Incandescent lights have had a good run--140 years in total. But alas, all good things come to an end. And while easy, cheap, and reliable indoor illumination has indeed been a good thing, incandescent light bulbs are incredibly inefficient, converting less than 5 percent of the energy they consume into usable light. Most of the rest is emitted as waste heat. And, of course, wate heat can cause even more wasted energy by adding strain to air conditioning systems in homes and offices. So it is a huge milestone that, as of next Monday, incandescent bulbs will no longer be available for sale across California (the date for the rest of the US to enact this ban is 2020). Happily, LED lighting has progressed in recent years—with price, light quality, and energy efficiency all making such huge strides over the last decade that the transition will benefit consumers significantly. And as LEDs start to offer even greater benefits, including Li-Fi capability, color tunability that enhances human moods or productivity, and advanced controls that can realize even greater energy savings, we won’t have to wait another 140 years to experience the next great evolution in lighting.
Goodbye incandescents--it's been an illuminating experience, but we've got a new light in our lives!
Here's a great blog article from NRDC on the transition and how consumers can go about swapping out those old bulbs for their more modern (and efficient!) counterparts: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/noah-horowitz/california-get-new-light-bulb-efficiency-standards-jan-1