Let There Be Light Bulbs? House Vote on Incandescent Ban Fails

It doesn’t matter what issue you pick $$$Democrats get on the wrong side.

Oh my god, Republican politicians have to be the most idiotic species of life on earth! “Yes, by all means, let’s fight the implementation of a program that saves energy. After all, we Republicans get a ton of money from the energy industry. We need to keep them happy.” Incandescent bulbs use 95% of their energy as HEAT. And just 5% of it as light. The new law mandates better efficiency in light bulbs, period. Only in the bizarro world of Republicans is more energy efficiency a bad thing………..

My main concern with the new bulbs is the amount of mercury they contain. Any broken bulb in a municipal building must be treated as a hazardous waste cleanup. The mercury in our landfills and eventually our water is not going to be good. Future ground contammination is seriously something we need to consider.

If the newer lightbulbs are more efficient and worth the increased cost, then they will win in the market place. If someone is in financial difficulty, and the up front savings on less efficient bulbs would help them put food on their table, they should have that choice. This is just another case of our government trying to play nanny.

Yeah, and I want my constitutional right to by unleaded gas. Lead in the atmosphere is acutally good for you — don’t listen to the liberal scientists.

Sounds like republicans to me. But hey, when you live behind a gate and are worth millions, who cares if you waste a little energy. They’ll never see the light of day.

I don’t like CFLs for one big reason: they make everything look green. I remodel homes, and before I can take photos to show folks the home, I have to swap out the CFLs for regular bulbs. Photos taken with CFLs have a sickly green cast. Also, the EPA advises evacuating a room for 10 minutes if you break a CFL. That seems a bit crazy to me. I know incandescents are less efficient, but there’s no need to evacuate if you break one, and colors are much more accurately rendered. Seems to me that I ought to have the choice as to which one to use.

republican’s trying to corner the pro-polluter voting segment?
good grief. what hypocrites, they have their nose in private business between a woman and her doctor all the time – carryon about how their tax dollars should not support contraceptives and abortion. Not one ever speaks up over my frustration as to why my tax dollars fund the purchase of a recreational drug, Viagra.
We got their number.

TO ALL THE FOX NEWS VIEWERS AND BELIEVERS OF PROPOGANDA LISTEN UP, MR. AND MRS. “MOST MISINFORMED”
TAKING AWAY YOUR FREEDOM…THEN THAT’S WHAT GEORGE W. BUSH DID, BECAUSE THIS WAS SIGNED INTO LAW BY HIM IN 2007. BUT FOR THE “DO-NOTHING” CONGRESS TO “REPEAL” THIS LAW IS NOTHING LESS THAN “PETTY”….WHILE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE GONNA LOSE THEIR RETIREMENT, INTEREST RATES CLIMB AND AMERICA BE BRANDED AS “DEADBEATS” FOR NOT PAYING IT’S BILL CAN’T PASS THE DEBT CEILING.
Plus, Mr. and Mrs. “MOST MISINFORMED” there would be plenty of the energy using bulbs in stores. Take your pick.

I don’t seem to notice a difference because all of my bulbs are in enclosures which and I don’t notice a difference in color. Why don’t the Republicans work on the significant problems in the U.S.? Don’t they get it? They were elected to solve problems, not to deal with stupid issues!

Hey republicnas, I’m still looking for those jobs you promised us last Fall.
Remember, you said if we elected you that you could create jobs?
President Obama 2012!!!!!!!!!

Funny, the majority of republicans voted for it the first time. The only reason I know this is I hate these bulbs and complained about the liberals forever on it. Then I found out the republicans were right in there with them. Watch them vote against it now. They seem to be pulling a lot of that lately.

LongT – YOU ARE! Seldom walks the walk beats never walking it!

The issue here is that if the government can ban a non-harmful product, they can ban any product they please as long as it panders to their political base. I wonder how many people would be upset if they banned the sale of hair dryers as they consume huge amounts of power but are not necessary towards being able to live.

People are upset because under this administration we have been told too many times what and what not we should do. Look at what they are doing to school lunch programs.
We need to make our own decisions about our life, if we make the wrong ones then we must live with it.

well, it’s just a good thing there’s no ban on idiots. the Republicans would be an extinct species.

Unemployment is out of control, the debt ceiling is about to be hit, and THIS is what Republicans are spending their time on? Incredible. What a bunch of morons.

