"The perfect light bulb"
Incandescent bulb still doomed, and our helpful government is delighted.
In a conference call with reporters, [Energy Secretary Steven] Chu said the more-efficient bulbs required would save consumers money over the life of the product, even if the up-front price is higher.
“We are taking away a choice that continues to let people waste their own money,” he said.
And isn’t that what government is for, to take away the choices stupid people would otherwise make? $20 for a single light bulb vs. $0.37 cents, but who knows better than Washington how you should spend your money?
(Just curious, but how many light bulbs are in the average house, and can we expect to have to subsidize folks not paying their mortgages to outfit their places with these new ones?)
UPDATE: Instalanche! Thanks, Perfesser!
Don’t forget the cost of the hazmat suit needed in case of breakage. From the horse’s mouth: http://www.epa.gov/cfl/cflcleanup.html
we subsidized equipment for the transition to digital tv (only cost us about $2 billion)
I use these new bulbs where ever I can tolerate them, have done so for several ears now. They continue to improve, buy what hasn’t changed is that I get more duds than you ever do with the old bulbs. By duds, I mean bulbs that last only a few months rather than the many years advertised on the package. Any one figured out how you make a warranty claim on a bulb?
It remains the case that the new bulbs still don’t work well in recessed lighting and the new dim-able bulbs cost a fortune and remain slow to turn on.
It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it. – George Washington
Now how does keeping more options for light bulb purchases take away anyone’s choice in their purchase of lightbulbs? Tortured logic, uttered by a high official demonstrating either arrogance or just plain dumb. Last I knew you could not cure dumb.
They are savages, at war with man’s nature – and hence – with reality. As they continue their quest to drive us back into the caves, death and destruction will follow. These men, far from being enlightened, are mere nihilists control-freaks.
They are frequently subsidised. Check out your local shops. I bought a case of CFLs for $1 not too long ago. I think they might have been subsidised by the power company though. The real expense is in changing all your dimmer switches.
Thank you Mr Chu for being so concerned about me wasting money. Thank you also for relieving me of the burden of making my own choices as a consumer. Now that I know that I should not worry about the time it takes for a CFL to reach full brightness or the differences in the quality of light between CFLs and incandescents, I will have more free time. Please provide me a list with other personal preferences that I no longer need to have.
“We are taking away a choice … ”
What liberals do best.
Every time I drive through New Hampshire I stop at the Home Depot in Portsmouth and stock up on sales-tax-free incandescent bulbs, cases at a time. I get the lights I want, and I pay no tax on them. A double victory, but I shouldn’t have to do this.
Donnie, you are out of your element…
I had a CFL in the past year last 4 days in a back bathroom situation (10 minutes on a day). I became so irate, I went to the manufacturer’s web site and low and behold they had a “rebate” page already setup to compensate buyers for bad bulbs. Got a $5 debit card good for Home Depot.
In my main bathroom, I have 6 “60″ watt bulbs in a vanity light over the sync. 3 are incandescent and have been in service 6 years. 3 are CFL and have been in “service” for 3 years. 2 of the 3 CFLs are dead. You do the math.
How about we stop sending money to D.C. and by doing that we will be (to paraphrase Stephen Chu):
taking away a choice that continues to let polititions waste the taxpayers own money.
Where are the liberals in this thread?
***crickets***
lowell has the best idea…
let them starve
I thought libs were pro choice.
There is only one “Choice” libs are interested in. Light bulbs (or automobiles) ain’t it.
One would have to be incredibly tone deaf to utter that in public. The slope of the slide is way too high between Chu’s brain and his mouth. Seems like another deserving Nobel candidate like his boss.
Who cares about the price, toxic waste, or longevity? I can’t read with one of these **** things. They put out as much light as a wax candle, flicker (yes, I can see it), and the color is nauseating. I have a high ceiling in my kitchen. I had to install 6 of these things to see what I was cooking. Gave up and bought $100 worth of 200 watt real bulbs. Duck Femocrats.
To which a Citizen would reply, “You don’t have that authority.”
“Progressivism is the belief that we have too much freedom with which to make too many stupid choices.”
More here. Plaintext: http://senseofevents.blogspot.com/2010/10/where-obama-dropped-his-molasses-jug.html
JGriff, you really want him to start listing?
DEEBEE, this is the guy who’s openly said we need to ‘nudge’ people into making the ‘right choices’; and if the nudge doesn’t work…
Patronizing elitist twit. Steve, baby, ever hear of the concept of liberty and the free market? No? Not surprised.
The Nobel these days just doesn’t mean what it did just a few years ago. Prize for schmucks, tax free too.
The LA Times featured cold fusion in ’89 before its debunking. Greens were aghast!
