Old Style Household Light Bulbs Soon to be a Thing of the Past

You may not have noticed a lack of old style light bulbs on the store shelves yet, but on January 1st it became illegal to manufacture or import 40 and 60 watt incandescent light bulbs.

Stores are allowed to sell their current stock of the popular general service light bulbs. Some of the incandescent bulbs will still be allowed though, including three way, 150 watt and narrower based candelabra lights.

In 2007, then President George W. Bush signed into law federally mandated efficiency standards. The incandescent light bulbs convert only about 5% of the energy used into light, making them very inefficient. The 75 and 100 watt bulbs were phased out in earlier stages of the law.

Consumers should notice a savings on the portion of their electric bills used to power lights (75% to 85%) by switching to LED or compact fluorescent lights. though the cost of the bulbs are higher. LED light bulbs can last up to 23 years and CFLs nine years.

There are now three choices of general use light bulbs legal in the new year: LED, halogen and compact fluorescent lights (CFLs).

When using CFLs, there are several safety precautions that need to be followed due to the mercury inside of them which is considered hazardous waste. In California it is illegal to throw them out in the household trash and if broken, a room should be aired out and care needs to be used collecting the broken pieces. South Tahoe Refuse is an approved recycling center for the CFL bulbs.