Today’s Calamity: Whose Bright Idea Was This?
Nicolas Loris /
In today’s Cap- and-Trade Calamity, we continue on with our critique of government-mandated energy efficiency standards. The newest target is national lighting efficiency standards – detailed in Section 211 of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill.
Waxman-Markey dictates specific efficiency standards and specifications for specific light bulbs (Sec. 211, g); Sets regulations for several kinds of “luminaires,” “outdoor luminaires,” “portable lighting,” “portable light fixtures,” “light fixtures,” “GU-24 base lamps,” “art worth light fixture,” LED light engines – most of which can be found walking through your home (Sec. 211).
The bill also grants the Secretary of Energy tremendous leeway to essentially micromanage the profitability of private enterprise by determining what standards are “technologically feasible and economically justified” (Sec. 211, g4A). It includes details as specific as whether “portable luminaries that have internal power supplies” must have “zero standby power when the luminaire is turned off” (Sec. 211, 71 (20) ii1Cvii).