Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
"Light bulbs may be small things," Ricochet member Kenneth wrote yesterday, begging Republicans to lift the penalties on good old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, "but liberty is a big thing." Beautifully put. But if the Tea Party wishes a true victory--if the GOP intends to demonstrate that we Americans remain, even now, a proud and freeborn people--then Republicans should start with toilets.
The 1992 Energy Policy Act, as you may recall, empowered the Department of Energy to require a new national toilet standard. Out went toilets that used three, four or more gallons on a flush. In came the 1.6 gpf--toilets limited to 1.6 gallons per flush.
"The new 1.6 gpf modles had to be flushed two or three times each use and even then succumbed to constant clogging," wrote Andy Ferguson in 2006.
They backed up easily, causing sanitary, not to mention olfactory, problems. Utility officials reported sewage system blockages caused by insufficient quantities of water flowing through community pipes -- blockages that were undone only by flushing the pipes with thousands of gallons of fresh water.
No surprise then that by 2000 several reports showed that the new generation of toilets had brought minimal water savings....
Today's toilets are better than the first 1995 models, though not as good or as cheap as the toilets of our youth. U.S. consumers in 2006 can thus buy a worse product at a higher price than they could in 1992, thanks to the government's insistence on fixing a problem that wasn't there...
Could there be a better way for Republicans to renew their traditional commitment to shrink government and exercise power on behalf of the general public instead of special interests?
Manifestly, there could not.
Let freedom ring--and toilets flush.
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Dec '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
I am not sure that the problem wasn't there. I am pretty sure, however, that legislators and regulators shouldn't dictate particular solutions to such problems, but should create incentives for inventors and entrepreneurs to bring competing solutions to market.
On the light bulb front, for example, CFLs are a total scam: they contain toxic mercury and have a fraction of the lifespan promised. By contrast, the new technology of white LED lights offers huge improvements over both CFLs and incandescents. Had the Congress left the issue alone, the market would have avoided such a huge detour into the CFL dead-end, and by now we'd be seeing far more LED options.
Jul '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
I think the light bulb has more significance. The story of Edison and the incandescent light bulb is legendary. When asked if the light was even possible after having failed a thousand times Edison replied,"I haven't failed a thousand times, I learn a thousand ways it doesn't work."
When One has an idea a light bulb turns on in One's head, not a toilet flushing.
Plus, government intervention sends Us back to the dark ages.
Jul '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Anyone who has spent a few nights in a budget chain hotel recently understands what low-illumination slavery feels like.
Nov '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Peter Robinson: "The new 1.6 gpf modles had to be flushed two or three times each use and even then succumbed to constant clogging," wrote Andy Ferguson in 2006.
I have said it before and I will continue to say it as often as it needs to be said:
The God of Unintended Consequences is the most terrible of all deities — especially for social engineers and meddling politicians.
Nov '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
ANY hotel. I'm killing my eyes here just off Michigan Avenue in Chicago, at quite a hefty price, thank you.
Jul '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Lucy Pevensie
ANY hotel. I'm killing my eyes here just off Michigan Avenue in Chicago, at quite a hefty price, thank you. · Dec 1 at 12:57pm
True. I've had the same experience in $500-a-night Manhattan hotels. And when you complain, the staff looks at you like you're a baby-seal murderer.
Edited on Dec 1, 2010 at 1:12pmNov '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Maybe if you rich capitalists ate less beef you wouldn't have trouble with the 1.6gpf toilets....
May '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
The beauty of LEDs is that Kenneth can bring his own to those hotels and read all night via battery-powered light without eyestrain.
This thread illustrates through one example the best and worst potential roles of government addressing a legitimate problem where action would be beneficial. Sadly, bureaucrats always push the most coercive approach.
The old high volume water closets, invented when potable water availability for large populations was no problem, very definitely waste water. There were definitely improved design ways to address the problem. Mike Munger, a fine conservative economist and frequent guest of Prof. Russ Roberts on EconTalk describes the issue here.
No one company was going to move on the problem of unnecessarily high per-flush water usage- the money for increasing sales was and is in visual design (yeah, I know, that sounds dumb, but check for yourself at Home Depot).
Government could have convened meetings of the industry leaders, thus avoiding antitrust problems, encouraged sensible conservation goals (e.g., 2.5 gallons instead of 1.6), offered a cash prize for innovative water-saving design, and then helped promote it.
Instead, they unnecessarily set a bad rigid rule. Always, the coercive approach.
May '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Here on Ricochet, that's true. However, there are a lot of politicians, bureaucrats, and co-workers (not to mention in-laws) where the toilet flush (or at least the sounds that immediately precede it) is actually the more accurate metaphor.
