Dim bulb Dems shut lights out on American light bulb factories

You know how Democrats wring their wrists and gnash their teeth over eeeeevil corporations "shipping jobs overseas"? Well the Democrat Congress has done it by force of law. They have forced the closing of all light bulb factories in the US. Compact flourescent bulbs - ones that I bought and am in no way happy with (they don't last anywhere near as long as advertised) - will be made in China. Speaking of, did I mention that CFL makers In China have mercury poisoning? It does take mercury, in the deadliest vapor form, for CFLs to operate. Anyone who has read or heard about the EPA recommendation on broken flourescent bulb cleanup knows this already. Mercury is not a good thing to have around, especially in vapor form that could be breathed into your system. In any case, on to the point of this post. From the Washington Post via memeorandum: Light bulb factory closes; End of era for U.S. means more jobs overseas

The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing this month, marking a small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Alva Edison's innovations in the 1870s.

The remaining 200 workers at the plant here will lose their jobs.

...as the lighting industry shows, even when the government pushes companies toward environmental innovations and Americans come up with them, the manufacture of the next generation technology can still end up overseas.

Well... DUH!

What made the plant here vulnerable is, in part, a 2007 energy conservation measure passed by Congress that set standards essentially banning ordinary incandescents by 2014. The law will force millions of American households to switch to more efficient bulbs.

The resulting savings in energy and greenhouse-gas emissions are expected to be immense. But the move also had unintended consequences.

Let me clue you in on something: the switch won't save any energy because the prediction is based on a static premise; that is, that changing the bulbs will not alter human behavior. As a matter of fact, it has been proven that owners of fuel efficient vehicles drive more. Changing to more efficient bulbs will incentivize Americans to use more light and for a longer time. And not by a small amount either. As Henry Payne pointed out a few days ago in The Michigan View, "The Economist reports that a study published in the "Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics" by Jeff Tsao of Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico "predicts that the introduction of solid-state lighting could increase the consumption of light by a factor of ten within two decades."

By 2012, I expect CFLs to be antiquated once LED and plasma bulbs get cheap enough. The light quality from both the LED and plasma alternatives are far better than CFLs. Both technologies are currently more expensive than CFLs, but that will change in time as the technology advances.

More from Gateway Pundit, iOwnTheWorld.com, All American Blogger, National Review, Sweetness & Light, Right Wing News, Althouse and Legal Insurrection

UPDATE: One more note on mercury:

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/09/dim-bulb-dems-shut-lights-out-on.html

Sent with MobileRSS for iPhone

Sent from my iPhone