Althouse: Save the incandescent bulb!

October 6, 2009

Save the incandescent bulb!

It's important!

41 comments:

Dustin said...: I just don't think the federal government should give a crap about what light bulb I use.

I do think, long term, incandecents are a lot better for the environment than CFLs... they also look a million times better and work better. I can easily turn down my light, which I do, to conserve energy and enjoy my home.

I use CFLs where I don't care about light quality, which is plenty of places, but we need to get the feds off of this kind of thing. Strip the commerce clause right out of the constitution.; 10/6/09, 5:20 PM
rhhardin said...: Just get candescent bulbs.

The in- is merely intensive, and not actually appropriate under 250w.

Candid used to mean finding something good to say about something, incidently.; 10/6/09, 5:26 PM
KCFleming said...: There is nothing remaining in our lives the g-men don't feel they have to control.

Soon enough, the government will require me to document every meal and every shit, just like they have to do in hospitals and nursing homes, and propose to require of daycares.; 10/6/09, 5:38 PM
Original Mike said...: They take 15 minutes to warm up? Great. I turn lights on and off when I enter and leave a room (as my parents taught me). Now I'm going to be leaving them on? Brillant.; 10/6/09, 5:41 PM
rhhardin said...: Heating your house with CFLs in the winter generates a lot more light.

You have to wear sunglasses.

It used to be that just leaving a few 100 watters on downstairs kept things warm enough.

Now it snow-blindnessville.

It's like trying to stay awake drinking only decaf.; 10/6/09, 5:43 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: I use CFLs where I don't care about light quality, which is plenty of places,

Yeah, me too. Basement and such. Sometimes I mix incandescent and CFLs in fixtures so you get the instant-on of the incandescent and the power-saving, cooler characteristics of the CFLs. Not to mention you can get brighter light: you can use, say, a 100-W equivalent CFL in a socket with a 60W limit for incandescents because the CFL has a much lower power draw.

CFLs are improving. But there are many applications they are no good for, especially smaller bulbs and fixtures built to accomodate incandescent-sized bulbs. Are we supposed to just trash all those fixtures when the mandate hits?; 10/6/09, 5:43 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Soon enough, the government will require me to document every meal and every shit, just like they have to do in hospitals and nursing homes, and propose to require of daycares.

Douglas Adams once wrote of a planet with a strict environmental code that required that, upon leaving the planet, visitors would have the mass difference of the food they ate and their excretions surgically removed from their bodies. He pointed out that it was very important to get a receipt when using the bathroom on that planet.; 10/6/09, 5:46 PM
former law student said...: Sorry, but I can't wait for a video talker to get to the point. "In 1879, Thomas Edison blah blah blah"

Reading the generic instructions for my new Chinese porch light,I just learned another reason to save the incandescent: Photocell operated porch lights will not work with CFLs. This follows my discovery that the twisty bulbs will not survive even the mildest winter out of doors -- so much for the boasts of 5000 hour life. And those of us with the little deco lamps whose shades snap on to the bulbs, will be out of luck once incandescents are gone.; 10/6/09, 5:59 PM
Bissage said...: All this diffuse objection to the new light bulbs is fine, well and good.

But my concern is the effect CFLs will have on Christmas Pageant manger scenes from coast to coast.

Who in his right mind wants to adore a baby Jesus who emits an eerie, greenish, vibrating glow?

I ask you.; 10/6/09, 6:00 PM
Hector Owen said...: First they came for the light bulbs …

atfr taht i dnt noe wht hpnd nd im wetng fr dwan; 10/6/09, 6:02 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Photocell operated porch lights will not work with CFLs.

Mine does, but it has digital circuitry. And it survived a Michigan winter, too. You're right that a traditional analog photocell setup won't work.; 10/6/09, 6:04 PM
Caroline said...: Ditch the tea-bag as a symbol of protest and embrace the incandescent bulb. Instead of dumping tea bags we should be dumping florescent bulbs! (OK...maybe not ... the mercury is dangerous.)

But seriously, the nanny-state mind-set to the nth degree is totalitarianism.

