GOP fails to turn off light bulb standards

GOP fails to turn off light bulb standards
House Republicans fail to ban rules setting new efficiency standards for bulbs

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday failed to stop the enactment of new energy-saving standards for light bulbs they portrayed as yet another example of big government interfering in people's lives.

The GOP bill to overturn the standards set to go into effect next year fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage. The vote was 233-193.

For many Republicans, those newfangled curly fluorescent light bulbs were the last straw, pushed by an overreaching government that's forcing people to buy health insurance, prodding them to get more fuel-efficient cars and sticking its nose into too many places.

The standards have not been particularly contentious before now. They were crafted in 2007 with Republican participation and signed into law by President George W. Bush. People seem to like the new choices and the energy savings they bring, polling finds.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43724744/ns ... ing_green/

Dang!! That nasty ol' Government trying to tell you what kind of bulbs you can buy!?!?! What was Bush thinking????

Nancy Pelosi tweeted today

House has finished voting for the day. "Jobs bill?", you ask. No, we voted on light bulbs

LadyJazzer wrote:

GOP fails to turn off light bulb standards
House Republicans fail to ban rules setting new efficiency standards for bulbs

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday failed to stop the enactment of new energy-saving standards for light bulbs they portrayed as yet another example of big government interfering in people's lives.

The GOP bill to overturn the standards set to go into effect next year fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage. The vote was 233-193.

For many Republicans, those newfangled curly fluorescent light bulbs were the last straw, pushed by an overreaching government that's forcing people to buy health insurance, prodding them to get more fuel-efficient cars and sticking its nose into too many places.

The standards have not been particularly contentious before now. They were crafted in 2007 with Republican participation and signed into law by President George W. Bush. People seem to like the new choices and the energy savings they bring, polling finds.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43724744/ns ... ing_green/

Dang!! That nasty ol' Government trying to tell you what kind of bulbs you can buy!?!?! What was Bush thinking????

Nice try. Was Bush an idiot for signing it? Yes. Was he an idiot for not Vetoing more of the Dems lousy overreaching and controlling bills? Yes. But this was a Democrat sponsored and passed bill through and through as they had total control of both houses.

You just need to adjust your shopping list: http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_89548aea-6155-11e0-8f5b-001cc4c03286.html When the Gubment outlaws incandescent bulbs only outlaws will have incandescent bulbs ( along with a bunch of regular people who understand how to buy the same thing under a new name...)!

The Viking wrote: [Nice try. Was Bush an idiot for signing it? Yes. Was he an idiot for not Vetoing more of the Dems lousy overreaching and controlling bills? Yes. But this was a Democrat sponsored and passed bill through and through as they had total control of both houses.

Hey Viking, that is a little extreme. You have to remember that in 07 the greens and the warms had not yet been exposed as the wing of the democrat party that wants to exterminate the human race. Back then there were many more r's that were willing to go along to get along.

Remember the Gingrich/Pelosi spot.

Hey, Bush didn't have to sign it, did he... You think he was worried about it being passed over his veto? Light bulbs? Really?

Oh, and for Viking:

rofllol rofllol rofllol :Koolaid: :bash :Koolaid: :bash :Koolaid: :bash

Slippery slope. First they will ban incandescent lightbulbs then they will ban chocolate milk.
For the rebels among us, I think the 100 watts are going to be the first to go so stock up now.

No one has banned incandescent light bulbs. The regs simply require a certain energy efficiency, of which there are incandescent light bulbs that do meet those standards. I really have to question the intelligence of someone who would rather not use light bulbs that will pay for themselves in less than a year.

I think the main push to do is that it takes less energy to run them, so the power plants have to make less energy, thus reducing pollution (green house gasses). What is wrong with that idea? Plus home energy bills would be reduced, that is also a good thing, right?

From what I was able to dig up, these countries have already banned them:
Argentina
Australia
Canada
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom

I use mostly CFL's for my lighting, and have for many years, even before I heard much about climate change. They just made sense since they save energy, and are proven to be much less expensive to use in the long run. I don't notice much of an issue with the slightly different light "color".

I know much is said about the mercury in them, but the amount is very small from what I've read, and just about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. I think back to the days when I used to play with a big glob mercury in my hand from a broken thermometer and am amazed I'm still alive (but it may explain the logic of my posts) after reading about all the concerns with mercury in CFLs.

The biggest disadvantage I've seen has to do with the long warm up time, especially with CFL's that are sealed inside a glass shape to make them look like conventional bulbs. Generally, if you see the curly thing, the bulb lights much more quickly than when the cury thing is sealed up. If you need quick light as in a hallway, they may not be ideal for that.

I recently discovered another concern. I just finished my basement and I installed "canned" lights built into the ceiling. I installed 65 watt equivalent CFL's in the ceiling. They are sealed and do take a long time to reach full brightness (maybe 2 min or so). I can live with that, but the other problem is they apparently pull much more current than an incandescent while they are warming up. The total rated current of all the CFL's on my circuit is much less than the 15 amp breaker I have (about 1/4 of it). But if I turn on all the lights at once, it can trip the breaker. There is no problem once they warm up.

My contractor told me a horror story which I can't yet confirm with my searching. The cans I installed are commen ones that no longer use screws to attach the wires. Instead, you push the wire into a connecter which pinches it on. I was told that the large starting current of the CFLs can cause this "pinch" connection to over heat, corrode, and fail over time (not concerned about a fire hazzard since the connection is in a metal box). If this happens, a whole bank of lights in my ceiling will fail since they are connected in series. It will be very expensive to tear open the ceiling to fix such a failure. Anyone else hear about this? At this point I am considering mixing some incandescents with my CFLs to get both quicker lighting, and avoid this potential problem.

LED's are now appearing, but are still very expensive. I see even Costco is now selling them, but they run about $35 each. I'm hoping XCEL will have a rebate on them one of these days...