It is time to change the light bulb

Under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, shopping for light bulbs is fast becoming akin to choosing a spouse: The options are almost endless, and the object of your affection might last longer in the house than you.

The misconception about limited choice is, specifically, that the new rules outlaw incandescent lights. But they don't. They just place efficiency standards on incandescents. Starting in January, any bulb that can generate the amount of light produced by a conventional 100-watt bulb, but do so with roughly 30 percent less energy, will be eligible for the market. The new law is gradual — in 2013, the rule will be extended to 75-watt bulbs, followed, in 2014, by 60- and 40-watt bulbs — but the point is that nothing is outlawed if it meets the new mandated efficiencies.

What's more, the looming rules have triggered rapid advances in a number of lighting technologies. Halogens, a type of incandescent that delivers light the way Edison intended, with a tungsten filament, are now available in the standard bulb shape. Compact fluorescent lights, or CFLs, have gotten better at delivering good light quickly, and without the buzzing and flickering for which they were known. And some bulbs with light-emitting diodes, or LED lights, now cast their light in all directions, not just one.

To help consumers, retailers like the Home Depot and Lowe's are working to simplify shopping, with better merchandising and displays with samples of the forthcoming bulbs. Also, some manufacturers, like Sylvania, Philips and General Electric, are already putting "lighting facts" labels on at least a few bulbs, even though new labeling requirements do not take effect until January.

But the changes are still complicated. For instance, instead of categorizing bulbs in terms of watts, a measure of power, shoppers will speak of lumens, a measure of the light that bulbs cast. To ease this change, bulbs will be described in yet a third way, "watt equivalents." A 60-watt equivalent bulb, for example, will emit as much light as the old 60-watt incandescent. And although the new law does not apply to fluorescent tube lights, three-way bulbs and other specialty lights, manufacturers are extending law-inspired changes to these exempt products, too.