Earlier I was thinking of freedoms I had as a kid that many kids today don't have: riding a bike or a skateboard or roller skates without being wrapped in styrofoam; buying a candy bar and a soda from the school vending machine; walking to and from school with just friends, no adults ; hanging out w/o adult supervision until the parents come home from work. Somehow my generation survived to adulthood w/o all the nanny laws.; 10/6/09, 6:07 PM
Hector Owen said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/6/09, 6:09 PM
Original Mike said...: I don't think this is on most peoples radar screens yet, but it's going to be a major pain in the ass. When that happens, I think politicians could make serious political hay on this issue. I predict a lot of incumbants who voted for this will be losing their seats.; 10/6/09, 6:12 PM
Hector Owen said...: (Reposted to fix typos; ironic considering my last)

Seriously, I'll be stockpiling incandescents. The little bulbs that go in appliances, in the oven, the headlight on the Hoover, the turn signals and brake lights on the car, the heat source in the snake cage (if you keep herps), the pretty Mazda bulbs in the chandelier — this is so ill-conceived that, well, that it fits in will much other recent legislation.

wv = ailizing Adding garlic to anything at all. Gives it that zing.; 10/6/09, 6:12 PM
knox said...: Seriously, I'll be stockpiling incandescents.

Me, too. Someone needs to organize an incandescent march on Washington. I'd go. A World Lit Only by Fluorescents might as well be medieval.

How have we let idiotic, corrupt politician get their fingers this far into our lives??; 10/6/09, 6:19 PM
knox said...: politicians; 10/6/09, 6:20 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: We could mail all our burned-out incandescents to Congress. Monthly.; 10/6/09, 6:24 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Oh, geez. Obama just declared October to be "National Energy Awareness Month." Maybe we need to mail the burned-out bulbs to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.; 10/6/09, 6:32 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I propose a compromise..

Just have them light up outside ;)

wv polly; 10/6/09, 6:37 PM
bearbee said...: Seriously, I'll be stockpiling incandescents.

No doubt the gov is in the process of having smart meters developed that read whether incandescent or CFL's are being used.

Nothing in your life will go undetected by some gov agency.

Stalin would weep with envy.; 10/6/09, 6:42 PM
traditionalguy said...: Dim Bulbs oppose light on subjects so that no one is sure what they are doing. "Thall shalt not speak truth in a public way" is the Obama family motto. If we see their lips moving, or a photo op spot on TV, then we know that they are lying again. That is sad truth because the Presidential Tradition is being trashed big time just when we need a strong leader.; 10/6/09, 6:42 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: I hate the twisty bulbs. I took all of them out and put them in the trash- I refuse to comply with stupid rules about trash too. The light was horrible and some only lasted a few weeks. They also made my paint look horrible- they brought out the yellow in it.

Our government is becoming like the UN- totally useless. They create more problems then they solve and they try to solve the very problems they created- housing mortgage mess anyone?

I will use what I want, when I want and the government be damned. Now I am off to the hardware store to stock up on real light bulbs.; 10/6/09, 7:01 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: the light bulb is only the tip of the iceberg...

Obama puts off the Dali Lama, puts off Afghanistan, puts off Iran, puts off clunkers, put off the Olympic committee..

And yes he would put off granny if we give him half the chance.; 10/6/09, 7:16 PM
Dustin said...: When our ground water is full of mercury because almost everyone will throw CFLs in the trash, the democrats will still blame republicans for it. Someway somehow, it will be Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin's fault that the democrats screwed up the environment again.

Kinda like how coal pollution that we suffer with because we have few nuclear power plants is the right's fault.; 10/6/09, 8:02 PM
jimbino said...: I use an incandescent infrared spotlight to heat the loft in my Colorado home. Is Obama proposing to make infrared CFLs for that purpose?

This is what the Amerikan people get for having POTUS, SCOTUS and COTUS bereft of leaders who understand science and engineering (except for Breyer and 8 in all of Congress).; 10/6/09, 8:04 PM
MadisonMan said...: People can be incandescent with rage. No one will ever be CFL with rage.

I have a CFL in my kitchen. I turn it on in the morning when I go out to walk the dog. By the time I get back, it's warmed up and is actually giving off light. This is less of a problem when it's warm out, but now it's cold 'til May.; 10/6/09, 8:25 PM
Sorin said...: ...And yes he would put off granny if we give him half the chance...

I'm afraid that Granny will meet the death panel. They know not what they do!; 10/6/09, 8:34 PM
LoafingOaf said...: The bulb issue was the main topic on Cleveland's highest rated local talk show today. Because First Energy is doing this:

LINK -- Rep. Dennis Kucinich seeks federal investigation of FirstEnergy bulb program:

Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate FirstEnergy Corp.'s plans to distribute high-efficiency light bulbs to its residential customers and bill them more than $21 over three years for bulbs that cost the utility $7.

