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By Kirk Myers, Seminole County Environmental News Examiner This article, the second in a series, focuses on the misleading performance claims surrounding the “more energy efficient” compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs now replacing traditional incandescent bulbs. These potentially harmful mercury-filled lamps (see my previous column describing the dangers) are being forced on consumers by the U.S. congress with support from the Green Lobby and light-bulb manufacturers like GE, Sylvania and Phillips. These and other manufacturers stand to make huge profits selling the more expensive CFLs (more on that issue in my next column). There is a growing body of evidence...

New light bulb efficiency standards will begin phasing in on Jan. 1 despite intense opposition from conservatives, who have blasted the rules as a textbook unnecessary federal regulation. While Republicans secured inclusion of a measure blocking funding for enforcement of the standards in a year-end spending bill, energy efficiency groups say the provision will have little practical impact. The Energy Department rules will nonetheless go into effect at the start of 2012. "The [spending bill] cut funding for enforcement, however the law is still in effect," said Jack Gillis, spokesman for the Consumer Federation of America. "It is our expectation...

Howie thread for the week starting with his Sunday Boston Herald column, "Congress sees the light over bulb ban"

Congressional negotiators struck a deal Thursday that overturns the new rules that were to have banned sales of traditional incandescent light bulbs beginning next year.That agreement is tucked inside the massive 1,200-page spending bill that funds the government through the rest of this fiscal year, and which both houses of Congress will vote on Friday. Mr. Obama is expected to sign the bill, which heads off a looming government shutdown.Congressional Republicans dropped almost all of the policy restrictions they tried to attach to the bill, but won inclusion of the light bulb provision, which prevents the Obama administration from carrying...

Congressional negotiators struck a deal Thursday that overturns the new rules that were to have banned sales of traditional incandescent light bulbs beginning next year. That agreement is tucked inside the massive 1,200-page spending bill that funds the government through the rest of this fiscal year, and which both houses of Congress will vote on Friday. Mr. Obama is expected to sign the bill, which heads off a looming government shutdown. Congressional Republicans dropped almost all of the policy restrictions they tried to attach to the bill, but won inclusion of the light bulb provision, which prevents the Obama administration...

UPDATE 2: 12/16/11 9AMPST It appears early reports were wrong, junkscience.com now reports that The deal agreed to in Congress merely deprives the Department oF Energy the funds to enforce the ban for 2012. The ban is still on the books — so the DOE may very well get the money next year or the year after or who knows when.  Original post follows:Blogging this from my cellphone. Reports coming in from my sources say it was suspended tonight, more later.UPDATE: from Politico -The shutdown-averting budget bill will block federal light bulb efficiency standards, giving a win to House Republicans...

As part of last night's omnibus budget bill which prevented government shutdown, Republicans won a small victory: they suspended the incandescent light bulb ban. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle bowed to widespread public pressure, as the American people made it clear they weren't interested in this literal government intrusion into their livingrooms. Congressional Republicans dropped almost all of the policy restrictions they tried to attach to the bill, but won inclusion of the light bulb provision, which prevents the Obama administration from carrying through a 2007 law that would have set energy efficiency standards that effectively made the...

I don't know of any now... but here are my thoughts... Sometime between now and Jan 1 large chains and even local stores will DUMP THEIR INVENTORY possibly for PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR! So if you hear about good deals for 100 watters, please post away. I need to stock up on the clear ones...

Include me among those crazed Americans who can’t walk into Home Depot, Target or my local grocery store right now without wanting to grab a king-sized shopping cart and stuff it to the gunwales with 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. Maybe it’s the sheer thrill of buying bulbs that in just a month, as of Jan. 1, 2012, will be banned for sale in America. What fun, in this incandescent twilight, to acquire legally what the federal government will soon treat as contraband. Or maybe it’s that gut sense that with the dollar teetering, those beloved old 100-watt bulbs will at...

Bow I know that sometime in the future, filament type light bulbs will stop being sold. Question: ALL filament type bulbs or just the ones used for lamps, etc? The reason I ask is that I have a number of fixtures in my house that use the little 25W or so vanity type clear light bulbs and I have never seen itty-bitty fluorescents that could go in those fixtures. So now I gotta start ripping things out and re-wiring stuff? Anyone know? Thanks!

