Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Green Diary Rescue: Oh goody! More brown backwardism from the GOP

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At Climate Progress, Stephen Lacey writes Republicans Set To Repeal Light Bulb Efficiency Standard That Would Save Consumers $12 Billion A Year:

In a move that could be called anything but conservative, Republican lawmakers are set to bring a bill to the House floor next week that will repeal state and municipal rights to set efficiency standards for light bulbs.  The bill would unravel a piece of federal legislation that was strongly supported by light bulb manufacturers and has spurred innovation in the lighting industry.

The bill, sponsored by Texas Republican Joe Barton, would strip away any ?federal, state or local requirement or standard regarding energy efficient lighting? that uses light bulbs containing mercury. In other words, all compact fluorescent bulbs.
Remember, in May, Barton, denied there was any ?medical negative? from mercury emitted from coal power plants.  Now he fancies himself a protector of the public from a vastly smaller source of potential mercury poisoning. The reality: There is an extremely small amount of mercury in CFL bulbs. Even after more than 8 hours of exposure to a broken bulb, mercury levels are equal to eating a 6 oz can of tuna.
But that?s not what this is really about.

Barton?s bill targets the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which increases the efficiency of incandescent light bulbs by 27% through 2014. It was a completely non-controversial bill that had bi-partisan support, was strongly supported by light bulb manufacturers (and still is) and was signed into law by George W. Bush.

?When this bill was passed, it was passed by people who knew how to make light bulbs,? says Randall Moorhead, vice president of government affairs at Philips, a leading light bulb producer. ?Everyone supported it. And since then, it?s created more choice for consumers ? we have two incandescent bulbs on the market that weren?t there before.?  ?

If just a third of the 4.4 billion medium screw-based light sockets around the country were replaced with new, efficient incandescent light bulbs, one third with compact fluorescents and one third with LED bulbs, the annual savings could be more than $12 billion a year, says Moorhead.

The Green Diary Rescue has been rescued after a brief hiatus. It appears regularly on Saturdays. Inclusion of a particular diary in the GDR does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.

Haole in Hawaii gave us an nice intermission between meta fights in Hawaii Underwater - A Photo Diary: Day Octopus


Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/u8rvC-yxo4w/-Green-Diary-Rescue:-Oh-goody!-More-brown-backwardism-from-the-GOP

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