美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Administration Dims Rule On Energy Efficient Lightbulbs

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Energy Department wants to undo¹ an Obama-era rule designed to make lightbulbs more efficient. We're not talking about those pear-shaped bulbs. They've already changed over. This new proposal involves just about every other kind of lightbulb. Here's NPR's Jeff Brady to explain.

JEFF BRADY, BYLINE²: In the past decade, the push for lightbulbs that use less energy has made a lot of progress, and that can make the lightbulb aisle³ at a big-box store a little confusing.

JOHN PENNICK: I'm looking for a bulb to go inside of my refrigerator.

BRADY: John Pennick is holding a burned-out, 40-watt incandescent⁴ bulb in one hand and a package of LED bulbs in the other. He likes that the LEDs use one-fifth the energy. But on the package, it says they're dimmable.

PENNICK: I'm not going to be dimming inside the refrigerator (laughter) so...

BRADY: He opts⁵ for the old incandescent. Though, it turns out, the dimmable LED would have worked just fine. This learning curve is part of a big change under way in the lighting⁶ business. Noah Horowitz with the Natural Resources Defense⁷ Council says the country has been using incandescent bulbs for more than a century.

NOAH HOROWITZ: Today, we have LEDs, and they do everything the old incandescent could do, except waste energy.

BRADY: You see the pear-shaped LEDs everywhere now. At issue here is a wide range of other bulbs - decorative⁸ globes used in bathrooms, reflectors in recessed⁹ lighting, candle-shaped lights and three-way bulbs. At the very end of the Obama administration, the Department of Energy decided¹⁰ these also would have to become more efficient. The lighting industry sued. The Trump¹¹ administration sided with the industry and now wants to reverse the regulation. Horowitz says that will translate to higher energy bills and more pollution.

HOROWITZ: Now we're going to have to generate about 25 large, coal-burning power plants' worth of extra electricity if this rollback goes through. This is really unnecessary and a really bad idea. And on top of that, it's illegal.

BRADY: That last point is a question a judge likely will decide. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association argues the Obama administration exceeded its authority by including all these specialty¹² bulbs. General counsel Clark Silcox says it's wrong to call the Trump administration's proposed reversal a rollback.

CLARK SILCOX: The Department of Energy cannot illegally roll back from a place that it could not legally stand upon in the first place.

BRADY: That is important to the industry because rolling back energy efficiency requirements is not allowed under federal law. And Silcox rejects claims the industry just wants to continue selling existing styles of bulbs.

SILCOX: I don't think anybody's focused on we want to sell energy-hogging lightbulbs at all. What they are focused on is, what does their consumer want and making sure that there is a high level of consumer satisfaction.

BRADY: The industry learned a hard lesson after the first generation of those curly, compact fluorescent¹³ lightbulbs were released.

JENNIFER DOLIN: Consumers basically did not like them. They didn't buy them. They complained about them. We heard that loud and clear.

BRADY: Jennifer Dolin is with the company LEDVANCE, which manufacturers Sylvania lightbulbs. She says the industry wants to make sure it gets the LED versions of all these other kinds of bulbs perfected before releasing them onto the market. She says more efficient bulbs are coming, just not as fast as most advocates want.

DOLIN: The future of lighting is LED. There's no doubt about that. And we see that in the marketplace. We see that consumers are shifting to LEDs at a much more rapid rate than we ever anticipated.

BRADY: But given climate change, environmental groups argue this regulation is needed now. When the Trump administration finalizes¹⁴ its reversal, those groups plan to take the issue to court. Jeff Brady, NPR News.

1 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

4 incandescent   

adj.遇热发光的， 白炽的，感情强烈的

参考例句：

• The incandescent lamp we use in daily life was invented by Edison.我们日常生活中用的白炽灯，是爱迪生发明的。
• The incandescent quality of his words illuminated the courage of his countrymen.他炽热的语言点燃了他本国同胞的勇气。

5 opts   

v.选择，挑选( opt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• One player hoping to get another chance to shine if Mourinho opts to rest Cole backBridge. 假如穆里尼奥安排阿。科尔轮休，那么同一位置上的将会得到一个上场的机会来证实自己。 来自互联网
• If he opts out this summer, he d sign a five year deal. 如果今夏跳出，他估计会签五年。 来自互联网

6 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 decorative   

adj.装饰的，可作装饰的

参考例句：

• This ware is suitable for decorative purpose but unsuitable for utility.这种器皿中看不中用。
• The style is ornate and highly decorative.这种风格很华丽，而且装饰效果很好。

9 recessed   

v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的过去式和过去分词 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭

参考例句：

• My rooms were large, with deeply recessed windows and painted, eighteenth-century panellin. 我住的房间很宽敞，有向里凹陷很深的窗户，油漆过的十八世纪的镶花地板。 来自辞典例句
• The Geneva meeting recessed while Kennety and Khrushchev met in Vienna. 肯尼迪同赫鲁晓夫在维也纳会晤时，日内瓦会议已经休会。 来自辞典例句

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

13 fluorescent   

adj.荧光的，发出荧光的

参考例句：

• They observed the deflections of the particles by allowing them to fall on a fluorescent screen.他们让粒子落在荧光屏上以观察他们的偏移。
• This fluorescent lighting certainly gives the food a peculiar color.这萤光灯当然增添了食物特别的色彩。

14 finalizes   

vt.完成（finalize的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Finalizes the object and removes the associated COM + context. 完成对象并移除关联的COM+上下文。 来自互联网
• The designer finalizes the modified scheme and produces a corresponding budget statement. 业主最终确认设计方案并安排设计师出施工图。 来自互联网