Bulb Becomes a Flashpoint as the Sun Sets on Incandescent Lights

A ban on most kinds of traditional bulbs renews a cultural squabble between regulatory efforts to curb energy consumption and the very American impulse to do whatever one wants in one's domicile. The New York Times: The switchboard at Lightbulbs.com, a (pretty self-explanatory) e-commerce website, lit up with panicked callers on Tuesday, who all wanted to know if the news was true. Had the government just banned the sale of incandescent bulbs? Yes, mostly. Was this decision part of an elaborate political plot? No, mostly. Just what were fans of incandescent lighting supposed to do now? EBay, maybe? Much like its cousin, the gas stove, the humble light bulb has become a flashpoint in a cultural squabble between environmental regulatory efforts and the very American impulse to do whatever one wants in one's domicile. But unlike the gas stove debate, which grew so heated (sorry) that it drew legislation from Republicans hoping to protect the noble but possibly dangerous appliance, the ban on the sale of most incandescent bulbs went quietly into effect on August 1. (The Biden administration denied trying to ban gas stoves.) The response to the bulb ban was more of a whimper than a battle cry. "Thomas Edison brought the incandescent light bulb to the masses, and in 2023 Joe Biden banned it in America," officials with the Republican Party of New Mexico wrote in a tweet. "The Biden administration's government overreach continues." Other critics were more concerned about the quality of light affecting their quality of life: "I often stay up late at my desk, and the warm glow of the lamp is like company as I read and write. Ugh. There are people in power who are dedicated to sucking all joy out of the world," Joseph Massey, a self-described "not woke" writer, tweeted.

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