Commentary by Ward Degler
Thomas Edison must be turning over in his grave. It is now against the law to sell incandescent lightbulbs.
Why? Was there a national security issue created by incandescents? Did someone discover a tiny hidden microphone and camera in a lightbulb that recorded everything you said and did? Was all that data being sent to some Nefarious Evil Entity?
Probably not.
First, an incandescent lightbulb generates enough heat to reduce any microphone or camera to ashes in 3 seconds or less. Second, assuming the nefarious entity was able to work around the heat thing, and assuming a million lightbulbs were produced every day, our evil entity would have to install 30 million spying devices every month. That would require an estimated work force slightly larger than Ford Motor Company’s.
All in the remote possibility we might record someone uttering an offensive remark.
Maybe the ban had to do with profit. You could buy an incandescent bulb for about a dollar. LEDs cost upward of $8 to $10. However, incandescents on average last 1,000 hours. LEDs, 35 times that. Instead of replacing incandescents every month or so, you will get nearly three years’ service from an LED.
So, if there is no national security issue to deal with, and LED lights cost dramatically less to manufacture – hence, less profit — it’s unlikely anyone would put the kibosh on making and selling incandescent lightbulbs for any reason. And that means banning incandescent lightbulbs makes no sense.
Well, maybe it makes perfect government sense.
