / Bulb 8,000
Bulbs / 6K Hours 0.8
Cost / Bulb $5.22
Total Bulb Costs $3.92
6000 Hour Cost $12.02
Vendor Walmart
Cost / Lumen $0.015

MFG GE
Name Edison
Type Bulb
Method Halogen
Lumens 840
Hours 6,000
Watts 60
W/H 360,000
KW/H 360
Cost / KW/H $0.09
Electricity $32.40
Hours / Bulb 3,000
Bulbs / 6K Hours 2.0
Cost / Bulb $3.99
Total Bulb Costs $7.98
6000 Hour Cost $40.38
Vendor Lowes
Cost / Lumen $0.048

It appears that across the spectrum of lighting options for lamps, CFLs will be the cheapest over their life if you can stand them. Otherwise, stock up on the cheap GE Softwhites. My wife is going to Walmart right now to stock up on the Softwhites.

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