Kucinich's request is in response to an article in Tuesday's Plain Dealer that disclosed the Akron-based power company's plan to deliver 3.75 million bulbs to customers over the next five weeks and charge ratepayers for the bulb's delivery, as well as the power they would have used if they didn't have the more efficient bulbs.

FirstEnergy spokeswoman Ellen Raines said its program has been approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, and will help it comply with a state law enacted last year that requires utilities to cut customers' energy use by 22 percent by 2025. She said distribution of the bulbs will begin next week.

Kucinich said he believes FirstEnergy's program amounts to "a type of consumer fraud." He said he'll send a letter on Wednesday that will ask the Federal Trade Commission to issue a cease and desist order.

"People are having to pay a premium for light bulbs they didn't ask for, and they are paying for electricity they are not using," Kucinich said. "Its unfair and it's unjust."

On the show there was much discussion about the problems with the flourescent bulbs. And isn't that crazy, that our power company is going to place compact flourescent bulbs that we didn't ask for on our doorsteps and then bill us for those bulbs at a far higher price than they're sold for in stores, plus the cost of delivery, plus a charge for energy we didn't use? What is this madness?

You can listen to Kucinich talking about it on the show here:

LINK; 10/6/09, 9:22 PM
MC said...: It really is creeping nanny state bullshit.

We are apparently no longer responsible adult citizens, able to make our own decisions based on our own preferences for light quality vs efficiency.

Governments don't want responsible adult citizens any more. They want dependants. Because that gives them more power and influence.; 10/6/09, 10:01 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Each of us could kidnap a Cngress critter and tie him up in your basement lit only with flourescent bulbs.

And let them go, of course, once they have learned the error of their ways. Or not.; 10/6/09, 10:09 PM
Steve Pierson said...: Some times I think these bureaucrats' goal is to turn the USA into a third world country.; 10/6/09, 10:17 PM
Hector Owen said...: Steve: We keep hearing from Obama and some of his faithful about "the end of American exceptionalism." In fact, America is a very special place: a country founded on ideas rather than on a shared ethnic heritage. The proper name of the Statue of Liberty is "Liberty Enlightening the World." We are the "shining city on the hill." Or were, or could be. There's no place like this place.

What the Administration is trying to do is to wipe this idea away. To persuade Americans that our country is no different, no better, than any other. If they manage to deprive us of the ideas that make us different and, yes, better than other countries, well then we will become something more like Zimbabwe, or any other third-world country. If we can't believe that we are something exceptional, then we will lose the thing that makes us Americans, as opposed to "residents of the middle part of North America, between Canada and Mexico."

And all the efforts of Washington, Jefferson, and the rest of that lot of dead white men will have gone for nothing.; 10/7/09, 1:21 AM
Hector Owen said...: In his first month in office, Obama sent a bust of Winston Churchill back to England.

That was a small item, easy to pack up and ship. Will he send the Statue of Liberty back to France, next?; 10/7/09, 1:34 AM
kentuckyliz said...: No more shining city on a hill.

More like a greenly glowing tenement on a heap of recycling.; 10/7/09, 9:08 AM
Original Mike said...: the Akron-based power company's plan to deliver 3.75 million bulbs to customers over the next five weeks and charge ratepayers for the bulb's delivery, as well as the power they would have used if they didn't have the more efficient bulbs.

Sweet. [/sarcasm]; 10/7/09, 9:47 AM
former law student said...: Obama sent a bust of Winston Churchill back to England.

Obama simply returned it, like any thoughtful person would do if they found you had left an overdue library book when they moved into your old place.

Her Majesty's Government had lent it to the previous office holder, one G. W. Bush, for his term in office. HMG renewed the loan when G.W. was re-elected. G.W. neglected to return it when he left office.

If HMG wants to lend statuary to Obama they certainly can.; 10/7/09, 11:02 AM
Original Mike said...: If HMG wants to lend statuary to Obama they certainly can.

Do they have a bust of Chamberlin they're not using?; 10/7/09, 11:35 AM
former law student said...: Do they have a bust of Chamberlin they're not using?

The more apposite choice would be Clement Attlee.; 10/7/09, 12:06 PM
Original Mike said...: The more apposite choice would be Clement Attlee.

I'm sure the White House has room for both.; 10/7/09, 12:23 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Oaf:

That is over-the-top govt intervention! For some reason, I am still shocked when I hear things like this.

Is it fair to say Kucinich is generally a big supporter of big govt stuff like this?; 10/7/09, 12:49 PM