All-American Light Bulb Dims as Freedom Flickers
As the U.S.A. celebrates its 234th birthday, the plight of a quintessentially American innovation says volumes about the state of the union.
As American as the grand slam, the Mustang convertible, and the constitutional republic, Thomas Alva Edison's incandescent light bulb is among this nation's most enduring gifts to mankind. Granted U.S. Patent No. 223,898 on January 27, 1880 (after some 1,200 experiments), Edison's "Electric-Lamp" essentially made night optional for most Earthlings. Days stopped ending at sunset. Simple, convenient, and cheap, Edison's greatest invention also was far safer than the flammable kerosene lamps they replaced.
Today's federal government, naturally, had to hammer something that has hummed along nicely for 130 years. The Energy Independence and Security Act establishes performance criteria that Edisonian bulbs cannot meet. As the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) explains: "These standards, which begin in 2012, will eliminate low efficiency incandescent light bulbs from the market."
According to an April 14 fact sheet from General Electric, which Edison founded in 1876, 276 versions of its incandescent bulbs will start to vanish just 18 months from now.
EISA has made more common compact fluorescent lights, those swirly bulbs with distinct pros and cons. Costlier up front, energy-efficient CFLs eventually save money. They also require less frequent replacement than do traditional bulbs.
To discover CFLs' negatives, try setting a romantic mood with a dimmer switch. This is, at best, a hit or miss proposition. Scarier still, just drop one onto your kitchen floor. Its internal mercury is highly toxic. If spilled, it requires something approximating a Superfund cleanup. The Environmental Protection Agency warns that if a CFL breaks on one's apparel or bedspread, "Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage" (emphasis added).
CFLs should be discarded at recycling centers. Hundreds of millions of busy Americans, however, will toss these dangerous bulbs in the trash, atop table scraps and junk mail. CFLs will clog landfills from coast to coast. Decades hence, mercury will have leeched into the environment. Americans will wonder why people are suffering brain, kidney, and lung damage. Medical visits will yield lawsuits. And yet another national disaster will erupt, courtesy of Washington, D.C.
As American as the grand slam, the Mustang convertible, and the constitutional republic, Thomas Alva Edison's incandescent light bulb is among this nation's most enduring gifts to mankind. Granted U.S. Patent No. 223,898 on January 27, 1880 (after some 1,200 experiments), Edison's "Electric-Lamp" essentially made night optional for most Earthlings. Days stopped ending at sunset. Simple, convenient, and cheap, Edison's greatest invention also was far safer than the flammable kerosene lamps they replaced.
Today's federal government, naturally, had to hammer something that has hummed along nicely for 130 years. The Energy Independence and Security Act establishes performance criteria that Edisonian bulbs cannot meet. As the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) explains: "These standards, which begin in 2012, will eliminate low efficiency incandescent light bulbs from the market."
According to an April 14 fact sheet from General Electric, which Edison founded in 1876, 276 versions of its incandescent bulbs will start to vanish just 18 months from now.
EISA has made more common compact fluorescent lights, those swirly bulbs with distinct pros and cons. Costlier up front, energy-efficient CFLs eventually save money. They also require less frequent replacement than do traditional bulbs.
To discover CFLs' negatives, try setting a romantic mood with a dimmer switch. This is, at best, a hit or miss proposition. Scarier still, just drop one onto your kitchen floor. Its internal mercury is highly toxic. If spilled, it requires something approximating a Superfund cleanup. The Environmental Protection Agency warns that if a CFL breaks on one's apparel or bedspread, "Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage" (emphasis added).
CFLs should be discarded at recycling centers. Hundreds of millions of busy Americans, however, will toss these dangerous bulbs in the trash, atop table scraps and junk mail. CFLs will clog landfills from coast to coast. Decades hence, mercury will have leeched into the environment. Americans will wonder why people are suffering brain, kidney, and lung damage. Medical visits will yield lawsuits. And yet another national disaster will erupt, courtesy of Washington, D.C.
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10 comments
Part of the problem is that CFL are what the industry could put into mass production quickly, so everybody now thinks CFL is "it" and keeps buying them, instead of demanding more and improved versions of the better technology.
Government has over reached and there'll be hell to pay this November.
I'm not sure what lable should be applied to me.
1. I agree that smaller government is best...stay out of the way and stay out of my life. Does this make me conservative?
2. Along the lines of staying out of my life, I am pro choice and pretty much atheistic though I've seen some miraculous stuff in my days. Does this make me liberal?
3. I believe in personal responsibility...If I fuck up my life somehow I don't expect the gubment to come and bail me out. Does this make me conservative again?
As far as lightbulbs go...I'm going to buy whatever is convenient for me. Not because its GREEN, or this or that...
Answer: Yes. Modern conservatives seek to "conserve" or preserve the Nation the founders established, including the Constitution as presently amended. That typically means government should have little role in our lives, excepting to provide for national defense, lend assistance in times of major crises/disasters, and enforce laws in the interest of protecting life and property.
Prim0 asked, "2. Along the lines of staying out of my life, I am pro choice and pretty much atheistic though I've seen some miraculous stuff in my days. Does this make me liberal?"
Answer: Not really. How one defines the beginning of life, and how one views spiritual matters does not necessarily put him on a particular spot on the political spectrum. For example, merely believing that abortion is strictly a personal choice does not make one a liberal, whereas demanding the government confiscate tax dollars to pay for the procedure probably does.
Prim0 asked, "3. I believe in personal responsibility...If I fuck up my life somehow I don't expect the gubment to come and bail me out. Does this make me conservative again?"
Answer: Absolutely, positively yes. Liberals not only have no compunction against subsisting off the hard work of others, they favor a huge government that confiscates the earnings of those hard workers to pay for the needs of those who don't work--even by simple choice. Personal responsibility is anathema to liberals.