A little while back, during the Rule of Barak I – may he live restlessly in his propane-backup-powered sea-level mansion – his Czars made waves about the light bulbs you should be allowed to use. They preferred the curly ones from China with the poisonous mercury inside.
If you broke one, the EPA had rules and warnings, and unlike the cheap and reliable incandescent, you could not just toss them away (though many did).
You don’t see Compact Fluorescents as much, and not just because the Biden administration recently banned their sale. They have been eclipsed by LED bulbs, which last longer and lack the same hazardous innards – but incandescents are still cheaper and available, at least until August of 2023.
Under the rules, incandescent and similar halogen light bulbs will be prohibited in favor of light-emitting diode, or LED, alternatives. While U.S. households have increasingly switched to LED light bulbs since 2015, fewer than half of households reported using mostly or exclusively LEDs, according to the most recent results from the Residential Energy Consumption Survey.
… In December, the DOE introduced separate rules banning CFL bulbs, paving the way for LEDs to be the only legal light bulbs to purchase.
Guess who will be hit hardest by this compassionate, progressive mandate? Low-income “families.”
Because of its higher cost, LED lighting is overwhelmingly preferred by those with a bit more disposable income, while those with less can defer to the cheaper good ol’ standby – incandescents—better stock up. And maybe buy some candles before they ban those as well.
The Bidenistas have come for the Edison bulbs, but not everyone agrees it is a good idea.
“We believe that further regulatory interference in the marketplace is unwarranted given that more energy efficient lighting choices, namely light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, are already available for those consumers who prefer them over incandescent bulbs,” a coalition of free market and consumer groups opposed to incandescent bulb bans wrote in a comment letter to the DOE last year.
“While LEDs are more efficient and generally longer-lasting than incandescent bulbs, they currently cost more than incandescent bulbs and are inferior for certain functions such as dimming,” the letter continued. “Consumers are best served by retaining the choice between incandescent bulbs and LEDs rather than regulating incandescent bulbs off the market.”
We use LEDs in my home because it makes (cents). The Electric rates in New Hampshire have always been high. They are now the second highest in the nation, thanks to a mix of legislative and bureaucratic meddling and mismanaged mandates by service providers. Paying a little more for LED bulbs inevitably saves me money. It also forces you to change your habits and behaviors, which is what the Left is after. By making electricity expensive, they gain leverage. But it is always at the expense of the people the ruling class claim to champion.
Those they loathe.
Since long before Jonathon Swift’s Modest Proposal, the ruling class has trampled on the poor, many of whom are trapped there because that is where those in charge want them, especially in the once-prosperous West.
Poor, disenfranchised, race, sex, or gender-baited mobs make for a good revolution. And while the proto-Marixst Democrat socialists pretend to champion the victims, they only want their votes. The moment they’ve achieved the perennial one-party state and no longer need voting (it feels like we’re there already if you ask me), the only thing the victims should expect is that their numbers will swell.
That means more hands and mouths fighting for the same or dwindling resources, leaving everyone with less except those in charge. And, thanks to new rules regarding visible radiation, in the dark, which is precisely where your would-be “betters” want you.
