The Rumor Mill

California: Beyond 'No Light Bulbs for You'

- 2007.02.01

del.icio.us Bookmark in del.icio.us

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: New 2008 iMac 2GB $42 / iMac Intel Core2 DUO & MacBook Pro 2GB $36 - 1GB $20. MacPro 8 Core Memory 4GB kit $154 / 2GB kit $94 -- Free shipping available.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

OWC: NewerTech NuPower Batteries for iBook and PowerBooks Designed+Built in USA to run longer, LAST LONGER TOO! Free Battery Recycling Return Label; Quality High-Capacity from $99.95

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

New MacPro Memory 800Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $88 / 4GB $138 / 8GB $274 - Click to Maximize your Macs...

It isn't easy being green, but one California legislator wants to make it the law.

Lloyd Levine thinks light bulbs and CRTs are bad for the environment and should be outlawed in California.

Levine, who on Tuesday announced the "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb Act" which would ban incandescent light bulbs. You know, the kind most people have in most of their light bulb fixtures, the kind of dome light you have in your car, the kind of bulb found in flashlights, and the most common type of Christmas lights.

"Incandescent lightbulbs were first developed almost 125 years ago, and since that time they have undergone no major modifications," the California Assemblyman said Tuesday. "Meanwhile, they remain incredibly inefficient, converting only about 5% of the energy they receive into light."

Levine, who we can only speculate must either be in the pocket of the flourescent light industry of have big investments in said industry, wants to mandate use of the most costly, four times more efficient compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs in place of traditional incandescent light bulbs.

While we won't contest the fact that CFL bulbs are more efficient than incandescent bulbs, last longer, and more than pay for themselves in savings on your electric bill, we can just imagine the light bulb police searching every home in the state for contraband incandescent bulbs should this law be enacted.

And that's just the start. His next target, according to an unnamed janitor who emptied his trash last week, is the cathode ray tube (CRT) found in traditional television screens, computer monitors, and video arcade systems. The "How Can We Promote LCDs and Kill Off CRTs Act" could be introduced as early as next week.

After taking care of light bulb waste, this target should also help significantly reduce energy consumption and electric bills.

Under the proposed legislation, all CRTs in the state of California would have to be turned in to the state government for recycling by the end of 2008. This would include television sets, computer monitors, arcade machines, and all-in-one computers such as the early Macs and the G3 iMacs.

To compensate citizens for their loss, the state will issue $25 gift cards to Best Buy for every CRT turned in to the state.

The future could be even more chilling for Californians, though. As if losing incandescent light bulbs and CRT displays won't be bad enough, Levine's next energy saving mandate will require that Californians abandon their cars for destinations less than five miles away, although there will be an exception in case of emergencies.

Californians will be required to walk, bicycle, take mass transit, or ride a scooter (100cc maximum engine size) when going to the grocery store, school, work, or anywhere else less than five miles from home.

Levine estimates this could slash gasoline consumption in the state by 12%, saving consumers millions upon millions of dollars per year. And to make up for lost gas tax revenue, the state would raise the gasoline tax by 12% when the law takes effect.

Sources tell us that Levine has invested in a chain of bicycle shops covering most of California. The Assemblyman was not available for comment.

- Anne Onymus

Recent Rumor Mills

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, PowerBook, MacBook, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.