Jul '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Duane Oyen:
Government could have convened meetings of the industry leaders, thus avoiding antitrust problems, encouraged sensible conservation goals (e.g., 2.5 gallons instead of 1.6), offered a cash prize for innovative water-saving design, and then helped promote it.
Instead, they unnecessarily set a bad rigid rule. Always, the coercive approach. · Dec 1 at 1:19pm
Why should Our government intervene at all? Why should Our government determine who is awarded a cash prize for anything? The private market has a history of doing that.
Jul '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Nick Stuart
Here on Ricochet, that's true. However, there are a lot of politicians, bureaucrats, and co-workers (not to mention in-laws) where the toilet flush (or at least the sounds that immediately precede it) is actually the more accurate metaphor. · Dec 1 at 1:20pm
That's not the toilet flushing... it's Our government spending money.
Nov '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
.
Or a European airport...
May '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
A poster for Peter's campaign...
Aug '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
I love "everlasting" LED flashlights and headlamps for camping -- they're light and so seldom need replenishing.
When I'm in the Great Outdoors, I read by 'em.
And I get eyestrain.
Because one way they conserve their power is by being off most of the time and just flicking on for tiny intervals faster than the eye is supposed to keep up. (I've seen LED Christmas lights do this, too -- sometimes if I move my head fast, I can see the flicker.)
So I have a serious question: Do all LED lights work like this -- being off most of the time with that rapid flicker -- or is it just a special feature of "everlasting" camping lights and certain Christmas sets?
Sep '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Is this all being driven by the environmentalists, or do the plunger manufacturing companies have lobbyists in Washington too?
Anyway, only through government intervention can technology lead to more expensive products that don't work as well.
May '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Can we add the lousy 2.5 gal/min shower heads that require twice as long to rinse adequately?
Come to think of it, to keep this easy, could we just make a list of the government imposed regulations that have had thoroughly salutary effects? That would be a short list. Then we could just eliminate everything else.
May '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Jimmy Carter
Duane Oyen: Instead, (government) unnecessarily set a bad rigid rule. Always, the coercive approach. · Dec 1 at 1:19pm
Why should Our government intervene at all? Why should Our government determine who is awarded a cash prize for anything? The private market has a history of doing that. · Dec 1 at 1:24pm
Because "the commons" benefits from certain collective endeavors that can only be handled collectively- Garrett Hardin is a wacko, but he is not 100% wrong- if you need an illustration, look at the copier room where you work and count the staples in the carpet.
Show me where the private market offers cash prizes for fixing these kinds of problems. Think auto safety in the 1950's, when Ford lost money pushing its padded dashboard.
In some areas, Ayn Rand was a genius, in others, she was full of it.
Like it or not, the market is not going to clean up the environment in many situations where that is needed. The government sometimes needs to act- the problem is to stop it from acting stupidly. It is incumbent on conservatives to work to minimize the degree of unnecessary government coercion in the market
Nov '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Tom Lindholtz: Can we add the lousy 2.5 gal/min shower heads that require twice as long to rinse adequately?
Come to think of it, to keep this easy, could we just make a list of the government imposed regulations that have had thoroughly salutary effects? That would be a short list. Then we could just eliminate everything else. · Dec 1 at 2:16pm
Most definitely, yes to 2.5 gal/min shower heads.
I would also be so bold as to add the infamous HE washing machines to the list. Bought one recently and replaced it within 24 hrs for an "old-fashioned" and, as my Maytag salesman warned me, "obsolete" machine that uses enough water to rinse clothes properly the first time without adding extra cycles.
Between the "new and improved" toilets, lightbulbs, shower heads and washing machines, have developed a whole new empathy for my grandmothers.
May '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
When I'm in the Great Outdoors, I read by 'em.
And I get eyestrain.
Because one way they conserve their power is by being off most of the time and just flicking on for tiny intervals faster than the eye is supposed to keep up. (I've seen LED Christmas lights do this, too -- sometimes if I move my head fast, I can see the flicker.)
There are two different relative problems between the Christmas lights and the battery-operated lights. For AC lights, you have a ripple in the current after you have rectified it unless you use really good design practice and use a full-wave bridge with filter cap. But filtered power supplies are costly.
The white lights use glowing phosphors, and you want them not to cycle all the way off ("deep cycle"), but to fade more slowly, which, in battery applications, also uses more current- it's a trade-off between cycle depth and frequency, driven by cost.
I would avoid camping trips....
Jul '10
Re: Fie On Your Light Bulbs. Let's Talk Toilets.
Duane Oyen
Because "the commons" benefits from certain collective endeavors that can only be handled collectively-Dec 1 at 2:31pm
Can You show Me where in The Constitution that allows Our federal government to mandate the amount of water per flush?
Do "the commons" really benefit from such a mandate?