Banning lightbulbs?? gimme a break!

I was reading today about ordinary incandescent light bulbs being banned after Jan 1.

Excuse me---but we have to pass Federal laws making a light bulb illegal?

Is this what our legislators are spending their time on---debating and passing "critical" legislation like banning a bulb???

And what"s next--regulating how much electricity we use? How much and what kind of food we eat? How big a vehicle we can drive? When they start using the excuse "it"s for your own good!", there can be no limit.

We"ve become a nation of wimps. Our grandparents would have rioted in the streets if the govt. had tried to pull something like this on them....

Is law enforcement now going to be conducting "illegal light bulb" raids?

(quoted from post at 09:53:17 12/11/13) I was reading today about ordinary incandescent light bulbs being banned after Jan 1.

Excuse me---but we have to pass Federal laws making a light bulb illegal?

Is this what our legislators are spending their time on---debating and passing "critical" legislation like banning a bulb???

And what"s next--regulating how much electricity we use? How much and what kind of food we eat? How big a vehicle we can drive? When they start using the excuse "it"s for your own good!", there can be no limit.

We"ve become a nation of wimps. Our grandparents would have rioted in the streets if the govt. had tried to pull something like this on them....

Is law enforcement now going to be conducting "illegal light bulb" raids?

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Actually at lease one state plus the federal government has looked into limiting what vehicles are available to the average buyer.

Rick

Didn't they postpone that ban for a few more years? It was a Clinton thing if memory serves me right.

Not trying to be a smart a$$ here. But, where you been for the last few years???

This is way old news.

Have you tried to buy a 100 watt or 75 watt, regular incandesant light bulb recently? They aint there. They started phasing them out by taking the larger sizes first.

The regular floresant ones are also being take off the market. That started back this spring I think. Making you buy the smaller floresant bulbs, I forget the number or size.

I have been stocking up for a long time now. Whole shelf full in my farm shop.

Gene

"Those people who would give up their Liberty for some security will gain neither."

This link will put your mind at ease. I remember several years ago the dariy co-op sent the fieldman around to personally replace any vacuum gauges that contained mercury. Now you'll have to have light bulbs with mercury exposed to feed and cattle. Great! I can't tell you how many bulbs got broken in the barn all the time. A cow would come in riding another one and break them when their backs hit them,or we'd be unrolling round bales down the feed alley and hit one with a fork handle. At least with the vacuum gauges there was about zero chance of them getting broken,but we could have no chance of exposure to the milk. Good luck with that now!
Cleanup from the EPA site

I may be terribly wrong, but I think that most of this crap has been condoned and given a green light by congress in the way it was instituted. Congress passes a law setting up an agency. Then they say the agency can enforce the guidelines the agency sets up. So, EPA can enforce a ban on dust that some EPA guy says causes his kid to sneeze. Or, chicken crap that blows off an eagle's nest. So, get rid of some chickens. Now, the farm next door has cows. And the EPA guy just built a house out in the country next to this beautiful farm. Until the farm spreads manure, and it stinks the place up for a few days. And his mother in law doesn't like eating dinner there because it stinks. So, mama isn't happy, and EPA guy has to do something, so, there is a new rule out on Monday that says farmers can't spread manure before EPA guy's dinner parties. Oops, that's picking on a particular party, so let's say no farmers can spread manure. Ever. Yeah. That'll work. And congress said they can put teeth in it and fine any farmer that spreads manure.

And on, and on....

Re-lamping my business as we speak with LED replacement bulbs. About 10 times the initial cost, slight gain long term on energy savings, and roughly the same light output provided the CORRECT type of bulb is used (ie "soft white, Clear white, cool white, etc...) "Bulb" life is far longer, but there's an issue with the "driver". Essentially the same duty as a ballast in a fluorescent light, the driver is self contained within the bulb. Depending on number of "off/on cycles" and whether lamps are on dimmers, driver life can be significantly lower than a regular incandescent bulb, making long term use/replacement cost much HIGHER. Many electric providers currently offer types of rebate programs if/when you choose to make the switch. That will go away with time.

