"Because the end of days is drawing nigh. Not in the Biblical sense, but in the Environmental Protection Agency sense: there were only a scant eight weeks (now only seven) before the end of the light bulb as we know it. As of January 1, 2012, Americans will have their freedom of light bulb choice snuffed out by an omnibus 2007 law requiring that general-purpose bulbs be
25% more energy-efficient than the current, justly-beloved, incandescent bulb."
So what is next on the governments list of let's end this so we can transfer all the production to China, India, or someplace else?
I expect any day now they will set a new rule in place that you are limited to a single sheet of toilet paper when you take a crap and will hire thousands of watchdog government employees to watch you and enforce the rules. At that point I will finally be willing to invite them to wipe my ass for me but until then get your damn regulations off my back and out of my house.
Right toward the end I imagine A-19s will be a dime each, so pack some away if you want to keep them. I bet the legal incandescents will spike in price too since the manufacturers won't have big lines running so you probably want to rathole some appliance bulbs.
Walmart simply gave the majority of people exactly what they wanted, cheap products at a cheap price. Most people don't care where its produced, rather its of quality or not so long as it's CHEAP.
It's the silliness of government trying to solve the wrong problem, which, if they stayed completely out of it, wouldn't be a problem at all.
In the instant case, the difficulty is not too many incandescent bulbs; the problem is too few power plants.
"But," you may say, "CFLs reduce our demand for electricity!" Yes, and computers, electric cars, and a mania for toasted strawberry pop-tarts continues to drive demand up. More power generation will be needed next week or next year. At best, limiting consumer choices by mandating CFLs or prune-flavored poptarts merely delays the real solution.
Actually, Americans are more than willing to accept the new technology when it truely represents something better but totally resent having those decisions dictated to them. When a new technology reaches the point that it becomes the most viable solution, people will naturally accept it without having the government shove it up their ass. Until that point is reached, it should not be the position of government to force the issue when in many cases they are doing a great deal of harm rather than good.
Seems to me to be a fuss about very little. They might be a little harder to find and who knows about the price, but even standard 100 watt bulbs are not going to disappear from the market -- at least for the next couple of years -- since Canada has pushed back its phase-out date. Just order what you want on line or arrange to buy some in Canada.
And, if you look, you can find virtually any type of electric light bulb that's ever been made including replicas of Edison's carbon filament lamps. It's always been true in lighting that no new light source has ever completely replaced any of the older sources. Whale oil is a bit hard to find these days, but candles are cheap and plentiful as are gas and kerosene lanterns. Just buy what you want.
But, who wants to use 100 watt bulbs that burn out frequently, fail when jiggled, are hot enough to burn skin and suck energy? I changed to CFLs 7 years ago for table and floor lamps. They work fine and there have been no failures and no problems -- even with the CFL 3-way in the reading light. I use some reflector halogen and a couple of rough-service incandescents in the garage door openers and there is no planned or even proposed legislation to get rid of those.
So, go ahead, argue the politics although why you do that on alt.home.repair is beyond me. But, from a home repair/lighting standpoint, I don't see that much will change come 2012.
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