Texas Bill Targets Federal Light Bulb Ban

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has signed a bill that would effectively repeal a federal ban on incandescent light bulbs within the Lone Star State.

Federal legislation enacted in 2007, the Energy and Security Act, orders the phase-out of the familiar incandescent bulb beginning with the 100-watt bulb in 2012 and ending with the 40-watt light in 2014, because these bulbs cannot meet efficiency requirements dictated by law.

Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are the least expensive alternative. They use about 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and last far longer, but they cost significantly more, take longer to turn on, can flicker, and contain small amounts of highly toxic mercury. This creates problems when they break or need to be disposed of after they burn out.

An effort at the federal level to repeal the 2007 act failed. But a bill in Texas — which would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2012, the same day that the ban on 100-watt bulbs goes into effect — would allow Texans to continue to buy incandescents.

The bill states: “An incandescent light bulb that is manufactured in this state and remains in this state is not subject to federal law or federal regulation under the authority of the United States Congress to regulate interstate commerce.”

But a report by Ryan Brannan of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a nonpartisan research institute, pointed out that the Texas bill will have to survive judicial scrutiny to determine if the interstate commerce clause does apply. There is precedent supporting both sides of the argument, he noted.

Also, it is uncertain if Texas can attract the requisite manufacturer of incandescent bulbs. General Electric has closed its incandescent bulb factories in the United States, firing hundreds of workers.

The manufacture of CFLs, by the way, is too labor intensive to be practical in the U.S., and CFLs will likely be made in China.

“The light bulb ban represents a microcosm of the larger problem with energy efficiency measures, which are promulgated with ever increasing upfront costs to consumers yet with only speculative long-run returns,” Brannan observes.

“The fact is, the incandescent light bulb should be allowed to compete with CFLs, LEDs, halogens, candles, and other current and future technologies. If the incandescent survives, then the market will have made its decision for the betterment of the American consumer and the better bulb would have own.”