Posted on 01/17/2008 5:16:01 AM PST by fweingart
Had Thomas Edison employed the same business strategy as his 21st-Century heirs at General Electric, he would have lobbied Congress to outlaw the candle in 1879 when he perfected and patented the light bulb.
He surely could have masked his self-interested lobbying in some public interest claim, such as fire prevention or the need for wax conservation. Today, the mask is environmentalism.
Earlier this month, Thomas Edisons GE, together with Sylvania and Philips won a legislative victory when Congress passed an energy bill that would outlaw sale of the standard light bulb by 2012.
Sylvania is the leading light bulb maker worldwide, and GE is tops in America. These two companies, together with Dutch-based Royal Phillips Electronics, concede they basically wrote the new light bulb law. It goes without saying that they stand to profit from it at consumer expense.
As reported previously in this column, the energy bill was loaded up with all sorts of favors for energy companies, manufacturers and other corporate bigwigs. The light bulb law follows the same pattern: A regulation touted as an environmental boon that will have dubious benefits to the planet, real costs to consumers and guaranteed profits for a handful of well-connected corporations.
The provision would make it illegal for American retailers in most cases to sell light bulbs that do not meet certain standards of efficiency that is, a bulb in 2012 as bright as todays 60 watt incandescent must get by with 42 watts of electricity.
Today, the clear successor to Thomas Edisons incandescent bulb is the compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). CFLs are more expensive, but they last longer and use less electricity. They have real downsides, however.
First, the light is not as attractive to many consumers a problem with which the industry has struggled for years. Second, they take a little time after you flip the switch to reach full brightness.
Third, most CFLs cant be used with dimmer switches or three-way fixtures. Fourth, the bulbs contain mercury, creating a potential health hazard in case of breakage and an environmental hazard for disposal.
This is where Philips Electronics enters the picture. Earlier this year, the company released its Halogena an incandescent bulb (thus giving off more pleasing light and not having mercury) that meets the efficiency standards (by transforming some of the bulbs heat into light using technology the firm calls EcoBoost).
These EcoBoosting Halogena bulbs are expensive (about $4.50 a pop compared to todays incandescents, which can run as cheap as 31 cents each), but currently theyre the only incandescent bulb that meets Congress standards. If Philips didnt readily concede they wrote the law, you could guess as much.
GE is only a couple of steps behind, announcing earlier this year that in 2010 it will release an incandescent bulb thats even more efficient than Philips Halogena. On Dec. 18, the day the bill cleared its biggest hurdle and passed the Senate, GEs stock jumped 8.8 percent, and Philips jumped 2.1 percent.
These companies will get rich thanks to energy bill, but its not clear the public or the environment will share the windfall GE and Philips will experience. GE makes its CFLs and other fancy light bulbs in China, while it makes its incandescents in the United States.
The light bulb law will ship more American jobs offshore, shift manufacturing to Chinas dirtier and less efficient factories, and increase shipping distances. Add in the mercury, and its not clear how good this law is for the environment. Its clearest benefit is to the companies who lobbied for it.
Democrats came to Washington promising to end the influence of big business lobbyists. The energy bill with its gifts to aluminum giants such as Alcoa, ethanol moguls such as Goldman Sachs and Archer Daniels Midland, and now GE, Sylvania and Phillips shows that the doors of power are as wide open to corporate lobbyists as they have ever been, as long as the lobbyists are dressed in green.
Said this on an another thread and it is my new mindset. There is a struggle for power today in America. It is the people vs the Government. It is us against them.
They are working on a 'bill' for every homeowner where the thermostats can be controlled by a centrally located government thermostat control center!
What a free-market apologist!
sheesh
/s
However, he WAS AN AMERICAN.
I'm still searching the Constitution for the clause that gives the government authority to write laws that insure profits for business. See my tagline!
Right-O!
It's the shrinking pool of intelligent Americans against the ignorant ones AND the liberal pansies we allow to rule our lives.
“And where do you think the 31 cent incandescent bulbs are built?
Pennsylvania.
At least, that’s what the box claims.”
The box says “Made in Pennsylvania?” Or is the company’s corporate HQ in PA?
If he thought he could swing it, he absolutely would have tried. He did invent the electric chair to discredit rivals pushing direct current over his alternating current.
The box of standard, incandescent bulbs is labeled “Proudly Made in [some town], Pennsylvania”. I forget if it was GE, Sylvania, or Philips bulbs ... in any case, they were for sale at Lowe’s.
But thatll change quickly over the next couple of years Im sure.
I've seen one LED light from OSRAM that puts out>1000 lumen. Now a PAR38 flood light puts out around 650 lumen, and a 50 watt halogen around 900. Wattage for the LED, around 13W (75 lm per W).
I haven't seen any retail applications - yet. but they're coming. So don't fret the Edison bulb ban, or the CFL crap. LED is the light of the future.
“The box of standard, incandescent bulbs is labeled Proudly Made in [some town], Pennsylvania. I forget if it was GE, Sylvania, or Philips bulbs ... in any case, they were for sale at Lowes.”
Wow, that’s pretty cool. Glad to see some things are still made here.
“I haven’t seen any retail applications - yet. but they’re coming. So don’t fret the Edison bulb ban, or the CFL crap. LED is the light of the future.”
They do sell some now.
http://www.ledlight.com/detail.aspx?ID=26
But $65 for an equivalent 60w bulb for your lamp. Ouch.
The other way around. Edison was in favor of DC. He tried to get people to call death by electricution "Westinghouse" to discredit his primary rival.
A Parliament of Whores
Likewise ... and I'm seriously annoyed that all the new, hi-tech bulbs are being made for the benefit of the Peoples' Liberation Army.
I told a lib relative that I have a solution for the energy situation.
Now that Congress has regulated our toilet water and banned lightbulbs,
we could just hook up the founders spinning in their graves to giant turbines and generate all the power we need.
Thank God Tesla and Westinghouse won out. Otherwise we’d have power stations on every block.
Used to be near St.Louis
Feb 2007
GE turns off lights at Wellston plant: 175 losing jobs
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2007/02/05/story11.html
Could be. I just find it strange these companies ALSO make all the standard filament bulbs. So they’re losing part of their business to try to gain other?
I know, the new swizzles are very expensive, so maybe they can make alot. But theoretically, they “last forever”, so there would be no replacement profit.
How does this really profit them again? How does it work out long-term better than old-fashioned filaments?
Or is it more for the egos of the EnviroMental NAZIs?
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