Long story made short, there ain't much we can do now to stop the switch, just gotta make the best of a bad situation. ......PROGRESS......(he said sarcastically)

What gets me is many states have been banning or phasing out many things that we use that contain mercury to limit our exposure to mercury and mercury poisoning. Things like
Automobile Switches Button-Cell Batteries Dairy Manometers Fever Thermometers Measuring Devices Miscellaneous Novelty Items Switches & Relays Thermometers Thermostats

Yet out silly government is phasing out incandescent light bulbs that have no mercury and replacing it with CFL light bulbs that have mercury in them.
I wonder how much lobbyist money changed hands to make that happen.

Need the electricity to charge all the battery run cars don't 'ca know.

I was thinking the same thing. This has been around for awhile.
I guess I still can't believe it either. I should of stock piled light bulbs and didn't.
I had hoped the price would come down on the "new" versions but so far they still seem pretty expensive !
I should get off my rear and go try and find a case of flouresent ones for the shop. I did buy a couple of extra ballasts.

just remember martial law equals a third term

Just have to look at who you voted for and see what they have been doing for you lately.

Some places that made the old bulbs have been shutting down for some time now this is nothing new its been building the last several yrs now.

I've stocked up on 100 watt incandescents (sp) too. I have a box of 100 in the store room. Those curly bulbs just don't cut it for me. But new is not always bad and staying with the old is not always good. This morning I took delivery of four new six tube T5 fluorescent fixtures for the old shop. T5's are the skinny little tubes about the size of your middle finger. They're replacing the big old reliable but dim T8's that came out of an old school building 30 years ago.

I have four of these T5 light fixtures in the new shop and they are super bright, much brighter than the old big tube T8's, and they use less juice considering the extra light I'm getting. I can't hardly look at the T5's because they're so bright where I can look at the T8's all day and not get sore eyes.

So, crunching numbers here, the old shop currently has 24- forty watt T8's on the ceiling. I'm replacing them with 24- fifty four watt T5's. The old T8's all together pull 960 watts or thereabouts. The new T5's all together pull 1296 watts. The new ones are twice as bright at least. When I step out of the new shop that has 24 T5's and I go to the old shop with 24 T8's I look up at the T8's to see if they came on, there's that much difference. Both shops are about the same square footage with about the same ceiling height and both shops have white walls.


A week ago I put up a new 48 watt LED all night yard light. I'm still evaluating the amount of light it gives out but it seems brighter than the old 175 watt mercury vapor light by the barn. Even if the LED and the mercury vapor give out the same light the LED is pulling less than half the wattage. Hopefully that's a saving my pocketbook some money. The future will tell. The one drawback to switching to new lighting is the initial cost. Jim

Washington needs all the light bulbs they can get. I guess it makes them feel brighter

Somebody is not thinking......
All they have to do is rename them "heat" bulbs.

I think the nnalert pulled the funding for enforcement, another childish maneuver on their part!

If you throw a cfl in the garbage it is still less mercury in the environment than if you use a incandescent bulb powered by coal generation! And, we recycle ours, but we have only had 3 failures in 10 years of usage.

Earl, you think enforcement is a good thing? Seriously? I think before the feds should be permitted to enforce anything they need to stop the ultra vast waste and corruption unleashed on the tax payer. And then all brainwashed people need to be re-educated. In short in the government thinks an idea is good, most likely it's bad! Both parties are liars and way way to abundant! And those that think washinton has any answer to anything are dillusional.

Only 60 W bulbs go away Jan 1, 2014. 40 w next year. 100w and 75 w went away the last two years.

The new bulbs CFL and LED don"t work well in enclosed fixtures,they can"t stand the heat.So what do you use??

(quoted from post at 17:53:17 12/11/13) I was reading today about ordinary incandescent light bulbs being banned after Jan 1.

