This Little Light of Mine

A little known provision in the recently passed Energy Bill will bring us up to speed with Australia and the EU, by phasing out incandescent light bulbs over the next four to 12 years in favor of a new generation of energy-efficient lights that will cost consumers more but return their investment in a few months. The phase-out of incandescents will start with 100-watt bulbs in January 2012 and end with 40-watt bulbs in January 2014. By 2020, bulbs must be 70 percent more efficient.

You probably already started the phase-in of compact fluorescents, halogen and LED bulbs in your own home some time ago, ,maybe even back when CFLs cost almost thirty bucks apiece, were shaped so strangely that it was hard to find places to put them, and had to be ordered from the Seventh Generation catalogue. Now, however, they are showing up in all the big box home improvement stores, neighborhood hardware stores (if you're lucky enough to have such a thing in your neighborhood) and even the lighting aisles of supermarkets. There are in fact so many of them on the shelves right now that it's getting more than a little confusing. So, to help figure this out, back in the May issue of the magazine, Popular Mechanics ran seven CFLs through a rigorous lab test to determine if they could hold their own against incandescents. The results are here, along with an update on the subject of mercury in the bulbs, a frequently heard complaint about CFLs from such global-warming denying wackjobs as Michelle Malkin. This article from US News: FAQ: The End of the Light Bulb as We Know It functions as a primer on the lightbulb phase-out and what it will mean to us all. I just couldn't bear to throw out the unused incandescent bulbs that somehow survived the first purge, so now, armed with the plethora of information I have found in these links, I'm setting out to purchase a new round of CFLs with which to replace them as they burn out. I'm particularly determined to find something that will make my partner as happy to read by as she is with a 150 watt incandescent. That baby has gone the way of the dinosaur and dodo, I'm afraid. No, not my partner, silly, the 150 watt reading bulb.

Technorati Tags: CFLs, energy saving, global climate crisis, lightbulbs, Popular Mechanics,

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