Tossing out those energy guzzling incandescent light bulbs.

The Delta Report ^ | 5-17-2011 | Mike Sullivan

[Tvrm]

With the banning of 100w incandescent bulbs in January 2012 and 40w bulbs and higher in 2014, don’t get confused with reducing our countries energy usage with saving you money because it is not about saving you money. If everyone replaced their 60 watt bulbs (reported 425 million of them) with 10 watt LED’s (LED’s were used in this analysis based on concerns with CFL’s and mercury) do you believe that the utility companies could survive the loss of revenue? The obvious answer is no and your purchase of 60w $40 LED bulbs (though expected to drop to $22 each) will be rewarded with a rate increase to ensure the power company receives a similarly sized check from you, the consumer. There were recent stories floating around where drought conditions in North Carolina were so bad that municipalities requested consumers to decrease water consumption. As good citizens they successfully reduced their consumption only to see their rates increase as the reduction in revenues resulted in the cities inability to pay current water and sewer bonds. So as the folks did their duty and reduced consumption they were not rewarded with lower bills but similar bills. Applying this parallel to electric providers as incandescent bulbs are phased out the average household will need to purchase over $300 of new LED (or similar) bulbs which will eventually be a win win for the power companies and lighting manufactures. The power companies will be able to manage population growth with manageable upgrading of distribution and generation while lighting manufacturers will enhance their revenue stream as incandescent bulbs disappear and purchasing of a government mandated device is the only option. To the consumer the typical electrical cost of a single 60 watt bulb, left on for 4 hours a day, is approximately $10 per year ($0.12/kwh) with 425 million bulbs this amounts to a loss of revenue for power companies at over $4 billion dollars and the cost to the consumer for bulbs (6 per household on average) at between $9 billion to $17 billion. So where is the consumer left? Reducing your energy / carbon footprint is a good thing and generally we would expect to be rewarded with lower bills but it is not about lower bills it is about getting us to recognize that we the United States consume far too much energy per capita when compared to the rest of the world and through regulation the government can help us be more energy conscience (but don’t expect to save money). Now for those of you that will hoard those last remaining incandescent bulbs and chose not to upgrade to the new standards, there will come a time as utilities rates increase you will be “nudged” into replacing those energy guzzling bulbs.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

...it is not about saving you money...

...it is about funneling your money to government/socialist-sanctioned monopolists.

[mountainlion]

Lets toss out Freedom grabbing politicians and agencies.

FREEDOM!

[demkicker]

Remember - paragraphs are our friends.

[Free Vulcan]

No linky my homey.

[capt. norm]

This is on a parallel with what happened when states first started enacting seat belt laws "It will always be a secondary offense if you are stopped for something else...but never as a reason to pull you over by itself."

Governments never keep promises.

[Parmy]

Here in WA state, there are now so many wind farms that are being subsidized that there is an excess of power. The BPA can't even give the power to Kalifornia, let alone sell it.

This whole energy thing is a crock of you know what.

Then when the subsidies run out and the maintenance stops, we will have a bunch of windmills twisting in the wind, not producing power and becoming eyesores.

[ponygirl]

Okay, I have a weird story.

I live in an area with an HOA. About a year ago, I would notice these broken CFL lightbulbs while I was out walking my dog around the property. They were removed from the outdoor light fixtures on the buildings and smashed on the ground. Of course, my first thought was "mercury" and avoided them with the dog.

This went on for months. Every few weeks, I'd see another one smashed on the sidewalk, thinking WTF is that all about?

Then one day, I ran into an HOA board member and we started talking. She was telling me that they had caught this kid vandalizing... they caught him pulling up landscaping (young trees just planted) and throwing them around. Oh, she told me, he was also smashing the lightbulbs.

I always thought that was weird. He never smashed an incandescent bulb, just a CFL. And since he was removing them from people's front door light fixtures, all sorts of light bulbs go in those - owner's choice. So I thought, there's got to be some story there...some reason why he is taking out his frustrations on CFL lightbulbs. We're talking a 13-year-old boy.

Found out later that the kid doing it was the son of the divorced hippie with the long, gray hair. The one who looks like she works at a university teaching "womyn's studies." Ah! It clicked then.

[toast]

The only way out of it is to break the monopoly. Americans need to get off the grid.

[ClearCase_guy]

I don't know if this is true, but I believe I saw on a thread yesterday that the new LED bulbs, which they are calling 100W (bad name) will cost $50.

Now, it's great that these will last "forever" and you will save money in the long run. But can you imagine telling poor people, or people who live paycheck to paycheck that replacing the lightbulb in the bathroom will cost them $50??

I think a lot of people will decide that they don't mind the dark. More evidence that we are becoming a third world country.

[basil]

I know of some people (ahem) who have stored up enough of the “old” lightbulbs to last them the rest of their lives............

[Fishtalk]

it is about funneling your money to government/socialist-sanctioned monopolists.

To cite one, specifically, GENERAL ELECTRIC.

New way to reward your contributors....pass a law against their competitors' products.

Heh.

[Vaduz]

Indeed Ford may have stopped producing the Mercury but GE has not.

[Buckeye McFrog]

We need to hold a tea party protest where we shove CFL bulbs up our lawmakers a*ses.

In effigy, of course...

[Psalm 144]

“More evidence that we are becoming a third world country.”

Indeed.

[sickoflibs]

RE :"Now for those of you that will hoard those last remaining incandescent bulbs and chose not to upgrade to the new standards, there will come a time as utilities rates increase you will be “nudged” into replacing those energy guzzling bulbs. "

That is certainly their plan.

[DownInFlames]

Guess who wins from this one - GE.

[rawhide]

Year 2018:

'Psst bubby' (man opens his jacket), 'wanna but a lightbulb? 100 watts!)

[mkleesma]

Was at Lowes a couple of weeks ago, and they had a special on incandescent 60W bulbs - 16 pack for about $2.29. Practically filled the car with them. Figure they’ll last me at least 5 years.

[Roccus]

This is exactly what happened with the “Save A Watt” campaign in NYC back in the 60’s. ConEd’s revenues dropped so much that a rate increase was instituted to make up the shortfall.