Please don’t think this is easy for me. I’m one of those crazed Americans who can’t walk into Home Depot, Target or my local grocery store right now without wanting to grab one of those king-sized shopping carts and stuff it to the gunwales with 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. Maybe it’s the sheer thrill of buying bulbs that in just over a month, as of Jan. 1, 2012, will be banned for sale in America. What fun, in this incandescent twilight, to acquire legally what the federal government will soon treat as contraband, should it appear in any American marketplace....

Government ban on mercury-free fixtures takes effect Jan. 1Within four weeks, it will be a crime to manufacture a 100-watt version of Thomas A. Edison’s brilliant invention. Thanks to a Democratic Congress and the signature of President George W. Bush in 2007, anti-industrial zealots at the Energy Department received authority to blot out one of the greatest achievements of the industrial age. They’re coming for our light bulbs. Know-it-all bureaucrats insist that foisting millions of mercury-laden fluorescent tubes on the public is going to be good for the planet. The public obviously does not agree. Voting with their wallets, people...

The Wall Street Journal’s “Best of the Web” column by James Taranto has a regular feature called “Life imitates the Onion,” the Onion being a satirical publication. This morning as I was glancing through my local paper’s op-ed section I noted a column by Margaret Carlson that has to fit the definition. Trying to make fun of Republicans she noted that there is a lot of vocal opposition on the Right about the law that effectively bans 100 watt incandescent light bulbs. How did Congress do that? I’ll let Margaret Carlson explain: "Under the law … a 100-watt incandescent bulb...

The Wall Street Journal’s “Best of the Web” column by James Taranto has a regular feature called “Life imitates the Onion,” the Onion being a satirical publication. This morning as I was glancing through my local paper’s op-ed section I noted a column by Margaret Carlson that has to fit the definition. Trying to make fun of Republicans she noted that there is a lot of vocal opposition on the Right about the law that effectively bans 100 watt incandescent light bulbs. How did Congress do that? I’ll let Margaret Carlson explain: Under the law … a 100-watt incandescent bulb...

Barack Obama has spared no effort attempting to shove the US towards a so-called "green economy." The same green economy nearly bankrupted Spain and has been nothing but a miserable failure here. China is now in the process of changing the sticker price of Obama's green economy and they are sending it skyward. They are tightening control of rare Earth metals.The kind used in pretty much everything Obama is trying shove down our throats. BEIJING — In the name of fighting pollution, China has sent the price of compact fluorescent light bulbs soaring in the United States. By closing or...

Heard on car radio. Janet Napolitano has announced that since energy use is "a matter of national security," the DHS is setting in place a system to check on individuals' hone use of electricity, esp. ensuring that no light bulbs be incandescent in 2012. Good news for companies that sell remote-monitoring energy meters I guess. Obama is doubling-down again; intends to use executive authority to impose his rule.

Karen DeCoster is thinking of entering the lighting business. DeCoster, a certified public accountant from Detroit, has no experience in the field, but after hoarding 100-watt incandescent bulbs for months, she’s hoping to sell them on Craigslist for a profit. Starting in January, the traditional 100-watt incandescent bulbs that many Americans look to when lighting their homes will become a hot commodity. New federal efficiency standards, passed as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, will make the production of these bulbs illegal then, followed by 75-, 60- and 40-watt bulbs in later years. As the new...

Yes, I know it's supposed to be CHANGE a light bulb, but since President Obama is starting on his blame America bus tour (where he'll explain how every problem is somebody elses fault), I thought BLAME a light bulb was more appropriate. Some examples to get things rolling: One to blame Bush and proclaim nobody could be expected to change a light bulb in just two years. Two, one to say he has already changed the light bulb and one to blame the tea party for pointing out that the new light bulb is not producing any light.

Gov. Rick Snyder is keeping everyone in the dark as to where he stands on trying to help Michigan escape the upcoming federal ban on incandescent light bulbs. Legislation aimed at letting Michigan sidestep the ban has been introduced in the state Legislature. However, Snyder has remained mum as to whether he'd sign it or not. In his first seven months in office, Snyder has shown himself to be a pro-free-market fiscal conservative in some ways, but the jury remains out regarding the governor's position on enviro-mandates such as the light bulb ban. Any of several possibilities could explain Snyder's...

After returning from our day of asking Capitol Hill tourists about the government mandated phase out of incandescent light bulbs that begins in 2012, we got a first hand lesson in how the government expects Americans to handle the impending switch. As Dan Joseph got out of the car in the MRC garage, he dropped the CFL used as a visual aid during the shoot. CFL's contain Mercury which can be dangerous to humans is they are exposed to it. One might think that taking specific safety measures when disposing of broken light bulb is a bit alarmist, but as...

