LIGHT BULBS & THE ENERGY DEBATE

Why the Election is Bad for Cleantech, Reason #1; Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) wants to take America back to the nineties. The eighteen-nineties.
Eric Wesoff, November 12, 2010 (Greentech Media)

"…[Because] Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) knows he has to accomplish something other than yammer about creeping socialism…statesman-like compromise [may be on the 112th Congress’s] agenda…[but] less statesman-like members of the Republican party have other ideas. Like taking America back to the nineties. The eighteen-nineties.

"Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), warming up to repealing health care reform, and fresh from apologizing to BP for letting our ocean water dilute their oil, is also taking on the noble cause of preserving the [incandescent light bulb and…is railing against "government regulators" who want to replace the inefficient incandescent with what Barton called "the little, squiggly, pig-tailed ones," according to an article in Talking Points Memo…Barton appears to be talking about compact fluorescents. Unknown to Barton or his staff is that we're in the midst of the great lighting transformation -- with solid-state LEDs on the cusp of transforming the lighting industry…"

From AssociatedPress via YouTube

"The Edison bulb and dinosaurs like Barton will soon be a relic and CFLs are an interim step.

"The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, requires that general-purpose light bulbs that produce 310 to 2600 lumens be 30 percent more energy efficient than current incandescent bulbs by 2012 to 2014. The efficiency standards will start with 100-watt bulbs in January 2012 and end with 40-watt bulbs in January 2014. That ruling was passed in 2007 when socialist George Bush was President. Specialty lights are exempt. A number of other governments have passed laws to phase-out the use of the extremely inefficient Edison bulb."

Barton's preference for "traditional" light bulbs will cost consumers. (click to enlarge)

"Barton, eerily, is the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and one of the men vying to be the chair of that powerful panel when Republicans take over the House in 2011. It is reasonable to believe that a Republican-controlled committee could erase years of progress in renewable and energy efficiency legislation.

"Barton is not a shoo-in for the post as it will require a waiver of House Republican committee term-limit rules to get the chair and even the Republican party was less than happy about Barton's supplication to BP. Additionally, John Boehner competed against Barton back in 2006 when Republicans were choosing a minority leader…Barton told an audience at the Heritage Foundation…[he seeks to] reestablish conservative principles in the Congress and the country…Inefficiency [though] is not a conservative principle and energy efficiency measures should be a bi-partisan undertaking."