For over a century, it was regarded as a brilliant innovation. And truly, it was. It’s easy now to take the lowly lightbulb for granted amidst the many marvels of technology that amaze and titillate us on a daily basis. But the fact is, the incandescent lightbulb literally ushered in the modern age of enlightenment.
Beginning in the Bush Administration, however, the status of the lightbulb started to change. Because they deemed it used too much energy. Which I get. People do use too many lights. And we walk away and leave them on. And we need to be wiser about our energy use, more mindful of climate change, and conserving our limited natural resources, etc. Understood. So…?
What was their solution? Well, all I can say is that the “low-energy” lightbulb manufacturers must have some crazy powerful lobbyists, because within a span of just a handful of years, the United States and many other countries around the world suddenly banned the incandescent bulb.
In their place were new government-mandated low-energy lightbulbs. And by the way, these new bulbs cost many times more. The light they emit is cold and harsh (I absolutely hate them! I elaborate more further down). Many of them contain highly poisonous materials. But, you know what? You don’t have a choice!
Well, at least, that was the case until just this week. The Trump Administration announced that it is reversing this well-intended but wrong-headed policy, which I’m thankful for—but honestly a little nervous about, as well. That is, I disagree with most of Trump’s policies, and especially any efforts to roll back rules and safeguards that protect our environment. So it does make me wonder, if but for a moment, if I could be possibly be on the wrong side of this one (Hmmmm)…??
Nope. I’m definitely not wrong. And here’s why.
First, if energy efficiency was the goal, then why didn’t the government instead mandate motion-sensor light controls, so we never leave lights on unnecessarily? Here’s one for under $10 – not much more than what one of those energy-efficient lightbulbs costs. Remember, you’ll have to spend this same amount again and again, every time one of those fancy bulbs burns out. And despite manufacturer’s claims, everyone who’s ever bought one knows that energy-efficient lightbulbs don’t last any longer than regular, old-fashioned incandescents. At least, mine never have!
Another way to reduce raw energy usage would have been to mandate that all lightbulbs henceforth must use, say, 10% less electricity. So then, a 100W bulb would now be manufactured to burn at 90W. A 75W bulb would become a 68W bulb. A 60W bulb, 54W. And so on. Wouldn’t that have been easier? So, then, can we go back to regular, inexpensive incandescent lightbulbs yet?
Aesthetically, I absolutely hate the new energy-efficient bulbs. The light they give off is “cold” and hard on my eyes. I much prefer the warm orange-y glow that regular incandescent lightbulbs give off. None of the various types of energy-efficient bulbs offer anything close to this pleasant wavelength of light.
So to summarize, energy-efficient lightbulbs are cold and harsh, they’re vastly more expensive, and they really don’t last any longer than older incandescent bulbs. Right. And some consider this progress in the 21st Century?
It gets worse. Many of these new lightbulbs aren’t recyclable, nor can they be put in the trash like regular incandescent bulbs. So when they do burn out, a special trip must be planned to a toxic disposal facility (usually a very long trek out to the edge of your county, on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, down a bumpy dirt road…etc., etc.). Same place you dump your paint, chemicals and batteries. You’d never send your mother there.
But economics, aesthetics, toxicity and convenience be damned? Energy efficiency is important, but it should never have been the entire story.
The way I see it, we should have considered dozens of other ways to reduce energy consumption before forcing energy-efficient lightbulbs down anyone’s throat. But that’s all water under the bridge, at this point. I wonder how long it will be until we can purchase incandescent lightbulbs in the stores once more. Believe it or not, once upon a time, you didn’t need to buy them at all…
Free Lightbulbs For All!
Up until I was a teen, every family in the Detroit area got their lightbulbs at no cost. Nobody (outside of Detroit) believes me at first when I tell them this, but it’s true: Detroit Edison actually accepted returns of all of our burned-out lightbulbs—and then they’d exchange them for sacks full of brand new bulbs. You’d bring your old bulbs in, and they’d give you new ones. FREE!
Can you imagine if a public utility or a lightbulb manufacturer were to do that today?
A lifetime replacement policy like that was and would again be a strong incentive to manufacture lightbulbs that last. In the many years since then, as a homeowner, I’ve made a point of avoiding certain brands (GE!) because they’d always burn out after only a few months of use. I always thought to myself that Thomas Edison would be spinning in his grave if he knew how bad his company’s bulbs had become. And so it was inevitable…
I Finally Found a Better Bulb!
Now, I’m stubborn as hell and I don’t like to be told what I can and cannot do. So rather than giving in and putting up with all of the well-intended stupidity, I decided instead to focus my energy on finding a new source for the old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs I wanted.
And after poking around online for a while, I stumbled upon a find that made all my deep searching worthwhile: they’re called “Rough Service” lightbulbs – because they’re made for “industrial” applications, like garage door openers and use in factories, etc. They’re regular incandescent bulbs (!) but they’re made extra durable, with reinforced filaments to handle vibration and shock.
So, wait. These lightbulbs look and work the same as the incandescent bulbs that they’d banned, they cost the same and last longer. What am I missing? Wouldn’t I have to be a little thick headed not to buy these? So I did! It’s been two years now, and I have YET to replace any of the “rough service” bulbs that I installed around my house and outside in my yard. Crazy! Not a one!
I will admit that my “off the grid” solution runs counter to the spirit of the laws that were put in place to help us wasteful Americans become more energy efficient. And I really do hope that the Western World has a cultural epiphany at some point soon and moves in so many ways toward habits that include lower energy usage and generally embrace more sustainable lifestyles.
There’s definitely a big role for government to play in a complex society. But some of the best solutions to our problems may be the simplest. We just have to be able to see them.
Less Is So Much More.
For example, practically every day that I was away at college, I could find empty lecture halls with bank upon bank of lights left on, brightly illuminating every inch of those cavernous rooms… for nobody. And so, on my way to my next class, I would duck into these halls and, one by one, switch off the lights. In my 6-1/2 years there (Yeah, so I was a professional student! But that’s a whole ‘nother story), I’d bet I saved the college many thousands of dollars.
Ironically, politicians at that time were lobbying the public for funding to add a second nuclear electric reactor to the shores of Lake Michigan to address what they were predicting would be a 10% shortfall in electrical capacity in the region in the coming decade. I thought to myself this is crazy–we could save at least that 10% they were talking about by simply turning off lights when we’re not using them, just as I’d been doing in the lecture halls.
Fast-forward forty years and have we learned anything? Do we really need more power plants? Or government-mandated lightbulbs? The way I see it, what’s needed today is more common sense, more mindfulness about the limits of our natural world, more openness to change as we continue to learn, and more politicians who will lead us to live as a society with a vastly smaller footprint than what we’ve become used to in the Western World.
Am I forgetting anything?
