Congress makes bad decisions almost every day, but one of its worst in recent times came back in December 2007. Egged on by global warming hysteria, lawmakers included in an energy bill language to ban incandescent light bulbs from the U.S. market beginning in 2012.

The media loved the story and did their part to hype CFLs, the abbreviation for compact florescent light bulbs, as an energy-saving alternative. But predictably, they failed to report the environmental downside to CFLs. It reminded me of the successful campaign to ban Styrofoam Big Mac boxes in the 1980s.

Now experts are starting to challenge the conventional wisdom about the value of CFLs and the merits of a ban on incandescent light:

The quality of light from the compact fluorescent is about the worst of the major light sources manufactured today. And, aside from that, they don’t say anything about the problems of disposing of these lamps, nor do they talk about the additional power that it costs to manufacture these lamps. When you look at how they work, the entire process they are suggesting is filled with errors. And it’s misleading.

That is the kind of information Congress should have considered before moving to ban incandescent light bulbs, yet the concerns about CFLs are only now getting into the public square. Apparently the bulbs make some pets wacko, too.

Science aside, we’ve tried to be good citizens in our home. We started buying CFLs not because the law will require it but because we believed the sales pitch that the bulbs last longer and save not only energy but money. We enlightened rednecks are all about pinching pennies and doing what we can to protect the environment.

But we have been utterly disappointed. CFLs in action have not lived up to the hype. The light bulbs cost significantly more than incandescent bulbs, and the odds of them lasting as long as promised are 50-50 at best. We’ve had some burn out within a month or two. We are not alone.

Then we heard about the mercury in CFLs and the dangers that can pose. We have three young children in the home. The risks may be minimal, but they aren’t worth taking.

Ideally, Congress would revisit the debate over light bulbs and realize that it acted hastily in imposing a ban, but that doesn’t seem likely. The Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act went nowhere when Democrats controlled only Congress. Now they control the White House, too.

So now I’m on a new mission to buy as many incandescent bulbs as I can. I’ll be buying them every chance I get between now and the complete ban in 2014 to build a stockpile that will last even longer.

Maybe by then, science will have found a more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly solution to lighting our world.