“It’s like giving a machine gun to an idiot child.” – Paul Ehrlich (mentor of John Cook of the SkepticalScience blog, author of “Climate Change Denial”)
“Clean-burning, non-polluting, hydrogen-using bulldozers still could knock down trees or build housing developments on farmland.” – Paul Ciotti (LA Times)
“It gives some people the false hope that there are no limits to growth and no environmental price to be paid by having unlimited sources of energy.” – Jeremy Rifkin (NY Times)
“Many people assume that cheaper, more abundant energy will mean that mankind is better off, but there is no evidence for that.” – Laura Nader (sister of Ralph)
CLIMATEGATE 101: “For your eyes only…Don’t leave stuff lying around on ftp sites – you never know who is trawling them. The two MMs have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I’ll delete the file rather than send to anyone….Tom Wigley has sent me a worried email when he heard about it – thought people could ask him for his model code. He has retired officially from UEA so he can hide behind that.” – Phil “Hide The Decline” Jones to Michael “Hockey Stick” Mann
Here I present A Global Warming Digest:
Denial: http://i.min.us/ibyADs.jpg
Oceans: http://k.min.us/idAw6Y.gif
NASA: http://i.min.us/idFxzI.jpg
Thermometers: http://i.min.us/idAOoE.gif
Earth: http://k.min.us/ibtB8G.gif
Ice: http://k.min.us/ibBgw2.jpg
Authority: http://k.min.us/iby6xe.gif
Prophecy: http://i.min.us/idEHdo.jpg
Psychopathy: http://i.min.us/ibubmk.jpg
Icon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmPzLzj-3XY
Thinker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n92YenWfz0Y
-=NikFromNYC=- Ph.D. in Carbon Chemistry (Columbia/Harvard)
As a Realtor, I especially appreciate the “return to the Dark Ages” (literally!) with these bulbs. Yesterday, I went to show a home, flipped on the light switches…. and – JUST as we were getting ready to take off, the damn things actually were emitting light.
Liberals fight to protect choice for abortion; after that, lower your voice.
The bulb ban is stupid. Almost as stupid as the fearmongering over the CFLs.
You know those foor-foot fluorescent tubes that are ubiquitious, in every school, office, and supermarket, and have been for the last fifty years? They too contain mercury vapor, and always have. A CFL is just a smaller version. So let’s knock off the “hazmat suit” nonsense and stop pretending that CFLs are some kind of unique health hazard.
I heard that if you stock-pile the current bulbs, the light bulb police will come and incarcerate you in a gulag in Siberia!
Gabriel,
Here’s the EPA’s recommended practice for CFL cleanup:
http://www.epa.gov/cfl/cflcleanup.html
You’ll note that they include the “foor-foot fluorescent tubes that are ubiquitious” (sic) in this practice.
Here’s the OSHA guideline on Mercury vapor:
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthguidelines/mercuryvapor/recognition.html
Note the second paragraph in the section titled “Health Hazard Information” that says:
“Mercury vapor can cause effects in the central and peripheral nervous systems, lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes in humans. It is also mutagenic and affects the immune system”
Note also that I was unable to find any equivalent information for an incandescent breakage outside of anecdotal ”sweep it up and watch out you don’t cut a finger” reports.
I suppose that an incandescent being composed of evacuated inert glass, and stable, non-ionized metals may have something to do with that.
Gabriel is right about the mercury bit overblown.
But I have had crappy luck with CFLs not lasting — and the worst offenders have been the *more* expensive ones: 3-ways, dimmables, the ones with more traditional shaped shrouds or promising warmer color.
The alleged ‘savings’ are bogus.
The way to defeat the ban is to buy some CFLs and “accidently” break them on the street. If enough people do this the local governments will be so overwhelmed with the mercury cleanups that the ban will be tossed. This will happen anyway longer-term since they will end up in landfills and poisoning the environment, this method does the job quicker.
Nik from NYC,
Thanks for the great quotes and links. That kind of trenchant analysis has contributed hugely to the fact that Global Warming is in the process of joining Limits of Growth, the Population Bomd, and Running out of Resources in the memory of Big Liberal Mistakes.
People waste their money on expensive food and wine, too. Congress, having jurisdiction over DC, should apply Mr Chu’s thinking to every high-dollar restaurant in the District. Mr Chu can tuck into a $14 (max) entree, wash it down with a $18 (max) wine, and think things over. At the same time Congress should place severe limits on food & entertainment reimbursement outside the District. Professor Feinberg, you getting all this?
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Gabriel, maybe you should ask the EPA about _their_ fearmongering over the CFLs.
Face, meet palm.
For a smart guy, Chu sure is stupid or at least monumentally ill-informed for his current job; obvioulsy never heard of Hayek and the knowledge problem.
