Media Matters Goes Light Bulb Shopping
January 23, 2012 3:08 pm ET by Jill Fitzsimmons
Few things exemplify the ongoing right-wing, media-fueled campaign against reality as well as the hysteria surrounding implementation of light bulb efficiency standards, which gather the low-hanging fruit of energy conservation by inciting manufacturers to improve their technology. Following in a long line of federal efficiency standards created by Republican presidents, the light bulb requirements were signed into law in 2007 by President George W. Bush with bipartisan support.
Reporting on what it called "a case study of the way government mandates can spur innovation," the New York Times noted back in 2009 that Philips Lighting had already developed a more efficient incandescent light bulb using halogen gas to comply with the new requirements. Philips executive Randall Moorhead has said that "the new incandescent lights were not being made because there was not an economic incentive to make them." The other major lighting companies have followed suit, and today halogen incandescent bulbs are widely available for purchase at hardware stores, department stores and online. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that "more efficient incandescent lights" will continue to make up a large portion of general service light bulb purchases for decades to come.
And yet the efficiency standards -- the first phase of which took effect on January 1 despite legislation blocking funding for enforcement -- have been met with outrage from conservative media who spent the last year claiming that they infringe on consumer "freedom of choice." Led by Fox News, right-wing media outlets have repeatedly told consumers that the standards would "ban" incandescent bulbs and force us all to purchase "mercury-laden, ugly and smelly compact fluorescent light bulbs," to the chagrin of electrical manufacturers. Fox has even gone so far as to encourage consumers to "hoard" the old, inefficient bulbs.
Given Fox's repeated insistence that "On January 1st, the government is ... getting rid of incandescent light bulbs," Media Matters' Jocelyn Fong visited a local CVS store to evaluate their selection:
In case you missed it, here's a compilation of Fox anchors freaking out about energy efficient CFLs. For the facts on CFLs, click here.
We'll leave you with these relevant words from an earlier time, before "conservative" and "conservation" were antonyms:
"If we've learned any lessons during the past few decades, perhaps the most important is that preservation of our environment is not a partisan challenge; it's common sense. Our physical health, our social happiness, and our economic well-being will be sustained only by all of us working in partnership as thoughtful, effective stewards of our natural resources." - Ronald Reagan, July 11, 1984
The halogens are more efficient than standard but they are still poor compared to ANY florescent. But they still pay in energy savings. CFL's are a temporary transition needed only because we all have so many old threaded fixtures. Our grandkids will ask what are light bulbs as by then most light fixtures will come with lifetime LED's.
"What business has the government telling me what kind of light bulb to buy or limiting where I can dump my waste motor oil."
GOP targets cement kiln rule, which would cut mercury emissions by nearly 17,000 pounds
January 6, 2011
Washington, D.C. —
Today, House Republicans announced a Congressional Review Act resolution that seeks to undo U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules to control toxic emissions from cement plants. The rules would reduce cement plants’ emissions of mercury and other toxic substances by more than 90 percent. EPA scientists have estimated the rules would prevent up to 2,500 premature deaths and thousands of heart and respiratory incidents and save billions of dollars in health costs each year.
Dern keys got them a librul bias. I tried to over-correct and went too far to the right.
As to the commercial application, WalMart has replaced incandescent with CFLs in its store ceiling fan displays at an annual energy savings of $6M.
I then pointed at the banks of 8ft tubes over her head and asked her if Shelly had told her that those tubes contained hundreds of times as much mercury as CFLs and we had been safely using them for almost a century. She blinked a couple times, pointed at the package of CFLs, and said "but those are dangerous". That's the kind of vapidity we are fighting in our struggle to try and reduce our energy usage.
"But why not just make ten louder?"
"But these go to eleven."
They put up signs at the pumps and in the stores, etc. warning people of the danger. Now, as I often do, I started the pump and walked into the store to buy something. The cashier had a fit, telling me that I had to stay out there with my hand on the pump, lest I blow up the station. Seriously. I told her that I had spent my youth working in gas stations, and had never seen that happen, nor even heard of it happening.
In any case, those signs are gone now, and I never hear anything about it. Apparently, somebody decided the threat was overblown.
What are you supposed to do - push your stopped car up the pump if you're not the only vehicle at the station?
Besides their sudden concern about mercury, the price is often cited. I've seen the FoxBots claiming anywhere from 8 to 10 bucks a bulb.
But this reminded me, because I've had some discussions about it, I recently snapped a pic while in my neighborhood 99 cent store.
That's 33 cents a bulb, with a rebate/subsidy from the Edison company. I'm sure this isn't the only place that's going on.
The Reichwhiners are doubly hypocritical because the same ones who will whine about the mercury in CFLs will refuse to even consider pollution controls to try and reduce the emission of mercury from power plants.
For instance, the same TV I bought 3 years ago for almost $2k, I saw a similar one this weekend at Best Buy for about $800.
They just don't understand technology, or science for that matter.
*shakes head*
And the stupid ones continue to out-breed the smart ones.
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IMHO
UTOPIA
Compromise with the Republicans by agreeing to NOT enforce the new energy efficiency standards ONLY if we can allow car manufacturers to produce a percentage of cars without seat belts and airbags, in the name of consumer freedom, of course. Here's where I'm going with this - All the self-righteous less-government zero-regulation fanatics, to prove their point, will insist on buying one of these no-occupant-protection vehicles, and I figure after a year or two, no more opposition left alive!
I'm a big natural-selection fan.
I brought it up because I was wondering why so many right wing jokes involved killing everybody else. At first glance, I thought I'd have t eat my words, as you seem to be suggesting something similar.
But I've reconsidered. Yours works because it's based on a truth. The headlights thing doesn't make with the funny because it rests on the far-fetched notion of lefties obeying orders, being outsmarted by wingnuts, and moving in lockstep in empty displays of patriotism.
Your proposal is based on righties doing very stupid things, in the guise of "freedom of choice", out of spite. reality-based.
it tells him/her that there must be a War on Christmas.
As in, those bad old liberals wanted to tell them what bulbs to get, and they totally defeated it!
On another note, this of course only became a rather stupid issue in the last year. I'm glad to see Congress working on legislating out progress so that they can try and make a cheap political point.
If they hadn't raised holy terror over this, nobody would have even noticed.
What's that?