Justin Buist

In comments on the previous post Jed points out:

Uh, halogens are incandescent. If the wording in the bill is broad enough, it will ban those too.

I think he’s right.

I went slogging through Section 321 of the final energy bill, and while I’m still quite confused, I don’t see any exemption for halogens and presume they fall under the definition of a general purpose incandescent lamp. I just did a quick refresher on halogen lamp technology while I was at it. From what I gather they’re only slightly more efficient than standard bulbs. What they’re good at is lasting longer is really about it.

The crux of the section is the table spelling out the new efficiency requirements:

Any incandescent kicking out more than 2600 lumens^* or less than 310 lumens isn’t covered by this legislation. That’s spelled out in Sec.321(a)(1)(D)(i)(III) and fairly obvous when you’re looking at the chart. I have no idea what would be at the high end of that spectrum, but at the lower end it looks like our betters are going to permit us to keep little night lights around the house to keep the kiddies from seeing monsters and the adults from stubbing our toes in the dead of night.

Thanks, congress! We love you too!

So, halogens, do we get to keep them? Well, I just put in 4 50W halogen bulbs in my kitchen area the other week. I’ve tossed the packaging so let’s see if we can find them online. This looks about right. Lumen output: 550.

Yep, that’s half as much output as Congress wants for 50W of usage. Golly, if an $8 bulb isn’t good enough for them just what the heck am I going to have to spend to find something that is?

^*UPDATE: Apparently something like this bulb is a regular incandescent bulb that’ll kick out north of 2600 lumens (based on some math in my head) by pushing 250W through the filament. Problem: They only last for 3 hours!

Congress has decided to phase them out.

Come Jan. 1, 2012 you’ll no longer be able to buy a standard 100W bulb. By 2014 they’ll all be gone, save for a few select applications like the bulb in your oven or dryer.

Tam asks “Why the selective outrage?”

From the comments there, I think we have the answer from Brian J:

No one was paying attention because:

Toilet tanks and shower heads are the plumber’s problems.
A/C is the HVAC guy’s problem.
Catalytic converters are the mechanic’s problem.

Now, suddenly, the government is impeding a task that the common man can do, and something that the normal citizen pays for regularly. Now, in essence, they have come for the me.

Yep, that’s about it I think.

This bill was passed just days after I went shopping for more light bulbs. Bulbs have been popping around here lately and it was just plain ‘ole time. Four halogens for the kitchen, 2 100W bulbs for the dining room light fixture, an extra “65W” CFL for above my desk, even though the 75W incandescent flood light hadn’t burned out yet, some extra CFLs for the random bulbs that will eventually burn out.

You see, I’m already buying CFLs for applications where they make sense. Unfortunately, they’re just not “there” yet in a number of ways. I’m not sure which color output I like best, and I don’t even always check the labels, so sometimes I end up with a bulb that just looks stupid in a certain room. Or, like the new one above my work desk, it buzzes. I can handle that for work, but there’s no way I’d want to put 11 of those in my living room right now.

Further, 10 out of the 11 bulbs in my living room are on dimmers. A CFL that’ll run on a dimmer is about $15-$16 a pop right now. That’s $150 right there to replace them all en masse. Forgive me for not looking forward to this come 2014. For the whole house (a lot of it is on dimmers) we’re looking at about $450. The exterior lights? Well, they’re not on dimmers but there are some problems with CFLs in the cold weather. They take time to heat up. You can see this in a room that’s already 72 degrees, I’m sure they don’t light up too quick outside when it’s 19 degrees as it is right now.

It’s bullshit, but come 2014 when we’re left with nothing but Halogen and CFLs on the shelves nobody will remember why, and we’ll buy them, and bitch about how the bulb companies aren’t putting out any good products any more, just like we piss and moan when our “low flush” toilet leaves a turd floating to the top of the bowl, forgetting why it’s there.