Free Our Light
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Manny Lopez of the Detroit News reports that there is a grass-roots effort, called "Free Our Light," whose focus is on getting Congress to repeal the ban on incandescent bulbs:
"The light bulb ban is an outrageous government limitation on consumer choice and intrusion into the home of every American," Myron Ebell, director of Freedom Action, said in an interview for TheMichiganView.com.The petition reads as follows:
His goal now is to get millions to sign an online petition to be delivered to Congress to force a repeal of the bulb law. [link to online petition added]
The undersigned demand that you repeal the ban on incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012 that was enacted in 2007.Although I am not familiar enough with Freedom Action to state definitively, right now, whether I could support it as an organization, I do support this goal and urge my readers to sign this petition, and to spread the word about it. This is particularly important since there have, apparently, been false reports that a lifting of this ban is being considered.
Rep. Upton, now Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has said that his committee will hold a hearing on the ban, but he has not promised to repeal it, as was erroneously reported in the press in December. The 2007 law makes the sale of standard incandescent 100-watt bulbs illegal as of January 1, 2012, 75-watt bulbs as of January 1, 2013, and 60- and 40-watt bulbs as of January 1, 2014.That said, I do not support the goal of lifting the ban in isolation. In particular, I regard a bill like HR 91, which proposes to repeal the ban on incandescent bulbs, as a symbolic first step at best, because the entirety of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 should ultimately be repealed. By what right should any aspect of how Americans produce and consume the energy we need to live our lives be dictated by Washington?
I'd love it if this year's Edison Hour (aka "Human Achievement Hour") could be more an act of celebration than a show of defiance. Repealing this ban would be a small step -- in the right direction, for a change.
-- CAV
2 comments:
Gus
RE By what right should any aspect of how Americans produce and consume the energy we need to live our lives be dictated by Washington?
Exactly...
Take Light Bulbs
All lights have their advantages, and even if there are energy savings,
citizens pay for the electricity they use:
There is no energy shortage, including of future low emission electricity,
that justifies a limitation on what citizens can use.
Even if if there was a shortage of the finite
coal/oil/gas sources, then their price rise limits their use anyway - without legislation.
Moreover: light bulbs don't give out any CO2 gas - power plants might.
If there is an energy supply/emissions problem - deal with the problem!
Why supposed energy savings are not there anyway:
http://ceolas.net/#li171x
with US Dept of Energy references = Under 1% overall energy savings
from energy efficiency regulations on incandescent lights.
Setting aside the scientific questions about whether there is global warming and, if so, whether human activity is causing it, the government shouldn't be concerned with CO2 emissions, anyway.
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