Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) on the romance of a Soviet stairwell

[derby378]

That's what he just called the light from a fluorescent bulb on FOX News a few seconds ago in his push to repeal the ban on incandescent bulbs - he said that fluorescent bulbs had "the romance of a Soviet stairwell."

I don't know where he shops for fluorescents, but I got some rather good ones. I will concede that we need to start making fluorescents in America - we can't import them all from China.

[Javaman]

1. Meh.

more stupidity from non-trovercy squad.

good thing this halfwit is blathering on and on about something important. lol

[Taverner]

2. CFBs are so last decade...LEDs are the way to go

[MadHound]

3. Frankly, I hope the 'Pugs are successful in this endeavor,

My wife, due to an eye injury, cannot stand the light from fluorescents, LED's, etc.

I would like to see incandescents made available for these reasons. And frankly, in the greater scope of things, we would be better off pushing for more green renewable energy sources than banning incandescent light bulbs.

[Old and In the Way]

5. There will always be a market for incandescents. We'll just have to pay more.

The world is changing to CFL/LED because they consume less energy than incandescents. They last longer too. That may not be a priority for us, but in places like China, where energy is rationed, it's a big incentive to convert to these newer, more efficient lighting technologies. And they are the world's #1 market for consumption and production, so this conversion will only accelerate as demand for incandescents decline and the costs to make CFL/LEDs are reduced with increasing production and lowered production costs.

[derby378]

7. I've heard of some tungsten deposits being completely depleted for use in bulbs

Granted, without incandescents, progress in electric lighting might have taken a bit longer, but aside from people with genuine eye conditions, if we can reduce tungsten consumption, that's a good thing.

[CurtEastPoint]

4. Well, he must know about those stairwell. Probably because that's where...

never mind. Yikes!

[originalpckelly]

6. I agree, LEDs are so much better.

We have CFLs all over the house and they really just have the ugliest light ever.

[derby378]

8. I'm all out of sockets for now, but will keep LEDs in mind

The CFL I use the most is a 3-way bulb in my study that produces some rather warm and pleasing light. I can see where some lights are fairly harsh and impersonal, and I do try to avoid those unless I need a lot of light in a small space.

[Old and In the Way]

9. I've got some original CFL's that are harsh white and have the ugly 'loopy' design.

But they are now available in warm yellow and there have have a traditional incandescent exterior that hides the 'loopiness'. I use those and I really can't tell the lighting difference between an incandescent and this type of CFL.

[jmowreader]

10. I wonder if he knows fluorescent technology has advanced beyond the ones his mom had

I've been in Soviet stairwells, okay? They're neither better nor worse than anyone else's stairwells, except maybe for Nazi stairwells. Those were pretty bad. (The 7th Army NCO Academy, where I attended leadership school, used to be in the SS officer academy.)

Y'know, from the way the Republicans act you'd think juiced baseball players and light bulbs are the two most pressing problems America has.