If you want to save money with the CFL bulbs the trick is to leave them on as much as possible. It is the on and off thing which causes the problems, I have 2 for lights which are on for hours at a time and they last about 4 years on average but the many I have tried in fixtures which are only used for short periods seem to last less. The rule of thumb I’ve worked out is that CFL bulbs should be left on at least an hour after they are turned on the ensure they last. Sure you might spend more money on electricity to keep the garage light on 24 hours a day rather than the 20 minutes a day when someone is passing through the garage, but you will save enough in not replacing the CFL bulb every 6 months to make up for it.
The Duke has 8 cases of Tommy Edison’s invention and will get more.
F^#king dumbass politicians and bureaucrats – and Bush signed this thing!
In other news — Deeeereeek Jeeeter! Clap clap, clap clap calp.
An Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations;
By Adam Smith, LL.D. and F.R.S. of London And Edinburgh:
Formerly Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University Of Glasgow
Edinburgh: 1776
BOOK II. Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment Of Stock.
CHAPTER III. Of the Accumulation of Capital, Or Of Productive and
Unproductive Labour.
But though the profusion of government must, undoubtedly, have retarded the natural progress of England towards wealth and improvement, it has not been able to stop it. The annual produce of its land and labour is, undoubtedly, much greater at present than it was either at the Restoration or at the Revolution. The capital, therefore, annually employed in cultivating this land, and in maintaining this labour, must likewise be much greater. In the midst of all the exactions of government, this capital has been silently and gradually accumulated by the private frugality and good conduct of individuals, by their universal, continual, and uninterrupted effort to better their own condition. It is this effort, protected by law and allowed by liberty to exert itself in the manner that is most advantageous, which has maintained the progress of England towards opulence and improvement in almost all former times, and which, it is to be hoped, will do so in all future times. England, however, as it has never been blessed with a very parsimonious government, so parsimony has at no time been the characteristical virtue of its inhabitants. It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers, to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense, either by sumptuary laws, or by prohibiting the importation of foreign luxuries. They are themselves always, and without any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society. Let them look well after their own expense, and they may safely trust private people with theirs. If their own extravagance does not ruin the state, that of their subjects never will.
————————————————————————–
I broke one in a drop light and it shot out 2 flames which were
2-3″ long for about 90 seconds. After that, there were 2 glowing rods that continued to glow until I finally pulled the plug. As it was already broken , I was curious as to what was in that large, white base. Turns out it is a tremendous amount of electronics. Looks like chips, resistors,etc, but I’m no engineer…just curious. I wonder what pollution is caused in manufacturing these components? Probably digging this stuff out of the ground in Mexico is my thought.
I called Underwriters Lab. (they test electrical things for safety) and they wanted, get this…the serial # on the bulb. I said I’m talking about the whole deal. They: We can’t do anything without a serial #. I think the Bilderburgers are involved!!
Yonko 1010
Just mail bulbs to congressmen.
The point of the EPA proper procedure is to highlight how the people pushing CFLs also believe they are deathly toxic. Of course that’s insane, but everything coming out of the EPA is insane. The snail darter, spotted owl, and now a threatened lizard to ensure that Texas can’t expand oil production.
Incandescents have lots of problems, especially heat. In some applications LEDs look to be a great improvement. But we’ve structured so much of society off of the implicit assumption of heat producing regular lightbulbs. See all the issues that low power traffic lights have had in snowy weather – they need to be cleaned manually as LEDs won’t melt snow obstructing them.
Virginia Postrel has written two great books (The Futuire and Its Enemies, and The Substance of Style) about the importance of implicit knowledge and how it is denigrated by technocrats ahead of time. The great thing about the market rather than the government is that it leverages implicit knowledge – it is a massively parallel processor that programs itself vs the bottlenecked government process.
The best thing you can do is to stock up on real lightbulbs. Buy them by the caseload until we can restore luminescent freedom.
So the plan is to save me money over the long run? Ok… so over a 20 year period I’ll probably save some money.
How much do I save if I’m a renter (which I am) and move about every 2.5 years (which I do)? Buying new bulbs in the new place?
Or, because light bulbs are now a “long term investment” and I’ve spent $200 on the ones in my current apartment, do I take them with me and hope they’ll be the right wattage for the locations in my new apartment?
Oh, sorry… I forgot. Our elite betters in DC don’t think people actually rent, or move… because they don’t. Well good to know they’re so intelligent.
https://pendantry.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/risk-creep-peak-oil-big-trouble/
The Department of Energy, which has no constitutional right to exist, is taking rights away from citizens?
#*&! You! Strongly worded message will follow.
“We are taking away a choice that continues to let people waste their own money”
You have to admit that the government is much more efficient at wasting our money…
It’s just sooooo nice of the government to prevent me from making the same mistakes they do.
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The government wants to keep me from wasting my money so that they can. They do a great job of it.
A great idea from the edukators in Indiana…
Indiana drops handwriting from school curriculum
http://www.vancouversun.com/Indiana+drops+handwriting+from+school+curriculum/5070433/story.html
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