Feds Ready a Ban On Incandescent Light Bulbs

P. Gardner Goldsmith | April 2, 2023
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If one were to create a Venn Diagram of A) those who suspect that “Energy Secretary” Jennifer Granholm’s Cheshire Cat grins hide an avaricious thirst to ban more than gas stoves and to impede American consumers and suppliers from getting cheaper petrochemical energy, and, B) those who recall the decade-old federal threat to “regulate” out of existence the incandescent light bulb, the two circles would nearly overlap.

And both populations are being proven right, as Granholm and her gang of coercers prepare for the August ban of one of the most important inventions in human history.

Remember, it’s for your protection against the fictitious bogeyman of “Anthropogenic Climate Change” and it will “save you money” – thanks to them deciding for you how you calculate savings and personal preferences.

Thomas Catenacci reports for Fox News:

“The Biden administration is preparing to implement a sweeping nationwide ban on commonly used light bulbs as part of its energy efficiency and climate agenda.

The regulations, which prohibit retailers from selling incandescent light bulbs, were finalized by the Department of Energy (DOE) in April 2022 and are slated to go into effect on Aug. 1, 2023. The DOE will begin full enforcement of the ban on that date, but it has already urged retailers to begin transitioning away from the light bulb type and, in recent months, begun issuing warning notices to companies.”

So, in a hundred years, the U.S. has gone from the insane, impossible notion of “banning alcohol” sales, to the equally insane and impossible scheme of “banning” a lighting source that, in 1874, two Canadians created, and soon sold to Thomas Edison, who would be credited with “invention.”

At least the feds who attacked booze makers, sellers, and consumers in the 1920s had the semi-dignity to institute their paternalistic tyranny by passing an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Related: Global Leaders Invoke WWII 'Austerity' Rhetoric to Justify Economy-Killing Policies | MRCTV

Today, the tyranny always looms, ready to be imposed by bureaucratic whim, as we, the targets, try to remind the people who already get their paychecks via our work that, heck, we appreciate their “care,” but we’d rather be left alone. Instead, Jennifer Granholm seems to think she’s doing us a favor by taking our money to, in turn, take away our freedom to make, sell, or buy LIGHT BULBS.

"’The lighting industry is already embracing more energy efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress to deliver the best products to American consumers and build a better and brighter future,’ Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said last year.”

Here are more delightful details, thanks to FoxNews’ Catenacci:

“Under the rules, incandescent and similar halogen light bulbs will be prohibited in favor of light-emitting diode, or LED, alternatives. While U.S. households have increasingly switched to LED light bulbs since 2015, fewer than half of households reported using mostly or exclusively LEDs, according to the most recent results from the Residential Energy Consumption Survey.

Overall, 47% use mostly or only LEDs, 15% use mostly incandescent or halogens, and 12% use mostly or all compact fluorescent (CFL), with another 26% reporting no predominant bulb type, the federal data showed. In December, the DOE introduced separate rules banning CFL bulbs, paving the way for LEDs to be the only legal light bulbs to purchase.”

And there are more details to make one wonder about how friendly Granholm’s smile really is:

“According to the survey data, LEDs are also far more popular in higher-income households, meaning the energy regulations will particularly impact lower-income Americans. While 54% of households with an income of more than $100,000 per year used LEDs, just 39% of households with an income of $20,000 or less used LEDs.

‘We believe that further regulatory interference in the marketplace is unwarranted given that more energy efficient lighting choices, namely light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, are already available for those consumers who prefer them over incandescent bulbs,’ a coalition of free market and consumer groups opposed to incandescent bulb bans wrote in a comment letter to the DOE last year.”

This last observation is rather important, as a reminder of the fact that ethics and market economics are one-and-the-same. Valuation is subjective, and only through allowing free will in peaceful interactions and market exchanges can people see how others value anything. Not only is it not Granholm’s place to tell people how they value their time, money, or other facets of their lives, but also, by imposing her preferences, she immediately negates real valuation, in this case, in the field of lighting.

"’While LEDs are more efficient and generally longer-lasting than incandescent bulbs, they currently cost more than incandescent bulbs and are inferior for certain functions such as dimming,’ the letter continued. ‘Consumers are best served by retaining the choice between incandescent bulbs and LEDs rather than regulating incandescent bulbs off the market.’"

In fact, consumers only can be served by their own interests. Any imposition by government is, by definition, an infringement on the ability of every consumer to be a consumer.

Oh, but Granholm is protecting us – from that spurious specter of “Anthropogenic Climate Change” – a theory that repeatedly has been shown to lack evidence and shown to have many corrupt figures pushing it with manipulated data.

“The groups added that estimates of the climate benefits of energy efficiency rules are ‘speculative, assumption-driven, and prone to bias in the hands of agencies with a regulatory agenda."

And, even IF someone’s use of a LIGHTBULB were causing a temperature change that another person could claim had brought damage to his property or his person, that’s a matter for a tort lawsuit – for damages, to be proven in front of a jury – not an unconstitutional “energy” department, to handle.

Finally, we can see one last lesson as they prepare to shut down our lights. We can see that those who celebrated Donald Trump stopping this intended action were short-sighted, because, without challenging the unconstitutional and immoral Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency and the aggressive philosophies on which they are built, the possibility of “regulatory resurrection” remained – and has been made real.

“The DOE's rule in April 2022, meanwhile, reversed a Trump administration rule that sought to protect incandescent light bulbs and allow consumers to choose which products they want to purchase. Former President Donald Trump was also personally opposed to LED light bulb adoption, remarking in 2019 that they are often more expensive, not good and make him ‘look orange.’"

The shocking federal authoritarianism already has seen bulb makers change their behavior, making changes in their plants and purchases and plans. So think about that when you search for incandescent bulbs, perhaps imagining a black market, like bootlegging of booze.

If only the light of truth would shine on the bureaucrats, we all would be much better off.

Related: Dem Congresswoman’s Letter Asks Google To Censor Climate Change Skeptics | MRCTV

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