endings
DIM BULBS
By Troy Covello Illustration by Kevin Budnik
The fight to switch to fluorescent bulbs grows politically charged.
THE INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB will be phased out entirely by 2014 as part of an effort to reduce Americans’ home-energy consumption under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. But some incandescent enthusiasts are unhappy about the mandate and ready to wage a brutal fight for the aging light. The plan incrementally eliminates incandescent bulbs by wattage level and will require all light bulbs to be at least three times more efficient than the 100-watt incandescent by 2020. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) last longer and use less electricity than traditional bulbs. But the switch potentially creates more jobs in China than the United States, and the fluorescent bulbs’
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mercury content and icy-blue tint raise concern. The attempt to reverse the law is being spearheaded by Republican congressmen, although the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was co-authored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and signed into law by George W. Bush. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) introduced the “Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act” in an attempt to amend the 2007 legislation and repeal the ban on incandescent bulbs. She says she plans to reintroduce the act to the 112th Congress. In a 2008 speech, Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.) raised doubts about the wisdom of the ban, dramatically reading aloud the EPA’s recommended steps to take if a CFL breaks in the home, including
evacuating the room, opening a window and putting the broken bulb in a sealed glass jar to contain the mercury. But Glenn Heinmiller, principal at architectural lighting design firm Lam Partners in Cambridge, Mass., says the exposure is minimal. Citing a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study, Heinmiller says: “If you break a CFL bulb in your home and don’t even follow proper cleanup procedure, the mercury exposure is equivalent to eating the FDA recommended weekly amount of fish. And if you do follow the cleanup procedures, the exposure is the same as eating a bite of canned tuna.” But some say the energy saved, like the mercury content, is relatively insignificant.