Saturday, February 03, 2007

California Light Bulb Legislation

A legislator named Lloyd Levine wants to outlaw incandescent bulbs in California. I am very much opposed to this. Not because I'm against energy efficiency, but because I'm Pro Choice. I want to be able to choose any light bulb I want. This is America, not a totalitarian regime.

I'm against this also because I don't like fluorescent light. It's from the "cold" end of the spectrum, and I like "warm" light. Is that okay? I guess not.

Saving energy is a good idea. It is conceivable even that there should be legislation related to total energy use, or an economic approach, like taxing gasoline: higher rates for usage above a certain baseline. Then I, as a consumer, can perhaps choose a gas dryer instead of an electric dryer, to save electricity. But to tell me I'm allowed to have an electric dryer and an electric water heater and electric baseboard heat, but I'm not allowed to use incandescent light bulbs, is patently ridiculous.