We switched to cfl. If I don't like the color of the light, I try a different brand - same as when I bought incandescent bulbs. If cfls last longer and use less energy, then I will break even or maybe save a few pennies. I don't see the big deal with encouraging innovation and replacing dated technologies with more efficient models. I wouldn't hold on to a gas guzzler if I could replace it with a more efficient model. Like most car buyers, I want the most efficient car out there. Saves me money and maybe produces less pollution. The energy bill was signed into law by GWB, and enjoyed republican support then. Yesterday's vote was just another inexplicable attempt by the GOP to become the party of feudalism.

So by choosing CFLs you exercised your right to choose, well good for you.

Unfortunately the fed intends to remove that freedom of choice from the rest of the population by making the fluorescent essentially illegal and unobtainable, so forcing everyone to purchase a far more expensive, Chinese made, inferior lighting source.

Another fine example of government democracy in action.

As for CFLs lasting longer, I remember many years ago visiting the Edison Museum and seeing one of his original incandescent lamp still operating after what? Eighty years or so?

O, and don’t forget that separate garbage can for recycling your used CFLs, sealed and labeled “toxic household materials”. If, that is, you comply with the proper disposal laws?

I was going to comment on this blog but just can't work up any righteous indignation over a lightbulb - for or against.

Could you work up a just a little indignation over being notified that your perfectly good home lighting has been declared obsolete to suit a Washington agenda, and that you must eventually replace it with lighting decreed by that agenda? At around four times the price?

If you could not, and if I were you, then I would agree with the spirit of your comment..::

i tried them lite bubs a while back. real xspensive bubs they was. and they didnt put off alot of lite, real dim. they mighta saved a little power but that dont matter if you cant see what your lookin at. carried them guys back to lowes and got my money back. reckon ill just go buy me a bunch of the bubs thats been workin fine for 50 years or so and store them up in the attic...

Where's the indignation over energy star appliances? They represent government minimum standards too. And the tax credit for hybrid cars? Is that an unfair subsidy? an example of government gone wild?

Do you use a horse & buggy rather than a combustion engine? Are you indignant that they are not allowed on interstates? Isn't there a safety reason to limit their use on highways?

I think that most households, businesses and government agencies have been making the switch to non-incandescent bulbs (and there are many options) for years. If you are only now realizing the reason why, then I suppose the shock has made you irrational.

It's about energy efficiency. Of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs, only 10% goes to making light and 90% is given off as heat. Then your ac has to work harder to cool the room, and you or your child can burn your fingers when you touch a hot bulb.

I found this summary of the phaseout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-ou.... Just scroll down to 'United States' to see what our law will do. Notice that there are exemptions for appliance bulbs and such. If you want to buy incandescent bulbs in the future, you can - but not with the selection you have now.

I've gotten used to my cfls, so I hardly notice that it takes a little time for them to come to full brightness. I use daylight cfls, and I don't even notice a difference in the light quality. It's a nice warm glow, just the way I like it. I don't like the harsh white light, so I don't buy those brands. I still use incandescent bulbs in some fixtures, like the ones with a dimmer switch. If necessary, I can get a dimmer switch that works with cfls. I don't see a problem. I update my smoke alarm as necessary, I keep an eye on my car fuel economy, and I send in rebate forms. We save money and energy where we can, right? Why waste it?

Passin' - I can work up indignation over any number of things.

A needless war in Iraq which claimed thousands of American lives and has accomplished nothing positive.

535 elected representatives who sit in D.C. twiddling their thumbs and mouthing platitudes and Party talking points while our debt multiplies and our economy teeters on the brink. This reminds me of nothing more than Nero fiddling while Rome burned. None of our elected representatives - and I include Chambliss, Isakson and Barrow - have the guts or commitment to the long term good of this country to see past their next election campaign.

A dubious involvement in Libya to avoid a "massacre" which might not have happened while ignoring similar situations where the deaths of protestors have occurred in Syria and Yemen.

A TARP program under the Republicans which was a blatant failure designed to assist large banks and investment houses get rid of stupid investments.

A stimulus package under the Democrats which might (?) have avoided another depression. Who knows? It has not had a long term positive effect on unemployment or economic growth.

Corporations who have benefitted from TARP and the stimulus packages sitting on record profits and refusing to reinvest those profits into our struggling economy.

Light bulbs? Nope. patk took care of that with her post earlier today.

Many incandescent bulbs are made in Eastern Europe and not in the US ,so dumping the old fashioned light bulb will have very little effect on US manufacturing.

Of late the Republican position on most things seems to be to do nothing or to turn back the clock to a halcyon past that never really existed.Fear and resistance to any change are guaranteed to accelerate our decline.

horse and buggy??? your comparing horse and buggys to litebubs???? and then you wanna call somebody else irrational??
sure its about efficiency. lets talk efficiency. what about all these gas hog suv's ridin around wasting all that gas??? why? because somebody likes big rides and they got the money to pay for the gas. because its their choice. its a sad day in america when a man cant choose what kinda lite bubs he burns in his own house.
since your so big on efficiency pat, why are you still wearin them drawers? look at how efficient it would be if you stopped wearing drawers. you would save the cost of buyin them first. then youd save the cost of washing and drying them. also saved would be the time wasted folding them and puttin them up. now thats a big savings right there. and youd feel better about yourself knowing your doing your part to save and be more efficient. and, no worrying about skid marks!!! there ya go pat. whatta you say? throw them drawers out the back door and start conserving today.
if i wanna waste my money burning my a.c. coolin down them lite bubs, its my money. if you wanna waste your money buying them granny drawers, its your money. this is supposed to be the land of the free. folks is supposed to have a choice. i dont like nobody tellin me how to spend my money.
its a lite bub. what they gonna try to regulate next? charmin???

patk, your first two paragraphs are not relevant to the discussion as they quote cases that do not deny consumers freedom of choice. The third is a guess (plus an unjustified dig!).

The fourth is an attempt to legitimize your opinion with technicalities, but it fails to do so as it is incomplete (by not giving the energy efficiency figures for the CFL for comparison). For all I know from your statement the CFL could be far more inefficient. Then your statement about the A/C having to work harder to compensate for light bulb heat is, of course, nonsense, as the amount of light bulb heat as a percentage of the total heat in your home is so insignificant that it would be lost in the switching tolerances of your thermostat. As for your child burning his fingers when he touches a hot bulb well, duh, he would burn his fingers touching a hot stove top too, but most parents would teach him not to.

Though I have previously read the details of the act, thanks for the Wiki link; and yes, there are quite a few exceptions to the law because non-incandescents do not work for many lighting requirements, so the government has had to accept the laws of physics and fall back onto the proven versatility of incandescent technology.

I’m glad that you have become used to your CFLs, with all of their faulty lack of versatility, warm up time, inferior lighting quality, high replacement cost, etc., but is it really worthwhile to degrade your living standards in the hope that one day you might recoup, or even save, a little change?

Bryant, if you read the first paragraph of this blog you will have seen that its intent is to avoid the perennial major issues that we are all well aware of and instead suggests a less important, though none the less interesting, topic. A sort of “light” relief, if you like.

Providing a politically biased list of major issues that raise your indignation may be interesting but is off topic and, in my opinion, adds little to the discussion

if your kids are burning their fingers by touchung hot lite bubs, maybe you should consider picking those lamps up off the floor. like ron white says: you cant fix stupid, its forever....
most kids learn at a early age what "thats hot" means.

Sorry passin, some topics just make me incandescent (figuratively).

ha ha ha
Turkey has a point!