Trump pulls plug on light bulb hysteria

FPI / September 6,  2019

Analysis by Andrew Moran, LibertyNation.com

It is time to put an end to Thomas Edison’s legacy and blame him for the world’s demise in the next decade. That psychiatrist who recently appeared on CNN got it all wrong. It is not President Donald Trump who is responsible for more deaths than Hitler, Mao, and Stalin. It is Thomas Edison, despite being dead for nearly a century. He birthed a monster that lurks over your head or next to you on your side table, waiting to strike and wreak havoc on the planet by giving us a warm, comfortable, and inexpensive source of light. This is unprecedented evil that we will never witness again. How can such wickedness ever exist? 

During the eight-year throne of former President Barack Obama, the administration attempted to phase out incandescent and halogen light bulbs by 2020. The White House’s strict energy efficiency standards targeted billions of bulbs used for vanities, chandeliers, and bathrooms. The purpose was to reduce pollution levels and slash Americans’ energy bills by pushing consumers to LEDs.

Department of Energy (DOE) officials recently experienced a light bulb moment over their heads as the federal government repealed this Obama-era rule. It eliminated efficiency standards for about half of the light bulbs on the market, but the agency kept certain measures intact, such as shapes of bulbs and recessed lighting.

Despite hysterical left-leaning news outlets proclaiming that the sky is falling, the DOE defended the move by noting that it will have little impact on the overall market because people can still by all types of bulbs.

“This rule does not prevent consumers from buying the lamps they desire, including efficient options. The market is successfully transitioning to LEDs regardless of government regulation. Consumers are clearly taking advantage of the energy savings provided by LEDs,” the DOE wrote in a statement.

Instead of politicians determining the light bulb market, the consumer will choose. The data show that shoppers will continue to buy LED bulbs, mainly because of the savings on their bills. But that is not enough for some organizations; they want to use force – and watts of it.

Noah Horowitz, director of the Center for Energy Efficiency Standards at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said in a statement that incandescent bulbs continue to account for 45% of the market. He added that his group will consider legal action … over light bulbs.

Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, compared the decision to “trying to protect the horse and buggy from the automobile industry.” There is a big difference, though: Government did not try to steer society toward the vehicle and away from horses. The free market achieved that feat.

The government is coming for your comfortable, warm, and inexpensive incandescent and halogen light bulbs. Upset by it? Well, you are only perturbed by this intervention because the fossil fuel industry is manipulating you to complain. Your anger over governments declaring war on plastic straws in favor of paper alternatives is also being amplified by Big Oil. You have no independent thought of your own.

That is the reasoning of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who conceded during CNN’s seven-hour (gasp!) Climate Town Hall that the sector is depending on the public to squabble over bulbs and straws rather than address the real environmental issues at hand. It might make sense that she does not view the war on the bulb a big deal since her Native ancestors relied on man-made fires for their lighting needs. 

Plus, isn’t it usually progressive politicians who go apoplectic over plastic bags and straws anyway?

Perhaps it is time to turn off the lights on mass hysteria and use common sense. The next time you select a cheap 20-watt incandescent light bulb over an LED for your small Ikea desk lamp at the dollar store, you can take comfort in the fact that it is not causing the Arctic ice to melt or the extinction of animals. It might trigger seizures in environmentalists who depend on their iPhone screen light to see in the dark, but it has a negligible effect on Mother Nature.

So, go read your Thomas Edison biography, Inventing the World, under a 100-watt bulb.

Free Press International