Happy New Year: Feds Kill 75W Incandescent Light Bulbs

Happy New Year: Feds Kill 75W Incandescent Light Bulbs

Beginning today, the 75-watt incandescent lightbulb has been banned from production and importation in the United States. That’s right – as soon as stores clear their shelves of their current stock, you won’t be able to buy a 75-watt incandescent lightbulb anymore. Why? Let Consumer Reports’ Celia Kuperzmid-Lehrman explain:

90 percent of the energy the bulb uses is wasted, so what they replaced them with are much more energy-efficient bulbs which as just as bright, just as good and will actually save you money over the long run.

“Over the long run.” The new light bulbs are significantly more expensive than the old incandescent version, so you’ll have to shell out more cash up front. And if you don’t want to do that, you can sit in the dark.

Under current federal law, 60 watt and 40 watt bulbs will be gone by 2014. We’ll instead have to buy Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) or Light-Emitting Diode bulbs (LEDs). Only the slightly more expensive versions don’t hum or emit cold-looking light.

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