Excuse me---but we have to pass Federal laws making a light bulb illegal?

Is this what our legislators are spending their time on---debating and passing "critical" legislation like banning a bulb???

And what"s next--regulating how much electricity we use?

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Old news. Where have you been the last 5-10 years? Rates are going up due to government meddling. Coal power plants are shutting down or getting total overhauls because of the EPA. It wouldn't suprise me if end-user caps are on the way eventually. The first ___KWH over a set period of time could be a certain price and and you could then face exponential growth price-wise as useage increases past that point. Those mercury-filled CFL's or overpriced LED's would be in every home overnight.

How much and what kind of food we eat?

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The "how much" of many things edible are already being regulated in certain areas.
How long after "test tube meat" is perfected will raising and consuming real meat be legal? State DEQ's and EPA have been poo-policing farms for years. EPA has wanted to regulate animal flatulence emissions for years and fine accoringly, and that's probably coming sooner rather than later. EPA says that dust from any activity (especially agricultural) is bad, as well. More fines/fees. Without the livestock, imagine all of the tax dollars that would be saved by not having to enforce regulations pertaining to them :roll:? HSUS and PETA would dance in the streets. Grain destined for animal consumption could then be diverted for ethanol, etc., and other so-called "green" uses. :roll: Ground that the evil farmers raise crops on, pasture, etc., that some (who know nothing about and have no experience with topography, soil, nutrients, and agriculture, but have a degree in something) say shouldn't be in use could be removed from production.

Some things supposedly can't be made "illegal", but those in power can make you jump through so many hoops to make it impractical to do and through taxation, fines, permitting and delays, creative legislation and regulation, etc., make it (nearly) financially or physically impossible to participate in that activity. An executive order here and a new law there, here a regulation, there a fine, maybe even some jail time. Unky Sam is in control, E-I-E-I-O.

How big a vehicle we can drive?

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If they want you in a smaller vehicle, they'll find a way to put you in one. Taxes could be collected yearly when purchasing plates based upon rated fuel economy of the vehicle and milage driven. With the gasoline milage standards on the horizion that mfr.'s will have to meet, you won't have to worry about buying a "big" vehicle much longer, anyway. There won't be many on dealer's lots.

Is law enforcement now going to be conducting "illegal light bulb" raids?

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NO. It is illegal to manufacture and distribute said bulbs. It's not illegal to possess or use them. Repair or home-(re-)manufacture of incandescent bulbs is likely possible. 80+ years ago people fixed them. Since then manufacturers found out how to limit their lifespan and sell a cheap, short-lived product instead of an expensive long-life one.

Since funding for the law has never ben provided, it is not being enforced. Some manufacturers and some stores are still making/distributing the bulbs. 4-PACKS OF US MADE 100 WATT INCANDESCENT BULBS ARE AVAILABLE AT OUR LOCAL MENARDS STORES. DO NOT BUY THE JUNK ONES THEY HAVE THAT ARE MADE IN CHINA. I've never had one sold by them from China blow out-they'll never last long enough. Whatever horse or dog glue they use to hold the glass to the base always fails before they blow, and the seperation of the base and glass creates a serious fire hazard.

AG (Post will probably only read correctly in modern view.)

The light bulbs are not illegal. It is just illegal to manufacture or import them.

You can still get 100 watt bulbs, they are just called rough service bulbs and cost around $5 each.

And the 3 way bulbs are still available.

I"m amazed that anyone would only now discover the federal law on lighting. BTW this law was passed by Congress during the Bush administration.The Congress did not "ban" regular light bulbs . It simply set standards for efficiency and incandescent bulbs as currently designed could not meet the standards.As a result,we"re having lots more choices (some not as good as others)

Several coal fired electric plants are shutting down due to decreased demand for electricity.
It is working.

Two things I wonder about with the new fluorescent bulbs (but am too lazy to research).

