Lights out soon for bulbs that eat up energy

December 30, 2007
From the Columbus Dispatch

Say goodbye to the light bulb, at least as you knew it.

The standard incandescent bulb, used for more than 120 years to light millions of homes, will be redesigned as the nation moves to cut energy costs, increase efficiency and fight global warming.

The federal energy bill that was signed into law Dec. 19 tackles cars' fuel economy and household appliances' electricity usage to help save more than $400 billion in energy costs by 2030. The light bulb might be the most visible change for consumers.

The 100-watt bulb will be first to go. The law requires manufacturers to produce a bulb by 2012 that needs no more than 72 watts to emit the same amount of light as a 100-watt bulb. By 2020, the same bulb can use no more than 30 to 40 watts of electricity.

The law was cheered by environmentalists eager to encourage the spread of compact fluorescent lights. Many need only 23 watts to equal the old 100-watt bulb's brilliance.

"Efficiency is the name of the game here," said Kathleen Rogers, president of the Earth Day Network, an environmental group in Washington, D.C. "This actually saves a lot of energy."

However, the Libertarian Party blasted the measure as an unnecessary government intrusion into people's homes and lives.

"If these light bulbs are going to save money and cut down on global warming, there's a built-in incentive to buy them," said Andrew Davis, the party's spokesman. "You don't need the government telling people, 'Hey, you need to buy these light bulbs.' "

The law mandates energy reductions of about 30 percent for most light bulbs from 2012 through 2014. Light bulbs must use up to 70 percent less electricity by 2020.

Lights account for 10 percent to 20 percent of a home's annual electricity bill, depending on estimates.

If every home in the U.S. replaced one standard bulb with a compact fluorescent light, the country would save $600 million in annual energy costs and cut global-warming emissions by an amount equal to more than 800,000 cars.

The law is necessary to speed up the switchover and the nation's power savings, said Steve Nadel, director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy based in Washington, D.C.

"We're now at approximately 5 percent of sales with compact fluorescent lamps," he said. "What this law does is push everybody to a somewhat better lamp."

The more-efficient bulbs are also up to 10 times more expensive than standard bulbs. But Nadel said they more than pay for themselves in lower electricity costs.

"You're going to be mass-producing these things, so the prices should come down," he added.

Other experts said the law isn't truly the death of the incandescent bulb, just the old version of it.

A redesigned incandescent bulb could be available before the federal deadline, said Ed Legge, spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute. The group represents power companies, including American Electric Power, based in Columbus.

Legge said it's important to keep a version of incandescent bulbs available because fluorescents aren't ideal for some uses. That includes outdoor lighting in cold weather and chandelier bulbs that look like candle flames.

General Electric, one of the nation's biggest producers of light bulbs, expects to have a new generation of incandescent bulb that uses about the same electricity as a compact fluorescent by 2012, spokeswoman Kim Freeman said.