Texas wants to turn the lights off on a federal plan to phase out certain light bulbs

OK the government didn't ban incandescent light bulbs, instead it merely set new standards for them that are apparently difficult to attain

The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe makes light by heating a metal filament wire to a high temperature until it glows. The hot filament is protected from air by a glass bulb that is filled with inert gas or evacuated. In a halogen lamp, a chemical process that returns metal to the filament prevents its evaporation. The light bulb is supplied with electrical current by feed-through terminals or wires embedded in the glass. Most bulbs are used in a socket (a housing giving mechanical support to the bulb, keeping its terminals in contact with the supply current terminals).
Incandescent bulbs are produced in a wide range of sizes, light output, and voltage ratings, from 1.5 volts to about 300 volts. They require no external regulating equipment and have a low manufacturing cost and work equally well on either alternating current or direct current. As a result, the incandescent lamp is widely used in household and commercial lighting, for portable lighting such as table lamps, car headlamps, and flashlights, and for decorative and advertising lighting.
Some applications of the incandescent bulb use the heat generated by the filament, such as incubators, brooding boxes for poultry, heat lights for reptile tanks,[1][2] infrared heating for industrial heating and drying processes, and the Easy-Bake Oven toy. In cold weather, the heat produced by incandescent lamps is a benefit as it contributes to building heating, but in hot climates this waste heat increases the energy required by air conditioning systems.
Incandescent light bulbs are gradually being replaced in many applications by other types of electric lights, such as fluorescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps, cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL), high-intensity discharge lamps, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). These newer technologies improve the ratio of visible light to heat generation. Some jurisdictions, such as the European Union, are in the process of phasing out the use of incandescent light bulbs in favor of more energy-efficient lighting. In the United States, federal law has scheduled the most common incandescent light bulbs to be phased out by 2014

Yet another component of the U.S. manufacturing industry is shut down at the hands of environmental zealots who want to tell us all how to live.

So it is claimed, however, the very complaint about incandescent bulbs is that they put out so much heat, which is considered wasted energy. Given that the very definition of incandescent is "producing light by way of heat" is is not honest to say the the goal is other than to outlaw incandescent bulbs.

Great Idea! Hopefully this concept of the states challenging federal bullying will catch on...

I can buy incandescent lightbulbs that meet the new standard. You can too

Poppycock! Heightened government efficiency standards have really helped to clean up our environment, and those who argue against them always pull the same bullshit lines. In the meantime, we keep enjoying more efficient cars and devices, and everyone's better off.

Except those whose jobs were wiped out.

You can easily check on employment now in the manufacturing, metals processing and textile industries, compared to (say) two or three decades ago.

Would you also like proof that the sun rose this morning?

Lighting Science Group is, as a result, just the sort of manufacturer that many, including the Obama administration, have said they would like to keep in the United States.

But while the company's manufacturing roots lie here, they may not remain.

The connection between American innovation and manufacturing, which for generations created U.S. jobs, has been unraveling under the pressures of globalization, and the light-bulb industry may be a prime example.

Ordinary incandescents, the bulbs pioneered by Thomas Edison, are manufactured almost entirely outside the United States, with the country's last major General Electric factory set to close this month. The company will continue to make incandescents in Mexico and China.



In the near term, compact fluorescents are expected to replace the traditional bulbs that are being phased out by new U.S. energy standards. But CFLs, as they are called, are almost entirely made in China, though it was an engineer in the United States who came up with the breakthrough design.

Now, as Lighting Science rapidly expands its production of what is considered the next-generation technology, the company is being courted by China and Mexico. Aside from the enticement of lower-wage workers, those countries offer significant cash incentives for capital equipment and labor, amounting to as much as $4 million, company officials said.

The United States, by contrast, has offered financing under the stimulus program, but the process has proved too cumbersome for the small company. Lighting Science is largely owned by Pegasus Capital, a private equity group.

But as the Washington Post reports, one unintended consequence is the contribution it makes to the “continuing erosion” of U.S. manufacturing. As companies transition over to making CFLs, local plants close and jobs are moved out of the country. The cost of making CFLs and other new technologies is much cheaper abroad. As the Post reports, CFLs must be twisted into a spiral, a task which requires more manual labor. This is cheaper in China.

Many of the innovations for greener light bulbs originated in the United States. The CFL was invented by GE engineer Ed Hammer in the 1970s after the energy crisis. Then Ellis Yan, a Chinese immigrant to the United States, streamlined their production. Yan brought their assembly back to China, where labor was cheaper. As Yan explain to the Post, he would consider bringing his production to the United States even though it would add 10 percent to the cost of doing business. This is due to the fact that consumers have expressed a desire for goods made in America.

This is cold comfort for the workers at GE’s Winchester, Va., plant. Workers at the plant, where jobs have paid as much as $30 an hour, worry that they will be unable to find new positions. Many express grievances with the government. Despite promises that the move to green technologies would result in more manufacturing jobs, the government has allowed most of the contracts to go overseas. In 2007, the government passed legislation that would essentially ban incandescent light bulbs by 2014 while greatly decreasing domestic energy costs and greenhouse gases. But when the cost of creating the CFLs proved cheaper abroad, replacement positions were not available

Well, a lot of that is also due to modernization; greater productivity with less people due to greater use of automation and machinery. Has nothing at all to do with environmental regulations. How do you determine that some jobs are lost due to one, and not the other?

And after your comment, how do you know it "had nothing at all to do with environmental regulations"????

I'm not suggesting that all environmental regulation is bad: indeed most of it has accomplished its intended purpose. However, it is simply a fact that this "benefit" is not an unmixed blessing - it does adversely affect other areas of our lives.

Those who blithely accuse the unseen rich or some other conspiracy for the growing income gap between the well educated and others are blinding themselves to important facts and deceiving those to whom they address their complaints.

How they [Germany] have done all this so far , I don't know.

Quote:

Those who blithely accuse the unseen rich or some other conspiracy for the growing income gap between the well educated and others are blinding themselves to important facts and deceiving those to whom they address their complaints.

Well, you transitioned to a real meaningless sentence here, because it is indeed tax policies started by Reagan (and anti-regulatory policies forwarded by EVERYONE since then, especially in the financial sector) which have led to the growing gap between the rich and poor.

Cycloptichorn

You are not allowed to throw the bulbs in a garbage can - it has to brought to special place. Who is going to do that? Drive long distances for one bulb.

The oldfashioned help heat the room when used. So now in long cold winter I have to use more oil to get the same heat. Ha Ha.......Saving energy...

But we are starting to get selfheating houses - very expensive - which use no furnace, no gas, no electricity to warm up the house. Only the sun, the bulbs and the people living in the house. It works even in the winter.