A new governmental mandate signed into existence January 2014 states that all FAA regulated airports must switch lighting products from incandescent to LEDs!
According to industry experts it is time to add old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs to a growing list of products, such as, rotary telephones, cassette tapes and record players to the endless list of products that become vague memories.
A multiyear phase-out of incandescent bulbs, used for decades in lamps, light fixtures and porch lights, is wrapping up. As of Wednesday, no more traditional 60- or 40-watt incandescent bulbs can be made in or shipped to the United States.
The change was part of a landmark energy independence act signed by President George W. Bush in 2007 that touched on a variety of conservation issues, including lighting efficiency.
New products
The act doesn’t ban incandescent bulbs but sets new standards for them, such as requiring that they be more efficient because much of the energy leaves the bulb as heat rather than light.
The first new standards affected 100- and 75-watt bulbs. Now efficiency standards are in effect for 60- and 40-watt bulbs.
Pros and cons
The incandescent bulb can be traced to Thomas Edison, who in the late 1800s developed a light that first burned for nearly 14 hours.
Inexpensive to produce, this type of bulb has been used through the years in everything from homes and businesses to flashlights and car headlights. Newer technologies have led to new types of bulbs.
Energy Department officials say traditional bulbs waste up to 90 percent of their energy as heat. They say replacing a 60-watt incandescent bulb with a 13-watt compact fluorescent bulb can save a household at least $30 in energy costs during the life of that bulb — which can be 10 times longer than that of an incandescent bulb.