1.) They contain mercury. Do they REALLY expect everybody to recycle these bulbs properly once they become so prevalent? I wonder if we"re going to see a spike in the mercury levels in our waterways.

2.) When they go on and on about light bulbs being 90% heat... why is that such a bad thing? I spend more time heating my house than not every year. I do wonder if they factor the heat into the whole equation regarding overall cost and efficiency. At least in northern areas.

In other words, maybe some of us don"t mind heat as a byproduct, and it"s not the total waste they assume it to be.

I"m sure overall they"re "better", but I do wonder what the REAL differences are - and if we REALLY need to have the government involved at this point, forcing us to stop using the old ones.

Yes, fer crissakes, this has been old news for YEARS. You're just getting around to throwing your hissy fit over the sensationalized right-wing horse-puckey NOW?

The bulbs themselves are NOT banned. You will not be inspected, ticketed, prosecuted or otherwise penalized for owning and using 100 Watt light bulbs! To think so is pure idiocy. The government can no more enforce a true ban of light bulbs than it can take away everyone's guns. They couldn't come up with the money and the manpower in 100 years!

If you're so dead set against CFLs, stock up on incandescents. A couple dozen should last the average person a LIFETIME. How often do you change light bulbs? Hardly ever.

You can still get 100W incandescents. Like someone else said they're called "rough service" bulbs, and they're unlikely to ever be taken off the market because there is no suitable replacement.

Yes the vast majority of the energy consumed by an incandescent bulb is heat, but you are not getting a dollar-for-dollar return on the heat energy generated by a light bulb. It's cheaper to run the furnace.

Well said !!!!

(quoted from post at 11:46:12 12/11/13) I've stocked up on 100 watt incandescents (sp) too. I have a box of 100 in the store room. Those curly bulbs just don't cut it for me. But new is not always bad and staying with the old is not always good. This morning I took delivery of four new six tube T5 fluorescent fixtures for the old shop. T5's are the skinny little tubes about the size of your middle finger. They're replacing the big old reliable but dim T8's that came out of an old school building 30 years ago.

I have four of these T5 light fixtures in the new shop and they are super bright, much brighter than the old big tube T8's, and they use less juice considering the extra light I'm getting. I can't hardly look at the T5's because they're so bright where I can look at the T8's all day and not get sore eyes.

So, crunching numbers here, the old shop currently has 24- forty watt T8's on the ceiling. I'm replacing them with 24- fifty four watt T5's. The old T8's all together pull 960 watts or thereabouts. The new T5's all together pull 1296 watts. The new ones are twice as bright at least. When I step out of the new shop that has 24 T5's and I go to the old shop with 24 T8's I look up at the T8's to see if they came on, there's that much difference. Both shops are about the same square footage with about the same ceiling height and both shops have white walls.


A week ago I put up a new 48 watt LED all night yard light. I'm still evaluating the amount of light it gives out but it seems brighter than the old 175 watt mercury vapor light by the barn. Even if the LED and the mercury vapor give out the same light the LED is pulling less than half the wattage. Hopefully that's a saving my pocketbook some money. The future will tell. The one drawback to switching to new lighting is the initial cost. Jim

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heesh, I meant to say T12 in describing my old lights, not T8. T8 is a newer version of the old original T12 and the newest, the T5. Jim

I have 10 duds here.First one I used went dim and smoked.These bulbs have an inverter in the base that fails often.Before you fall in love with LEDs know that some contain arsenic.A woman dropped a cfl on a rug.It broke.They told her it would cost 2 grand to clean up the mercury.

I remember when they outlawed the old mercury thermostats-said there was a dangerous amount of mercury in them! I hear the new CFLs have more mercury in them then those old thermostats! Its a control issue, plain and simple!

Make that doing to you..

I, like a few others, have been buying regular light bulbs for some time. I do not like the CFL bulbs. One reason being that they are expensive and don't last any longer then a regular bulb.
I have tested them side-by-side. When they first came out, they were fine and would outlast a regular bulb.
I have had a few CFL bulbs "blow-up" made a mess and a stink.
To each his own--but I will use regular bulbs as long as possible.

