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Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) may have some explaining to do to fellow GOP colleagues as he seeks the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, given the incoming wave of new conservatives who may not appreciate some aspects of Upton's voting record.
Upton joined with Rep. Jane Harman (D.-Calif.) in 2007 to co-author the legislation that effectively banned indoor incandescent light bulbs in the United States. In the last Congress, he an Harman teamed up again to offer new legislation that would extend the ban on incandescent bulbs to outdoor lighting also.
"In 2007, Harman and Upton introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation--which became law as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act--that bans the famously inefficient 100-watt incandescent light bulb by 2012, phases out remaining inefficient light bulbs by 2014, and requires that light bulbs be at least three times as efficient as today's 100-watt incandescent bulb by 2020," explained a 2009 press release put out by the two House members.
Under a 2007 energy law, manufacturers must start phasing out incandescent bulbs in favor of more-efficient bulbs such as compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs. While CFLs use at least 75% less energy, some consumers complain the lighting is dimmer, doesn't look as warm and doesn't come on right away. Some also worry about the disposal requirements because of the bulbs' tiny mercury content. The American Lighting Association's Larry Lauck hasn't seen "statistical signs" of stockpiling but has heard anecdotal reports.
Ilse Metchek of Los Angeles tried to convert to CFLs but was so unhappy she squirreled away about three dozen incandescents, so "I will be able to read in bed without squinting." Most Americans plan to switch to more-efficient bulbs, according to a recent survey by lighting company Osram Sylvania. Yet, given that cheaper incandescents are still in plentiful supply, some consumers can't resist stocking up. Sue Larkin of Tulsa has hundreds: "I can't see a thing with the new bulbs and can't afford them anyway." Says Susan Drake of Marietta, Ohio, "I have stocked up on enough incandescent bulbs to last for the next 50 years."
Such reports are common whenever a new standard is introduced, says the Natural Resources Defense Council's Noah Horowitz. He says consumers will still be able to buy incandescents, but new ones will have more-efficient halogen capsules. "Unless you prefer paying higher electricity bills, there's no reason to hoard old incandescent bulbs," Horowitz says. About 13% of Americans said they would stock up on 100-watt incandescents and continue using them after they are phased out in January, says the Osram Sylvania survey. The 75-watt version will be phased out in 2013, and the 60-watt and 40-watt in 2014.
Home Depot stores in California, where 100-watt incandescent bulbs were banned Jan. 1, a year ahead of the national schedule, has seen an uptick in sales of incandescents. But CFLs are selling better, too, thanks to increased awareness, says spokeswoman Jean Niemi. Those disappointed with CFL lighting might prefer the 72-watt halogen incandescent that Horowitz says will give off the same light as the old 100-watt bulb. He says they cost about $2 each but can save $3 in electricity over their 1,000-hour life span. Another option, he says, is the LED (light emitting diode), which lasts even longer than CFLs and uses less power. He expects high LED prices to fall dramatically.
Some consumers resist 'green' light bulbs - USATODAY.com
Speaking before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Howard M. Branston spoke out in favor of the "Better Use of Light Bulbs Act" a measure which would overturn elements of a 2007 law mandating that traditional incandescent light bulbs be phased out over the next few years. In his testimony, Branston claimed that parts of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act served as a de-facto ban on traditional incandescent light bulbs and that compact florescent light bulb, or CFLs -- the most popular alternative to incandescent bulbs (ordinary light bulbs) -- pose a risk to public health and safety.
The compact fluorescent lamp contains mercury, said Branston. One gram of mercury will pollute a two acre pond. This 2007 light bulb standard brings a deadly poison into every residence in our nation. We do not have enough knowledge of the potential consequences of being continuously exposed to the electro magnetic field that compact florescent lamps emit. There are millions of people in this country with Lupus, an auto immune disease. Exposure to low doses of light from these lamps causes a sever rash.
Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) expressed similar concerns, during his questioning of the panel. Has anybody looked at the EPA recommendations put out in January 25, 2011 about what you do if one of these mercury light bulbs break in your home? Risch asked.
In Idaho, weve had a number of instances where theyve had a mercury spill in a science laboratory or something in the laboratory in the school, and they immediately closed the school down for, I dont know, a number of days while they cleaned it up, he pointed out. Can you imagine mercury bulbs throughout a school? I mean, any time a kid wants a day off hes going to break a mercury light bulb and thats going to shut that school down and if they dont theyre going to have trouble with the EPA according to what has to happen to clean it up, Risch added.
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MIT researchers discovered that by wrapping the filament of an incandescent bulb with a “photonic crystal,” they could “recycle” the energy that was typically lost as heat to create more light. The new technique “makes a dramatic difference in how efficiently the system converts electricity into light,” said the research team led by MIT professors Marin Soljačić, John Joannopoulos and Gang Chen. Their results were published online in the January edition of the journal Nature Nanotechnology. “The heat just keeps bouncing back in toward the filament until it finally ends up as visible light,” MIT post-doctoral researcher Ognjen Ilic explained. “It reduces the energy that would otherwise be wasted.”
In 2007, Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act, which set new energy conservation standards for lighting fixtures and other products by 2014 in order to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The “new light bulb law”, as it was called, required “25 percent greater efficiency for household light bulbs that have traditionally used between 40 and 100 watts of electricity,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The stringent new standards effectively prohibited the manufacture of most ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the U.S. As a result, GE shuttered the last domestic incandescent light bulb factory in the nation in 2010, laying off 200 workers in Winchester, Virginia. Since then, incandescent bulbs have been largely replaced with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) and light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. In February, GE announced that due to poor sales, it would no longer make or sell CFLs – which contain mercury - in the U.S., and will focus on the more expensive, but longer lasting LEDs instead.
Protoytpe of a new energy efficient incandescent light bulb.
But a new generation of incandescent bulbs could be twice as energy efficient as LEDs without the drawbacks, including higher initial cost and “inconsistent” white light. “Whereas the luminous efficiency of conventional incandescent lights is between 2 and 3 percent, that of fluorescents (including CFLs) is between 7 and 15 percent, and that of most commercial LEDs between 5 and 20 percent, the new two-stage incandescents could reach efficiencies as high as 40 percent,” according to a press release from MIT. The MIT researchers noted that the greater increase in energy efficiency also comes with “exceptional reproduction of colours and scalable power.”
In February, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) introduced the Energy Efficiency Free Market Act of 2016 (HR 4504), which would prohibit states and federal agencies from adopting “any requirement to comply with a standard for energy conservation or water efficiency with respect to a product.” “This legislation eliminates the overreaching arm of the federal government that continues to force itself into the household of the American consumer,” Burgess said. “When the market drives the standard, there’s no limit to how rapidly manufacturers can respond when consumers demand more efficient and better-made products.” According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), commercial and residential users in the U.S. used 412 billion kilowatthours of electricity for lighting in 2014. Lighting accounted for 15 percent of their total electricity use.
Scientists Build a Better Incandescent Light Bulb… Six Years After Last US Factory Closes
