The Trump administration just overturned a ban on old-fashioned lightbulbs

[Zorro]

The Trump administration gave old-fashioned, incandescent lightbulbs a holiday gift Friday: a new lease on life.

The Energy Department made a final determination Friday that it would not impose stricter energy efficiency standards for “general service” lightbulbs set to take effect Jan. 1, on the grounds that they “are not economically justified.” The move affects roughly 3 billion — nearly half — of the bulbs in sockets in U.S. homes.

Consumer groups estimate that the reversal of tighter standards, which stem from a bipartisan 2007 energy law, would boost energy costs by $14 billion a year and will generate 38 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. The Natural Resources Defense Council said the regulatory rollback could boost consumption by an amount equal to the output of 30 large power plants.

“Today the Trump Administration chose to protect consumer choice by ensuring that the American people do not pay the price for unnecessary overregulation from the federal government,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said. “Innovation and technology are already driving progress, increasing the efficiency and affordability of lightbulbs, without federal government intervention. The American people will continue to have a choice on how they light their homes.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/12/20/trump-administration-just-overturned-ban-old-fashioned-lightbulbs/

More pandering to the idiot base that demands incandescent over LED bulbs (which are below $1.50/60W bulb).

[kacekwl]

1. They are as bright

As a burned out bulb.

[Aristus]

2. Do they even make very many incandescent bulbs anymore?

For about the last ten years or so, every bulb in my house has been either a CFB or an LED.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. Swamp

[tblue37]

4. I just changed several incandescent bulbs to LED. Much more light from LED bulbs. nt

[Takket]

5. this is beyond stupid

The manufacturing industry has already switched over to LEDs and the price has dropped to practically nothing. the major manufacturers aren't going to spend millions of dollars retooling their plants again just to start putting out incandescents again.

This is nothing more than pandering to his base by intentionally doing something that damages the environment for their pleasure.

why not just tell the gas industry to start putting lead back in gasoline?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. Don't give them any ideas.

[handmade34]

6. would be hilarious

if it weren't so stupid and dangerous

[Poiuyt]

7. Republicans, with trump in particular, feel that regulations are inherently bad

They don't understand that government regulations PROTECT the people!

[Turbineguy]

8. To RWNJ's

non-incandescent bulbs are a socialist plot.

[doc03]

10. Why would anyone want one after the LEDs? nt

[HAB911]

11. LOL, it's like anti-vaxxers

let 'em waste their money on these bulbs

let 'em die of preventable disease

TOO FUNNY

[Ilsa]

12. Let them pay higher electric bills.

Less money for Dotard45's campaign.

[Captain Zero]

13. this is what he was talking about with flushing; low flow water fixtures are going away next.

mark my words. Any progress in saving energy or resources they want to reverse. Their destructiveness is weird.

[MineralMan]

14. That's really stupid of him. Does he thing manufacturing of them will

start up again? Nobody in the USA actually made incandescent bulbs any longer when the ban was implemented. All of them were made in China, really, except for some specialized ones.

I replaced all of the incandescent bulbs in my house with CFLs the moment they burned out. Now, I have a wide range of LED bulbs in the utility closet and am replacing the CFLs as they fail. Most of the house is lit by LEDs now. I watch for sales on them and pick up a box when they're really cheap. I just saw a good sale for 100W equivalent bulbs, and am planning to buy a couple of boxes to use where a little more light will be nice.

Incandescent bulbs are stupid. They fail quickly and use too much electricity. Screw Trump!

[fescuerescue]

24. It's probably harmless

and probably gets him a few votes.

Like you said, they are not going to spin up the industry again. The incandescent bulb industry is dead and buried.

He get's to appeal to his base and remind a few that they need to go vote for him again.

But the impact of the legislation is nill beyond pandering.

[Tracer]

15. I have mostly LED lights in my house.

I like them but buying them can be confusing! There are so many different kinds, wattage, color range, indoor, outdoor, flood, can lights etc. I have can lights in the kitchen and ONE of them is a different color (whiter) than the others. That annoys me.

I'm also annoyed that replacement holiday light bulbs are no longer sold. I have window candles that are on their final bulbs. If they burn out, I'm outta luck.

[Liberal In Texas]

17. I always check the color temperature on the box.

If it doesn't have it I don't buy it.

[Polybius]

23. No you're not

Just try eBay, you'll get replacements no problem.

[Liberal In Texas]

16. Everything in my house that can be replaced with an LED is

when the current lamp fails. Some of the specialty ones are kind of hard to find yet (like replacement for halogens, grow lights etc.) Only the lava lamp will have an incandescent bulb when I'm done. The electricity saved can be used to charge up my car!

This overturning energy saving regs and laws just shows how ignorant they are.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

18. He also wants to help out buggy whip manufacturers.

[ooky]

19. Who would even buy them?

Next he'll bring back the old Bell telephones? This is beyond stupid.

[fescuerescue]

21. There are a few corner cases

I ran into a few in the last decade.

1) LEDS interfere with garage door opener frequencies. Pop an LED into your opener and it instantly reduces the range of your opener. No worries. They sell special garage door opener bulbs at $10 a pop. But in the case it would be cheaper to use a $2 incandescent.

2) Incandescents produce heat. Lots of heat. Thats why they are inefficient. But sometimes that heat is a feature not a bug. I used to use them to gently heat the engine compartment of my boat in the winter the avoid freezing. What was $2 is now a $100+ specialized heater from a marine store.

3) Certain reptile pets needed them (heat). Now you get to pay $30 for a specialized lizard lamp

So if they made them, I would buy them.

But honestly I don't see them spinning up those factories to make those bulbs. Those factories were shuttered between 08 and 12.

[fescuerescue]

20. They aren't going to spin up the factories to make them

The LEDS make to much sense.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Stupid!

Leaving aside the obvious negative environmentally, the cost of LED bulbs has dropped so significantly that given the long life, and energy cost reduction are cheaper than incandescent bulbs.
Also, those manufacturing lines were shut down YEARS ago. The restart cost and resumption of supply chains for tungsten and heat treated onion glass would be very high!
This is a red meat move for the EPA haters on the right.
My prediction is that despite this boneheaded "deregulation for its own sake" move won't move the needle in the market.