When Congress voted for the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, they failed to recognize the unintended consequences of mandating Americans to buy compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
Not only has China succeeded in getting the United States to move its light bulb manufacturing overseas, but they have also gained a monopoly on rare earth elements (REE), which is driving up the product's cost."China mines about 97% of the world's 17 rare earth elements, but restricts exports, causing prices for those elements to spike by more than 1,000% in the past year," the Pittsburg Tribune Review reports.
These elements are not only needed to make CFLs and LEDs, but they are also essential to making consumer products such as plasma TVs, iPhones, wind turbines, X-ray machines, and high-tech military equipment.
