Reply #37: Electricity is polluting.

[Statistical]

"Products that impact public health demand a government mandating role."

Exactly which is why appliances, furnaces, and air conditioners have been subject to minimum efficiency standards (which have increased over time).

There is no difference between the pollution from a car (reduced by higher mpg standards) and pollution from a power plant (reduced by mandating higher efficiency items).


"consumers would chose not to waste money once they know the price."
9 out of 10 lamps still use wasteful, polluting incandescent bulbs. Hell some people on DU have indicated they don't care how much money it saves they will keep on using inefficient bulbs. One bragged about he bought cases of them to make sure he never needs to switch. So this belief the free-market will handle this is naive at best.

"I own an energy efficient car because that is what my research on the impact of cars on my pocketbook lead me to, I follow the same thought process when buying any other products that will cost me money to operate."
Yet the govt still mandates minimum efficiency standards for cars (which have slowly increased). The rational is that many consumers are uninformed and lower efficiency items (cars or light bulbs) often have a lower sticker price. There is no difference between a light bulb and a car.

If every light in the US was changed to CFL (or other high efficiency bulbs) it would eliminate 80 coal plants.