The great bulb debate continues

Thanks to Brian K for riling me up again with the article that follows. Part two of my thoughts:

Incadescent light bulb: $0.25
Fluorescent light bulb: $5

A fluorescent light bulb costs 20 times more than a regular light bulb. How many light bulbs are in a house? 30 or so? That means that you now hafta pay $142.50 extra now to light up your house. So ask a low income household what they think about having to pay $142.50 extra for light bulbs for their house. What's the answer to this? Raise minimum wage of course! (I'm being sarcastic).

Article:

Check out this article from Morning News Beat;
Turn Out The Lights, The Party's Over…
The New York Times reports this morning that "a coalition of industrialists, environmentalists and energy specialists is banding together to try to eliminate the incandescent light bulb in about 10 years."

A complete phaseout, the coalition estimates, "would save $18 billion a year in electricity, and save the amount of power that would be produced by 30 nuclear reactors or as many as 80 coal plants."

The Times writes, "In an agreement to be announced Wednesday, the coalition members, including Philips Lighting, the largest manufacturer; the Natural Resources Defense Council; and two efficiency organizations, are pledging to press for efficiency standards at the local, state and federal levels. The standards would phase out the ordinary screw-in bulb, technology that arose around the time of the telegraph and the steam locomotive, and replace it with compact fluorescents, light-emitting diodes, halogen devices and other technologies that may emerge.

"Compact fluorescents are three times as efficient as old-fashioned bulbs, and light-emitting diodes six times as efficient. These also last much longer. But while they cost much less to run, they are more expensive to purchase, and getting home users to change the bulbs in the estimated four billion sockets in the United States would probably require eliminating the choice."

However, not everybody is on board. General Electric, according to the Times, "has been campaigning against the elimination of incandescent bulbs, and promising instead to bring out a new model that is twice as efficient as its current bulbs."