With the Biden administration's new lightbulb efficiency rule taking effect next week, effectively prohibiting the sale of all new incandescent bulbs in favor of more energy-friendly alternatives, Jack Spencer, senior research fellow for energy and environmental policy at The Heritage Foundation, says a lot of people rightfully blame the Biden administration for energy-related regulations.
He points out, however, "they don't make this stuff up out of thin air."
Federal legislation like the Energy Policy and Conservation Act from the 1970s and the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act of 1987, for example, empower the Department of Energy to do this regulation.
"We have to go after that underlying legislation that empowers the bureaucracy to do all of these things," Spencer contends.
"By raising energy efficiency standards for lightbulbs, we're putting $3 billion back in the pockets of American consumers every year and substantially reducing domestic carbon emissions," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a press release. "The lighting industry is already embracing more energy efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress to deliver the best products to American consumers and build a better and brighter future."
The Biden administration claims the changes to products are meant to help people save energy while also benefiting the environment, but Spencer says they just want to control everything.
"They're taking away our cars; they're taking away how we heat and cool our homes," he says, noting that "anyone who has had to have the coolant put into their car or home air conditioners has noticed that over the last couple of years, prices skyrocketed."
"Every electronic item, every appliance falls under the control of the Department of Energy and the bureaucrats who run that place," Spencer summarizes.
He says voters need to be asking politicians why they are not repealing the acts that allow that control.
