Big lighting firm leads move to phase out incandescent bulb

A coalition led by Royal Philips Electronics is twisting the dimmer on Thomas Edison's famous invention.

from the March 14, 2007 edition

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The company recently announced a far more efficient incandescent bulb technology to be ready by 2012 that it says would use no more energy than today's energy saving compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs.

The coalition's proposed phaseout is not an outright ban. Instead, it would use performance standards, which would quickly weed out technology as inefficient as Edison's. By going public, the coalition hopes to ratchet up pressure on other manufacturers, as well as on the US Energy Department, to embrace tougher standards.

Today's incandescent bulbs are energy gluttons. Less than 10 percent of their power is used for light. The rest generates heat. Because the bulbs occupy most of the estimated 4 billion screw-in sockets in the US, a shift toward super-efficient light bulbs could become a swift and significant early step in curbing climate change. CFL bulbs use about a quarter of the energy of an incandescent. Other energy-saving options include advanced halogen lights and light-emitting diodes or LEDs.

Federal legislation mandating new efficiency standards is needed to make the phaseout work, coalition officials agree. Sen. Mark Pryor (D) of Arkansas and Rep. Donald Manzullo (R) of Illinois are expected to push legislation to move the plan along. California regulators are expected to move even faster.

While many consumers have shunned CFLs for the warmer glow of incandescents, gains in CFL and halogen technologies are expected to meet demand for warm glow without waste, experts say. Although CFLs contain a tiny bit of mercury, it is being steadily reduced. And recycling efforts are growing, observers say.

"The basic utility incandescent bulb can probably be phased out without people being hurt by it," says Patricia Rizzo, of the lighting research center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. "The current CFL has the right qualities so that it can now pretty much replace the basic 'A' lamp that's been around since 1879."

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