In what critics call a classic case of the government working at cross purposes, Washington is forcing residents across the country to install mercury lighting inside their homes while phasing out mercury lighting outside homes to protect the environment. Yes, you read that right. In 2005, Congress passed a law banning mercury vapor streetlights – two years before it banned incandescent light bulbs in favor of mercury vapor compact florescent bulbs. Under the Energy Policy Act, signed by President Bush in August 2005, manufacturers cannot make or import ballasts for mercury vapor lights after Jan. 1, 2008. According to the...

Light bulbs are a household item that Americans don't think about that frequently. So a lot of them were surprised to learn that the government had mandated a phase out of certain types of bulbs three years ago. The legislation set new light bulb efficiency standards that would effectively ban the production and sale of the traditional incandescent bulbs and essentially force consumers to make the switch over to compact fluorescent bulbs. MRCTV went to Capitol Hill and asked folks what they thought of the new bulbs and whether the government has any business telling Americans which one they should...

Sam Biddle — Today's superfluous political grappling comes via Texas, where Republican rep Joe Barton's incensed by legislation mandating efficient incandescent lightbulbs. Rather, he and his backers claim, Americans should be able to screw-in whatever they damn please. Is old tech really a liberty? ... But to Barton it's not about efficiency. It's not about technology at all. It's about Ye Olde Blood Stained Tree of Liberty: the bulb law (and the push to repeal it) "Is about more than just energy consumption. It is about personal freedom." Well, not so fast, Joe. Beyond anything but the most stringent enshrinement...

IN 5½ months, the sale of traditional 100-watt incandescent light bulbs will become illegal in the United States. Twelve months later, the same fate will befall most 75-watt incandescents, and one year after that, conventional 60- and 40-watt bulbs will be gone as well. Thomas Edison’s world-changing invention is one of the most enduringly popular products ever created - something so useful, so dependable, and so cheap that over the course of more than a century, consumers bought them by the billions. Yet thanks to a federal law that relatively few Americans knew anything about when it was passed by...

The House on Friday morning moved to block federal light bulb efficiency standards without even a roll call vote. An amendment from Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) defunding the Energy Department's standards for traditional incandescent light bulbs to be 30 percent more energy efficient starting next year was approved rather anticlimactically by voice vote. The success of the amendment appeared inevitable in the House, where the fate of the incandescent light bulb became a symbol in the fight against federal regulations. Democrats and the White House have opposed the move to block the standards, which were included in a 2007 energy...

One-in-five Americans (20%) say they or someone they know has bought large quantities of traditional light bulbs to use when those bulbs disappear off store shelves next year under new federal light bulb regulations. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 70% of Adults aren’t doing that themselves or don’t know anyone who is, but another 10% are not sure. The new government regulations provide for the manufacture of similar-looking bulbs that will last longer and be more energy-efficient – but also more expensive. Critics view the regulations as unnecessary government intrusion in the free market and see...

The House of Representatives voted to preserve a scheduled phase out of incandescent light bulbs Monday evening. The Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act, would have rescinded efficiency standards for incandescent bulbs included in a 2007 energy bill. 233 members voted yes and 193 cast nay votes. But the House required a supermajority to approve this particular package. In this case, it would have needed 285 yea votes to pass. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) voted present. The measure gained support after the 2010 elections, as tea party Republicans seized on the prohibition as an example of government overreach. The...

House democrats blocked the repeal of the light bulb ban. A majority of Americans oppose the government’s unpopular and unnecessary ban on incandescent bulbs and infringement on choice. On January 1 2012, 100 watt incandescent bulbs will become illegal, with lower wattages to follow. The democrats just voted to give jobs to China.

The House of Representatives has scheduled a vote on Monday to repeal the federal law that will ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs as we know them. Although the bill may likely pass in the House, it is doubtful Harry Reid (D. Nv.) will let it be brought to the Senate floor until he can confirm that it will be defeated. But, the real story here, is the reason for the House bill, as well as the reaction of Energy Secretary, Stephen Chu. As to the former, Representative Fred Upton (R. Mi.) who originally voted in favor of the...

Former Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., briefly stepped back into politics Friday, joining U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to urge the preservation of light bulb standards that were included in the 2007 energy bill. The U.S. House could vote as early as Monday on the BULB Act (Better Use of Light Bulbs) introduced by Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican. It would strip from the law, signed by then-President George W. Bush, standards that traditional incandescent bulbs be 30 percent more efficient starting next year. Barton says consumers, not the government, should determine what type of light bulbs to...

