OPINION: BULB Act is dim-witted

In 1879, Thomas Edison invented a way to create light by heating up a thin strip of material (called a filament) until it was hot enough to glow.  This was the incandescent light bulb.

Since then, Americans and people all over the world have been using these same light bulbs that produce 90% heat and only 10% light.  I think Thomas Edison, being a man ahead of his time, would agree this makes little sense today.  I believe that one of our premier American innovators would be supportive of American innovation making his revolutionary invention just a bit more efficient.

It took us over a century, but a few years ago Congress realized that a simple efficiency standard could spur innovation to make incandescent light bulbs that create less heat and more light while using less energy.  In 2007, members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, on which I serve, passed a bill to set an energy-efficiency standard for incandescent light bulbs.  President George W. Bush later signed that bill into law.  Neither President Bush nor any other Member of Congress banned the incandescent light bulb.  Instead, we passed a law to promote energy efficiency.  The incandescent light bulb isn’t banned – it’s just better.

Having lived in Pittsburgh, PA my whole life I’ve seen how energy efficiency can revolutionize an industry and revitalize a city.

In the 1970’s I worked in the Jones and Laughlin steel mill on Pittsburgh’s South Side.  The steel industry was strong, and Pittsburgh was a company town.  But in just a few years, the industry came to a screeching halt.  International competitors were making steel using new technologies and more efficient processes, allowing them to undercut the price of U.S. steel.

But the steel industry didn’t leave the United States, and it didn’t leave Pittsburgh.  It re-invented itself.  It got smarter and leaner and more energy efficient.  U.S. steelmakers started using more efficient furnaces than old open hearth furnaces.  They started using continuous casting rather than ingots and moulds that required re-heating.  They started using waste heat recovery and energy monitoring and management technologies.  As a result, the U.S. steel industry has reduced the amount of energy needed to produce a ton of steel by 33 percent since 1990.

We can all learn from Pittsburgh’s experience, and the lighting industry is doing just that.  By agreeing on efficiency standards and supporting their passage in Congress, the industry has developed new ways to make lighting more efficient.  These innovations allow households to save nearly $100 a year and the country to save over $10 billion a year.  And the best part?  These newly efficient incandescent light bulbs are being made in my home state of Pennsylvania.  Other energy-efficient light bulbs – CFL’s and LED’s - are being made in North Carolina, California, and Florida and soon in Ohio.  New innovation in energy efficiency has brought jobs to this country at a time when we need it the most.  And it can bring more jobs, but not if we roll back the clock on energy efficiency.

This used to be something we all agreed on.  Beginning with President Reagan in 1987, Congress and the White House have enacted federal energy efficiency standards five times – each time with bipartisan support.  But now it’s being used to score cheap political points for those on the far right.  This week, the House will be voting on the “BULB Act” a bill to repeal the bipartisan energy efficiency standards that have helped create jobs here in America and save energy and money for families.  This is as common sense as it gets and it’s hard to believe that we’re fighting over it.  I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this bill.

We’ve got big fights ahead, with real disagreements that will require us to find some common ground – like how to get our financial house in order, how to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, and how to reform our education system.  If Republicans and Democrats can’t come together on more efficient light bulbs, I have little hope of us tackling the bigger issues.

---