LEDs operate on very low voltage so they need a DC power supply.Single LEDs dont cost much but it takes a lot of them to produce enough light.They do fail,just look at the dead spots in traffic lights.

Also when a CFL bulb blows out. You are supposed to call a Haz Mat team out to change the bulb or clean up the mess if it breaks. Got this information in a saftey class at my last job.

I do not know if that is right or wrong but if it is then what about flood lights and heat lamps etc?? I use the old style bulbs a lot do to the heat they put out and that helps well houses etc from freezing up

Thats right the 50 cent incandecent bulb is going away and being replaced by a $15 LED bulb. Cost a small fortune to reoutfit the place. They advertise 22 year bulb life but if you read the fine print that"s based on 3 hours daily usage. This time of year my outside lights burn 13 hours.

Fluorescent bulbs work by making UV light, which excites a phosphorous compound coating the inside of the glass, making it glow and give off visible light. A lot of people's eyes (like mine) are kinda sensitive to UV light. Flourescents kill my eyes.

I just checked Lowes.They have all the incadesent light bulbs you want.
25 thru 200 watt.
I thought there was legislation in congress to repeal the law.

Emission regulations are causing the coal plants to shut down. Plus natural gas is cheap due to so much being extracted from shale with hydraulic fracturing. It's not a lack of demand because of curly light bulbs.

They enforced the gas can ban pretty good.

(quoted from post at 14:46:12 12/11/13) I've stocked up on 100 watt incandescents (sp) too. I have a box of 100 in the store room. Those curly bulbs just don't cut it for me. But new is not always bad and staying with the old is not always good. This morning I took delivery of four new six tube T5 fluorescent fixtures for the old shop. T5's are the skinny little tubes about the size of your middle finger. They're replacing the big old reliable but dim T8's that came out of an old school building 30 years ago.

I have four of these T5 light fixtures in the new shop and they are super bright, much brighter than the old big tube T8's, and they use less juice considering the extra light I'm getting. I can't hardly look at the T5's because they're so bright where I can look at the T8's all day and not get sore eyes.

So, crunching numbers here, the old shop currently has 24- forty watt T8's on the ceiling. I'm replacing them with 24- fifty four watt T5's. The old T8's all together pull 960 watts or thereabouts. The new T5's all together pull 1296 watts. The new ones are twice as bright at least. When I step out of the new shop that has 24 T5's and I go to the old shop with 24 T8's I look up at the T8's to see if they came on, there's that much difference. Both shops are about the same square footage with about the same ceiling height and both shops have white walls.


A week ago I put up a new 48 watt LED all night yard light. I'm still evaluating the amount of light it gives out but it seems brighter than the old 175 watt mercury vapor light by the barn. Even if the LED and the mercury vapor give out the same light the LED is pulling less than half the wattage. Hopefully that's a saving my pocketbook some money. The future will tell. The one drawback to switching to new lighting is the initial cost. Jim

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Those 30 year old lamps are likely T12 lamps that are 3/4". T8 seems standard now and four foot T5's seem to be the new high output units.

I can go to Rural King today and buy all the conventional replacement gas can spouts I want.

And the can itself, with the breather?

I don't like those new lightbulbs. They may look like a soft serve icecream cone but they sure don't taste like one!

"Those 30 year old lamps are likely T12 lamps that are 3/4"."
Probably mistyped that one.
T is the lamp shape -tubular. The number is the diameter in 1/8ths of an inch. Thus 12 is 1 1/2". 8 is 1". 5 is 5/8" inch. So the T-12 is 1 1/2" diameter.

Actually, several coal fired power plants are shutting down due to INCREASED regulations and the war on coal.

Was just in Wally World this morning. They had all the 100 watt bulbs you would ever need. The only thing is they were about 4 X higher than they were a year ago when I bought my lifetime supply. For once I made a good investment.