I think we ought to be harder when minor functionaries of a failed leviathan reveal themselves to have a defective understanding of the role of government in free societies. Steven Chu, the Energy Secretary who came into office saying “we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe“, has now offered up another soundbite for our times. On Friday, he defended the ban on Edison’s iconic incandescent in economic terms: "We are taking away a choice that continues to let people waste their own money".So what? I waste my own money on...

Reporting from Washington— It doesn't have the ring of "Remember the Alamo," but a new battle cry has gone up in Texas: "Remember the incandescent bulb." Texas has become the first state seeking to skirt a federal law that phases out old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs in favor of more efficient lamps — a move that has emerged as a shining example of Republicans' resolve to strike down what many view as excessive federal regulation. Texas hopes to get around the law with a measure recently signed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry declaring that incandescent bulbs — if made and sold...

Instapundit has spent some pixel inches recently covering the year-end ban on 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. Some of the things he links to, such as this Investors Business Daily piece, talk about people up in arms about it. However, the people who get linked by Instapundit and who pay attention year-round to the governments’ actions tend to remain a minority. I fear most people don’t know about what the government does in its omnipotentbus bills and their eventual effects years later. Remember, the bill banning light bulbs was passed four years ago. Long enough for cause to be forgotten when...

Rick Perry is having a good month. With all eyes on his possible bid for the Republican presidential nomination, the Texas governor is showing that his anti-Washington rhetoric is more than just talk. By vetoing feel-good, nanny-state regulations and thwarting of federal intervention in his state, he's demonstrating the kind of leadership America needs. Beginning in January, Department of Energy bureaucrats will use regulations to strip incandescent lightbulbs from store shelves so that they will be replaced with expensive, inferior and toxic substitutes. This will happen everywhere in the country - except the Lone Star State, thanks to Mr. Perry's...

The bulb is back. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R.,Mich.) has finally agreed to support a bill this summer that means lights out on the looming 2012 ban on the incandescent light bulb. Upton himself co-sponsored 2007 legislation making light bulbs illegal, a ban that has become a symbol of bipartisan Big Government run amok. Upton has come under increased pressure in recent weeks, sources say, after failing to follow up on a promise he made after assuming the committee chairmanship that he would hold hearings on reversing the ban. After months of paralysis — and with...

State lawmakers have passed a bill that allows Texans to skirt federal efforts to promote more efficient light bulbs, which ultimately pushes the swirled, compact fluorescent bulbs over the 100-watt incandescent bulbs many grew up with. The measure, sent to Gov. Rick Perry for consideration, lets any incandescent light bulb manufactured in Texas - and sold in that state - avoid the authority of the federal government or the repeal of the 2007 energy independence act that starts phasing out some incandescent light bulbs next year. "Let there be light," state Rep. George Lavender,

Texas could soon be in a position to turn the lights off on a federal plan to phase out certain light bulbs. State lawmakers have passed a bill that allows Texans to skirt federal efforts to promote more efficient light bulbs, which ultimately pushes the swirled, compact fluorescent bulbs over the 100-watt incandescent bulbs many grew up with.

Texans like to think we're forward-looking folks, eager to embrace the newer and better. Sometimes, however, our independent streak gets in the way. House Bill 2510, a misguided effort based on a flawed premise, is one of those instances. Gov. Rick Perry should veto it. The bill, which the House and Senate approved this year, purports to thumb Texas' nose at those evildoers in Washington by harrumphing about the 10th Amendment and how it guarantees to the states "certain powers." The bill claims as one of those powers the sacred right to use whatever kind of light bulbs Texans choose...

Late last year, Republican Congressman Fred Upton, who co-sponsored the infamous ban on the current generation of inexpensive incandescent light bulbs included in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, was desperate to secure conservative support for his bid to become Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the same committee in which he had introduced the despised ban three years earlier. He therefore promised that one of his first acts would be to advance legislation that would repeal the very light bulb ban he had once championed. Upton’s ploy succeeded, and in January of this year, Speaker of the...

As a subscriber to Newsmax I receive weekly emails from them on various topics. I found the following item concerning lightbulbs interesting enough to share: Light Bulb Repeal Bill Stalls in Congress "A bill to repeal the banning of ordinary incandescent light bulbs is bottled up in a congressional committee despite Americans’ apparent distaste for the more expensive bulbs that would replace them. The 100-watt incandescent bulb is scheduled to be outlawed in January 2012, the 75-watt bulb will disappear in January 2013, and the 60-watt and 40-watt bulbs in January 2014. The bill banning the bulbs — which use...

