Congress approved HR 6 today! I don’t normally follow all the polital stuff that happens up in Washington but lately it’s been really interesting. The new legislation also called the Energy Independance and Security Act of 2007 and it addresses fuel economy, alternative fuels and light bulbs. It sounds kind of strange to bunch all of those topics in one bill but the primary focus is to begin to address the climate change/global warming issue. Here are a few places to read up on the Energy Act: http://www.energy.gov/, http://biz.yahoo.com/usnews/071219/19_faq_the_end_of_the_light_bulb_as_we_know_it.html?.v=1&.pf=banking-budgeting, and http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/5388632.html.
In brief the new act will increase the fuel economy of all vehicles over the next several years; work to increase the production and availability of alternative fuels (such as ethanol); and eliminate incandescent light bulbs! The easiest one for us to relate to is the light bulb. We’ve all seen the curly shaped light bulbs (compact fluorescent light bulbs, aka CFLs) at the stores but what do you really know about them? I’ve wrote about them before. They are more energy efficient and last up to 10 times longer than the traditional light bulbs. They also use less energy and produce less heat thus saving in your energy bill. You can go to www.18seconds.org to read more interesting facts on the savings of the CFL.
I really wanted to note the significance of this Energy Act. It was 1975 the last time Congress addressed fuel economy in vehicles. That was shortly after my birth! I know I’m aging myself but it makes me ponder what will be normal for my son in 10 years. He’ll be 15 and won’t have any idea what an incandescent light bulb is. He already knows the difference between them and CFLs, in fact he really likes the CFLs cool shape. What will the vehicles be like when he starts to drive? Will fuel cell vehicles be popular yet? What will be the hot environmental issues when he’s 10? Will we really be that far removed from where we are now? When he’s my age will gasoline powered vehicles be a thing of the past?
Ok…sorry I started to ramble again that’s my cue to sign off for the day. What do you think of the new legislation?
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