BEEBEE: I’m still looking for the jobs Obama spent $787 billion dollars on.

Last GE bulb plant closed in the US last year. 200 jobs lost. Promise of green technology creating a boom of replacement jobs worked though–for the Chinese. They are the biggest manufacturer of the CFL bulbs. This lighting idea is not so bright.

Again, republicans were for this before they were against it. They were majority in favor when this passed.

Hey Rep. Lavender: You’re precisely wrong when you say, “I don’t think anyone voted for their congressman or their senator to go up there to Washington and vote for what kind of light bulb they could buy.”
I am precisely such a voter. I believe in the clear science of climate change. I deplore the ravages of fossil fuel extraction on the mountains of West Virginia and the waters of my home state of Pennsylvania. I want our economy to power itself more efficiently. My #1 voting priority is energy efficiency and renewable energy, and I do want my congresspersons to tell me and my fellow Americans we can’t buy inefficient lights and electronic products that trash our atmosphere and our planet. I take great offense that you act like I don’t exist.

It’s official—Republicans are idiots!

CFL’s are junk. They work well when they are used where air can circulate around them. If you use them in an enclosure they will go bad in no time. Also they don’t come on at full brightness. In an area such as a bathroom or a hallway, you want to see where you are going. Also the more you turn them on and off, the shorter time they will last.

I don’t mind the curly bulbs except that they’re friggin gigantic. I can’t use several of my favourite lamps with those bulbs. Perhaps get them suited better for lamps that are used to the other bulbs.

I see Democrats having an inkling of respect in about 20 years if they keep their act together!! — But say goodbye in November 2012… you lose!!

I just want the old bulbs so the Easy Bake oven works for my daughter – they put off the heat needed (100watt). Other than that we use the newer bulbs.

I’m starting to dump my used CFL’s in Nancy Pelosi’s district. So Nancy if I’m to eat cake you can eat a little mercury..

Hadn’t seen all the clean coal ads in a while. I wondered what they were doing. Now I know.

You can already buy a 72 watt = 100 watt incandescent bulb for $2 that looks just like a traditional bulb, and it will save more electricity than the purchase cost. Home Depot, Phillips EcoVantage 72w=100w.

This isn’t about freedom of choice, it’s about progress.
As I recall, some people complained when the government outlawed leaded gasoline, DDT, asbestos, Phen-Phen, and lead paint. However, I think few would argue now that our world is worse off for not having those items.
When a government works well, it makes choices that will improve the lives of its citizens. When a government doesn’t work well, it uses fear tactics to achieve the desires of special interest groups.
The politicians who are claiming the government is taking away your right to free choice have obviously forgotten the energy shortages in the 70s, the rolling blackouts on the East Coast in 2003, and the amount of their last electric bill. To say that the government working towards conserving energy is an attack on freedom is like saying that big business has attacked our freedom by no longer making the Commodore 64 or the Atari 3200. Wouldn’t you rather have an iPad or an Xbox360?
The law of supply and demand states that the less you buy of something, the lower the price of that commodity will go. If Americans use less energy, the price of electricity per kilowatt hour will decrease. Wouldn’t you rather have a smaller electric bill?
Lastly, the lighting fixtures being sold on the market today are not compatible with incandescent bulbs. As older fixtures are replaced, the incandescent bulb will go the way of the 8-track tape due to declining sales, regardless of government legislation. So what does it hurt to encourage the switch now so we can save a little energy and leave a better world for our children?

This has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with an “erosion of freedom from an ‘intrusive’ government”. It has EVERYTHING TO DO with saving money, being progressive and showing COMMON SENSE. When is the “middle class’ ever going to eschew the way of the “fanatical, paranoid’ soundbites of the fearmongers and conspiracy theorists???? Is it any woinder why there are so many rich ‘televangelists’??? LOL…LOL

It’s amazing so many people want government to tell them what to do. I know people love living in a nanny state, but forcing hazardous light bulbs on people is really something.
Funny how liberals want freedom of choice for abortions but not for light bulbs.

samhiguchi: When I was a kid we didn’t have freedom of choice — we absolutely HAD to have the smallpox and polio vaccines. Damn it, if it hadn’t been for the government sticking it’s nose into my business, I could have had smallpox and/or polio. I feel sooooo deprived!

Wonder where China stands on this issue?