Anyone willing to place money on an outright ban on the sale (let alone use) of incandescent bulbs in the US had better be ready, willing, and able to lose his money! IT WON'T HAPPEN. It would be political suicide for any legislator who voted for it. I can, however, easily imagine a high tax on incandescents, such that they would cost more to purchase initially than do CFLs. (Note, though, that to keep the companies that sell incandescents from using lobbying to prevent the passage of the tax, all major suppliers of incandescents would also have to supply CFLs. That way, the companies would lose no revenue--and presumably lose no profit--from the imposition of the tax.) Since incandescents typically last only about 10% as long as CFLs and use four to five times as much energy, the tax would make incandescents completely economically unattractive except in a few specialized cases. Sales to DXers would be one of those cases--but not the only one.
I have lamps in the house whose shades clamp over the spherical portion of incandescent bulbs. Such shades are not uncommon. The clamps don't work on CFLs. Replacing each lamp (or even just the shade--if there were a suitable shade--but I know of no shades designed to clamp onto CFLs) would cost upwards of $100 per lamp. Fortunately, the lamps don't get much use, so it would take decades for me to recoup the cost of the extra energy they use--let alone the cost of replacement lamps. If the new tax were enacted, I would gladly (OK, maybe not THAT gladly) pay $10.00 each ($9.00 of which would be for the new tax) for replacement incandescent bulbs. -- Dan Strassberg, [EMAIL PROTECTED] eFax 707-215-6367 _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
