Posted on 09/09/2010 7:47:50 AM PDT by Iron Munro
The last General Electric factory in the U.S. to manufacture incandescent light bulbs is set to close its doors next month, as a federal move toward green technology has made the product obsolete, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The Winchester, Va., plant partly fell victim to energy conservation legislation passed by Congress that will require Americans to start using more efficient bulbs by 2014, the report said.
The 200 workers at the plant will lose their jobs when the doors shut for the final time, as the replacement bulbs, known as compact fluorescents (CL), are manufactured mainly overseas.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, CL’s last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, while using about one-fourth the amount of energy.
"Everybody's jumping on the green bandwagon," The Post quoted Pat Doyle, who has worked at the plant for 26 years, as saying.
“We've been sold out,” Doyle added. “First sold out by the government. Then sold out by GE."
President Barack Obama has put an emphasis on creating green jobs, saying he wants the U.S. to create five million over the next ten years, The Wall Street Journal added.
Oil Lamps? Whale Oil, Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm.
What I object to the most with both CFLs and LEDs is the color temperature of the “white” light. It’s more blue when compared to the nice, warm light we’ve expected from incandescent bulbs.
Ugh. Nothing depresses me faster than walking into a room lit by harsh, unflattering, bluish light. I’d rather live in gloomy Portland or Seattle if I could just sit by the fire...
FYI.
LIVERMORE’S
Facts Age: 109 years and counting (as of 2010)
Installed: First installed at the fire department hose cart house on L Street in 1901. Shortly after it moved to the main firehouse on Second. In 1903 it was moved to the new Station 1 on First and McLeod, and survived the renovation of the Firehouse in 1937, when it was off for about a week. During it’s first 75 years it was connected directly to the 110 Volt city power, (subject to the power outages) , and not to the back-up generator for fear of a power surge.
In 1976 it was moved with a full police and fire truck escort, under the watch of Captain Kirby Slate, to its present site in 1976 at Fire Station 6, 4550 East Ave., Livermore, California. It was then hooked to a seperate power source at 120V according to Frank Maul, Retired City Electrician, with no interuptions since.
Proof of Longevity: From local newspaper records; also GE engineers researched it. Was donated to the Fire Department in 1901 by Dennis Bernal who owned the Livermore Power and Light Co.
Vital Statistics: The improved incandescent lamp, invented by Adolphe A. Chaillet, was made by the Shelby Electric Company. It is a handblown bulb with carbon filament. Approximate wattage-4 watts. Left burning continuously in firehouse as a nightlight over the fire trucks. For some research test results on a sister bulb at Annapolis follow this link.
Recognition: Declared the oldest known working lightbulb by Guinness Book of World Records. Ripley’s Believe-It-or-Not in 1972 researched it and declared it the oldest. Charles Kurault of the TV program “On the Road with Charles Kurault” visited the bulb in the 1970s and included it in his book as well. Declarations from the President of the U.S., Congress, Senate, State Senate and Assembly, and Shelby Ohio.In 2007 it was again recognized in Guiness, and Ripleys books.
Closest Competitors: The Second longest bulb was listed in the 1970 Guinness Book under the heading Most Durable says that “on 21 Sept 1908 a stagehand named Barry Burke at the Byers Opera House, Fort Worth, Texas screwed in a new light bulb and that it was still burning”. The building was renamed the Palace Theatre, and the light was known as the Palace Bulb ever since. It now resides in the Stockyards Museum, and will have been burning for 100 years Sept of 2008. A website is in the works.
The Third, a bulb in a New York City hardware store had been working since 1912, but it is unknown if it still works today.
The Fourth is known as “the bulb” which like ours, burns in a firehouse in the town of Mangum, Oklahoma. It has been in operation since around 1926, has no special power conversions, and is on continuously.
The Fifth was a bulb in a washroom at the Martin & Newby Electrical Shop in Ipswich, England was dated from 1930 and burned out in January 2001.
For more info on these follow this link to Roadside America, or Wikipedia.
Future Plans: The City of Livermore and the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department intend to keep the bulb burning as long as it will. They have no plans at present what to do with the bulb if or when it does burn out. Ripley’s has requested it for their museum.
Visiting: You can visit the bulb depending on the availability of the Firemen on hand. Go to the rear of the station and ring the bell. If they are in someone will answer the door. Otherwise you can see the bulb if you look through the window up on the top of the wall to your left. To contact them directly you may call the LPFD at (925) 454-2361.
