Thomas Edison Prepares to Roll Over in His Grave

 
In four weeks it will be illegal to manufacture a 100-watt incandescent bulb.

Via The Washington Times:

Within four weeks, it will be a crime to manufacture a 100-watt version of Thomas A. Edison’s brilliant invention. Thanks to a Democratic Congress and the signature of President George W. Bush in 2007, anti-industrial zealots at the Energy Department received authority to blot out one of the greatest achievements of the industrial age. They’re coming for our light bulbs.

Know-it-all bureaucrats insist that foisting millions of mercury-laden fluorescent tubes on the public is going to be good for the planet. The public obviously does not agree. Voting with their wallets, people have overwhelming favored warm, nontoxic lighting options over their pale curlicue imitators. Beginning Jan. 1, Obama administration extremists will impose massive financial penalties on any company daring to produce a lighting product that fully satisfies ordinary Americans.

The Republican House hasn’t done enough to stop this. Rep. Michael C. Burgess, Texas Republican, added language to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill to prohibit the ban’s implementation. A Senate committee deleted this sensible amendment in September, and it’s been quite a while since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has allowed an up-or-down vote on a funding bill.

It's not too late to stock up.

Michele Bachmann Has a Bright Idea

You can keep your incandescent light bulbs if you want too.

(The Hill) — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) took aim Friday at a law mandating more energy efficient light bulbs, vowing to overturn the requirement if elected president.

“President Bachmann will allow you to buy any light bulb you want,” Bachmann said at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, La.

Bachmann touted her Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, which would repeal a provision in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that requires traditional incandescent light bulbs to be 30 percent more energy efficient beginning in 2012.

Republicans have cast the provision as a “light bulb ban,” arguing that it will disadvantage incandescent bulbs in favor of more expensive LED (light-emitting diode) and CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs.

LEDs and CFLs are much more efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs.

Bachmann’s comments come just days after President Obama touted energy-efficient light bulbs during a speech at an LED lighting manufacturer in Durham, N.C.

The incandescent light is getting turned off

Seventy-two percent of Americans don't want the government telling them what kind of light bulb to use. This is going to happen in spite of consumer opposition because of an energy bill passed in 2007. Americans have about eight years left before the change is fully implemented. The incandescent light has already gone out for Europeans.

Sky News reported:

Shoppers are stockpiling traditional light bulbs while they still have the chance.

An EU ban comes into force on Tuesday making it illegal for retailers and wholesalers to import most of the old-style bulbs.

It means once stocks have run out, the only ones available will be the more pricey, low energy variety.

Roger King, who runs Hampton Hill Hardware in Middlesex, said: "I've taken orders this week for quantities in the 50s and 100s."

"People don't like being told what to do for a start. Many are concerned that they are not going to be able to see properly with the new type of light because it rapidly diminishes in effectiveness."

Who do Americans have to blame for this government intrusion into our daily lives? Democrats and the companies that will make a fortune selling the new compact fluorescent bulbs advocated this requirement be in the 2007 Energy Bill signed by then President George Bush.

Bloomberg reported: