Incandescent light bulbs are going the way of the horse and buggy. And with them 200 manufacturing jobs at the General Electric plant in Winchester, Virginia.
The Washington Post called it “the end of an era.” The light bulb has changed very little from Thomas Edison’s basic concept until now.
But why is it changing now? Why are manufacturing jobs going away in the middle of this recession?
Fluorescent light bulbs changed the commercial market but didn’t impact the household market very much until compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) came along. CFLs were a much more energy efficient product. They lasted four times as long as incandescent bulbs. The problem is that they originally cost more than four times as much and Americans were reluctant to buy them. Although the price of CFLs has come down, 75% of the light bulbs sold in America are still incandescent.
So what’s a CFL manufacturer to do? Why, call their friends in the US Congress and the EPA.
Energy efficiency meant the CFL bulbs could be marketed as a “green” solution and that’s very popular on Capitol Hill. So in 2007, the Democratic controlled Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act, which imposed new energy-efficiency mandates on light bulbs sold for private homes. The legislation essentially banned incandescent light bulbs and created a 100% market share for CFLs starting in 2014.
Three years later, the unintended consequences of the legislation are already apparent.
Goodbye Winchester made light bulbs. Hello federally mandated CFLs.
Goodbye well-paying American jobs. CFLs are made almost exclusively in China.
And what about the environment? Well, CFLs are much more energy efficient but they also contain trace amounts of mercury, which is toxic and requires special handling and disposal. While the amount of mercury is not large enough to pose a household hazard, they do present a disposal challenge for landfills. Ideally, CFLs should be carefully sequestered and recycled using special processing methods. But not all local recycling facilities are equipped to process CFLs and many consumers are not aware of the long-term environmental hazards posed by discarding CFLs in trash that is headed for the landfill.
What’s at stake when big business joins with Congress and regulators to mandate that consumers buy a product for which there is far less demand in the unimpeded market?
Only liberty.
And jobs.