Celebration: We commemorated its centennial on Friday, June 8, 2001 at the fire station. The celebration was from 5 to 8 p.m. with a community BBQ and program. Three bands provided a variety of music, ranging from 1900 era, 1950s music, and a contemporary rock music group. Please see the celebration gallery for all the pictures.
For more information contact the Lightbulb Centennial Chairman Lynn Owens at (925) 447-9477, Webmaster Steve Bunn at (510) 538-8207, or email Bulb@lpfire.org
(Information provided by Livermore Lightbulb Centennial Committee 12/2005
I LOATHE fluorescents.
Putin has a whale you can use.
“Don’t worry about the mercury! No problem.
As long as this helps to promote the AGW hoax, the carbon credit scammers are happy.
Enjoy your 1/4 the amount of light and the bulbs that don’t fit in many of your lamps.”
your friends,
Al “millions of degrees” Gore and his many worshippers
There are times when the heat is welcome . I think of incandescences as both a light & heat source and have used them this way. :) Frankly its none of the govts business what bulbs are used or who makes them. In fact they have no Constitutional authority for any of this...none at all.
You have to decide if you want to win the lightbulb war argument, but it’s easily winnable.
Just keep asking the question “why”.
Why do you want to use these bulbs?
Global warming? false
Less electricity? false
Last longer? false
Feel good about yourself for “caring about the erf”? Ding ding ding
Honey, you need to “feel good about” your relationship with the Creator, not your “works” in caring for the creation.
Bush said they were ok
***********
He also said that Islam is a religion of peace.
For the record, I hate most CFL’s and it bugs me that they’ve “banned” bulbs, but I use certain CFLs in my office (freelance designer) that emit 5500 Kelvin light (2800 lumens) at 45W each and they’re better than I can get from the 250W bulbs (and cheaper to use).
Base price isn’t cheap ($9/ea), but they’ve lasted a year and a half so far (4 of them) and it’s like daylight.
When will they outlaw toilet paper?
CFL’s are insane. They are bigger, cost more, create an unpleasant environment in the home, and then the mercury goes into the ground. World gone mad.
You have to decide if you want to win the lightbulb war argument, but it’s easily winnable.
**********
Winning an argument with any liberal can be done, but it is to no effect. Dispelling liberal ignorance is akin to sweeping sand off of the beach.
Unfortunately, there are applications where having incandescent heat is a must. Anyone who has raised animals knows that a light in an incubator is a great source of heat. And then there's the traffic lights in snow country...we all know how that's working out with low heat LED lamps.
Maybe someone will make LEDs with a separate heating element for special applications.
So instead of using a single 60 watt bulb in my pump house to keep it from freezing during the winter, I need to install a heater. Same thing in the chicken house.
Progress, green, cost savings, energy saving???? Bullsh-t.
I think you’d agree with me, whether Bush started the ban, or Jughead did - is really immaterial.
The Gov’t has no right to ban how we get our lights.
As an aside, were you aware that the Gov’t is now going after the designer shower heads? Shower heads must regulate their output to 2.5 gpm, however some designers utilize 5+ shower heads with a combined output of over 12 gpm; so the Gov’t is trying to shut them down.
The company is fighting this saying “The Gov’t has no right to mandatate how citizens bathe”.
My solution to this issue is simple. I have a 3/8 variable speed drill and an assortment of drill bits. When I buy a shower head, if the flow regulator cannot be unscrewed, it is drilled out manually. I’ll gladly pay the extra $0.25/month to have a ‘good’ shower rather than getting a heavy misting. But, the idiots in the Gov’t do not believe that water is a ‘renewable resource’. You can’t argue with idiots - so I ignore them.
I do the same thing with my shower heads and my water faucets. Now if only I could fix my Algore toilet...
Getting one to admit that their position on the issue is arbitrary, and based on nothing but their own feelings,
does plant the seeds of doubt that their ideology is baseless.
And I cheer you for your decision. I am honestly and unsaracastically happy for your choice. Those bulbs suit you, work well, give off plenty of light, in the spectrum you want/need. That is fantastic.
But, bear in mind .... YOU HAD A CHOICE.
We don’t have a choice anymore. That’s what irritates me, some arrogant &$#*$ took away my freedom of choice under the guise of a ‘greater good’. Just like the low-flush toilets that were forced on us, we were not given a choice. I view this as an evil encroachment upon us.
“He also said that Islam is a religion of peace.”
That’s as big a lie as global warming, and Obozo being a natural born, Christian American.
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