Turn out the lights, the party is over

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/07/12/house-turns-out-lights-bulb-ban

Okay far be it from me to quote Faux News on anything but this seems like a fairly safe subject since there is no footage to be doctored or photos to mix up. I mean, even those dimbulbs (Get it the blog is about light bulbs so I called them Dimbulbs as a kind of clever play on words? Get it?) can't mess this one up. If it turns out they fabricated, exaggerated or other kind of -ated this report I will offer a full apology.

Now as my good friend pointed out when he brought this article to my attention, we are facing an economic crisis of unparalleled proportions where all attentions should be focused on keeping us afloat and our politicians have time for this crap? Still, let us ignore that little tidbit and actually focus on the issue at hand. Light bulbs.

Here is a fact, the incandescent light bulb, which has existed pretty much unchanged since Edison threw the first switch well over a century ago, is woefully inefficient. For the meager amount of light each bulb produces, it also produces a hell of a lot more heat. The average bulb lasts a few months then burns out and we have to run around in the dark trying to find another one. They use way to much electricity for the job they do.

Here is the other side to that story. Compact Fluorescent Bulbs contain some small amounts of toxic chemicals (although newer models are correcting that) and cost much more than a IB does. They are difficult to make in lower wattage and tend to be funny looking. (Always remind me of pig tails or curly fries)

On the other hand, they use far less electricity and tend to last forever. I have CFB in certain parts of my house that have burned pretty much 24/7 for 5 or more years. Sure I paid $6.00 for one back then (They are much cheaper now) but if you figure $6.00 for 5+ years that's about $1.20 per year. I can promise you that replacing IB during that same time would have cost a lot more.

Briefly, the new Next generation LED bulbs coming out have all the benefits of both IB and CFB with none of the negatives except for price. They are still very expensive, but just like CFB, those prices will come down in time.

What the argument seems to be is, "Why should we change? This (insert product here) works just fine and has worked just fine since I was a boy/girl." Our Poli-tickans are stopping progress that will save money, energy and resources simply because they grew up with the IB illuminating their school books. Well, it is time to start changing and start rethinking. You can't stop progress, not matter how hard you try. The best you can do is slow it down a little. Green it and mean it, guys!