When I hear third party supporters say that Republicans are just as bad as Democrats, I always duck and mumble, “No, not as bad.” And then I say, “We just need to get Obama out”. Or, I say, “A third party will only drain the most viable opposition to Obama. But here is the sad story of a Bush supporter who found out that Republicans really are as bad as Democrats. At least, sometimes. Now, I don’t know about you, but I am just enraged about the government making LIGHT BULBS illegal. Light bulbs! If that is not sticking their...

In this episode of the Conscience of Kansas radio program I talk about Barack Obama and Israel. I also talk about green products and free market conflicts. We get some economic advice from Ray Stevens. Oh yes, the world did not end! It is a great show and we invite you to listen and comment

New evidence of CFLs causing fires -- even exploding -- as well as new environmental concerns have come to light since my article The CFL Fraud published.  Here are some of the additional fires:  "I had one of these CFL's in my garage socket, and it blew a component (not the glass corkscrew) and caught fire.  Fortunately, I was standing four feet away at the time.  I turned off the power and smothered the bulb with a towel." LINK "I heard a sizzling sound like bacon, looked in the direction of the sound and watch the CFL burst into flame...

NEW YORK – Two leading makers of lighting products are showcasing LED bulbs that are bright enough to replace energy-guzzling 100-watt light bulbs set to disappear from stores in January. Their demonstrations at the LightFair trade show in Philadelphia this week mean that brighter LED bulbs will likely go on sale next year, but after a government ban takes effect. The new bulbs will also be expensive — about $50 each — so the development may not prevent consumers from hoarding traditional bulbs. The technology in traditional "incandescent" bulbs is more than a century old. Such bulbs waste most of...

Energy saving light bulbs 'contain cancer causing chemicals' Fears have been reignited about the safety of energy saving light bulbs after a group of scientists warned that they contain cancer causing chemicals. By Victoria Ward 7:16AM BST 20 Apr 2011 Their report advises that the bulbs should not be left on for extended periods, particularly near someone’s head, as they emit poisonous materials when switched on. Peter Braun, who carried out the tests at the Berlin's Alab Laboratory, said: “For such carcinogenic substances it is important they are kept as far away as possible from the human environment.” The bulbs...

A compact fluorescent light (CFL) on the ceiling burst and started a fire in a home in Hornell, N.Y. December 23, 2010. "Those are the lights everybody's been telling us to use," said Joe Gerych, Steuben County Fire Inspector. "It blew up like a bomb. It spattered all over." Fire Chief Mike Robbins said the blaze destroyed the room where the fire started and everything in it, and the rest of the house suffered smoke and water damage. The Arkport Village Fire Department as well as the North Hornell Fire Department required about 15 minutes to put out the fire....

Light bulbs rely not only on simple materials but on esoteric ions and compounds. And while we take their emissions, visible light, for granted, the inner workings of these deceivingly simple gadgets depend on the complex behavior of electrons. We’ll discuss four types of light bulbs:incandescent bulbs, halogens, fluorescent lights (including CFL’s) and LED’s. A) INCANDESCENT BULBS The light bulb of the short-lived variety, is the traditional tungsten incandescent bulb. Inside the glass, electricity flows through a thin filament of the element tungsten (chemical symbol, W, for its old name wolfram). Because the wire is so thin, resistance is high,...

Americans have nine months left in which they can purchase 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. As of the first of 2011, no new 100-watt incandescent light bulbs (except for those left in the store’s inventory) can be sold to the American consumer. The last factory manufacturing the 100-watt incandescent light bulb has been closed and shuttered. The incandescent light bulb manufacturing business has moved the China. The US manufacturers of light bulbs in America will make only fluorescent bulbs. You’d never guess, would you, that manufacturers will make more profit off the fluorescent bulbs than they did on the old incandescent...

Is the traditional 100-watt incandescent light bulb about to go the way of the Tyrannosaurus Rex? Some Republicans on Capitol Hill hope not. They want to overturn the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, signed by then-President George W. Bush. The law requires all 100-watt incandescent light bulbs to be almost 30-percent more energy efficient by Jan. 1, 2012. Since that means higher production costs, manufacturers in America have stopped making the traditional bulbs. Some consumers have already started stockpiling the old-model bulbs, complaining that the replacements cast a unattractive light compared to the warmth of incandescent bulbs. Kentucky...