Letter: Rumored ‘light bulb ban’ is bogus, he says
TO THE EDITOR: A word about the dreaded “light bulb ban.”
The ban is bogus. Uninformed people have been spreading false rumors that President Obama is going to outlaw the familiar incandescent light bulb and is going to force consumers to buy those twisted looking compact fluorescent lamps.
Indeed, the U.S. Congress passed energy legislation in 2007 by broad bipartisan majorities. President George W. Bush signed it into law. The legislation did not ban incandescent light bulbs. It set new efficiency standards for general purpose lighting. The lighting efficiency standards started being phased in last month.
The law requires that new light bulbs be 28 percent more efficient than previous conventional bulbs, which wasted 90 percent of their energy throwing off heat. Philips, GE and Sylvania have already beat the law’s deadline and have introduced incandescent products that meet the law’s requirements. The new bulbs have that familiar light bulb shape and deliver the same amount of light and produce the same warm coloring.
They can be used with dimmer switches and don’t have a speck of mercury in them. They shed the same light as the bulbs we’ve always used before, except they are more energy-efficient. It’s not a bulb ban. It’s a product upgrade.
The new and improved bulbs are already on the market today. You can choose whether or not to buy them. You can also buy compact fluorescent bulbs or LED lighting. These same options will be in place next year and the years following unless Congress changes the law.