Energy Bill: Federal Meddling

When the federal government continues on the path laid down by incorporation of the 14th Amendment, it always makes life more difficult.

Take just one example: the freewheeling elimination of the incandescent bulb. Why do you suppose federal grandaddy thought that it was necessary to tell me how to light my home? Is he really concerned about reducing my electric bill? Or maybe it's energy consumption. EarthEasy tells me (with no substantiation)

Replacing a single incandescent bulb with a CFL will keep a half-ton of CO2 out of the atmosphere over the life of the bulb. If everyone in the U.S. used energy-efficient lighting, we could retire 90 average size power plants. Saving electricity reduces CO2 emissions, sulfur oxide and high-level nuclear waste.

Well, there you have it... grandaddy is going to "retire 90 average size power plants" and save the world by forcing me to purchase light bulbs that are not as brilliant and contain mercury, which makes disposal more difficult and possibly costly.

Don't get me wrong...I have compact fluorescents...I just don't want grandaddy mandating something that he doesn't understand...something that Congress has shown a marked propensity for doing lately.

Want to know why this is in there? Two words: Corporate Welfare

Manufacturers expect over the next decade to provide consumers with other choices as well, since CFLs don’t work as well in applications such as reading lamps.

“It’s the right thing to do,” says Randall B. Moorhead, vice president for the North American affiliate of Royal Phillips Electronics NV of the Netherlands. “But we’re also hoping we’ll make some money. It’s not entirely altruistic.”

No kidding.