Changing the Light Bulb
Posted by Lee Cameron on Friday, July 29th, 2011 at 9:38am.
How many Americans does it take the change the light bulb? Well, it turns out it's going to take every single one of us.
Legislation that was passed back in 2007 will fully go into effect at the start of next year. These new rules call for more efficient light bulbs and the complete replacement of Edison's classic incandescent bulb by 2014.
Why are we doing away with the bulb that we all know and love? Because the incandescent bulb, while a revolutionary invention, is also astonishingly inefficient with the energy it uses. Incandescent bulbs convert only 10% of the energy they take in into visible light. The other 90% is turned into heat. Not only does it use its energy poorly, but every light bulb you leave on also acts as a little heater, making your air conditioner work that much harder to cool your home.
So the lightbulb industry is moving on to a bigger and brighter future and consumers will soon have to educate themselves on the big changes. Gone are the days where you buy your bulbs based on the watts on the box. "Watts" refers to energy usages but new, more efficient bulbs can produce the same amount of light with considerably less wattage. In other words, "60 watts" doesn't mean what it used to anymore. Instead, you'll be buying bulbs based on the brightness itself, measured with something called "lumens". An old incandescent 60 watt bulb equals 800 lumens.
Consumers will also be faced with three different bulb options on the store shelves. The first - and cheapest - is the halogen-incandescent. This improvement to the original lightbulb contains a halogen gas filled capsule around a filament that increases energy efficiency by about 25%.
The second type of bulb has already been gaining traction in the industry - the compact fluorescent or CFL bulb. You'll know it by the telltale spiral shape (which is now usually contained in a pear-shaped outer bulb to give it a more traditional look). These bulbs are 75% more efficient than the original incandescent.
But the experts feel that the real future of lighting is the LED lamp. These lights use a semiconductor chip that makes them more expensive at the start but with a whopping 85% efficiency boost and an overall life that lasts 25 times longer than the old incandescents, the consumer definitely saves money in the long run. Many in the industry believe this is the light of the future and prices are expected to start dropping dramatically in the next few years as technology improves.
So look for big changes on store shelves soon. The future is about to get brighter.
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