Meet the Halogena and stop pretending it's 1950
Meet the Halogena.
This is an incandescent light bulb that actually meets the new energy standards for lighting that go into effect at the end of the year. Did you hear that? It's an incandescent light bulb. It meets the new energy standards.
The Halogena was developed by Philips Electronics and is available now at Amazon and Home Depot and will go into wider circulation as the year marches ever forward.
How it really works is as easy as it's far innovative. Inside of every Halogena bulb is a halogen bulb and once became on, it shines with all of the obtrusive brilliance of a wellknown 100-watt light bulb although it's just a 70-watt bulb.
A certain faction of a positive political celebration in the US has latched onto the brand new electricity requirements and has used them to attract a line inside the sand. Politicians across the land have bent over backwards to soothe this very loud faction and feature made endless guarantees to fight what's being billed (erroneously) as a ban on incandescent light bulbs. Lost in all of this is that the real standard in query changed into signed into regulation with the aid of a Republican president.
Just this afternoon, in a fit of grandstanding and posturing while Rome burns, the House of Representatives voted to block funds to implement these new energy standards. From The New York Times this afternoon:
The House on Friday voted to withhold funding to put in force part of a 2007 regulation that increases performance standards for light bulbs.
The new requirements, which could require most light bulbs to be 25 to 30 percent greater efficient with the aid of 2014 and as a minimum 60 percentage extra efficient by way of 2020, have turn out to be a image of what conservatives see as an needless intrusion by means of the federal authorities into the marketplace.
Although the guidelines do not specify what forms of bulbs are allowed, the standards could have the effect of putting off the traditional 100-watt incandescent bulb by means of Jan. 1, 2012. You can't pretend the 21st Century isn't always here no matter how hard you strive. Really, you just cannot. The United States is on a collision course with reality as our strength needs outstrip our capacity to satisfy them. A hundred-watt incandescent light bulbs are outrageously inefficient customers of scarce resources and the era is already right here to segment them out.
Using resources wisely and issues related to sustainability aren't partisan issues, or at least the shouldn't be. Stewarding resources sensibly is part of what it is to be a good citizen. Not only are we compelled as members of a society to think beyond out immediate needs and wants, finding better solutions to problems like inefficient lighting saves money. Public resources like energy delivery and water belong to all of us, not just who ever can buy the most. Hence the term public resources.
Market forces and private industry can't solve every problem on their own. If that were true we'd still be driving four-ton death traps that got nine miles per gallon of gas. Setting standards for things like safety, water quality and energy efficiency is one of the things government is for for crying out loud.
If you're as appalled by today's vote in the House as I am, please call your Representative. If you think the vote today is a good thing, embrace the 21st Century and head on over to Amazon to buy some of these because you cannot stop time no matter how hard you try. And let's repeat it until the bullheaded realize that it's true. No. One. Is. Banning. Incandescent. Light. Bulbs.