Scientific Method / Science & Exploration

How many legislators does it take to change a light bulb?

One California lawmaker wants to pass a bill that will outlaw the traditional …

I like things with humorous titles.  From the Physical Review Letters article titled "Are Brazil Nuts Attractive?" to a new piece of legislature being introduced in California's state legislature titled "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb Act," they serve the purpose of drawing attention to the work, and in the case of both these examples, also have some interesting ideas within them. This new act would ban the use of the traditional incandescent light bulb in favor of newer, more efficient compact florescent light bulbs.

The incandescent bulb was developed over 100 years ago, and the underlying technology for it is even older. While it has been a stalwart workhorse for over a century, it is not an efficient device. The traditional incandescent bulb works by passing a current over a resistive filament which heats up to the point where it glows in the visible spectrum. The average incandescent bulb has an efficiency of only about five percent; that is, only five percent of the energy used to power it is actually converted to light. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL), on the other hand, convert close to 25 percent of the energy they draw into light.

The new legislation will be introduced this week by assemblyman Lloyd Levine, and will seek to ban the use of the old technology. Touting the need to cut greenhouse gases, use less electricity, and save the consumer money, Mr. Levine says that while this is not glamorous, it can "significantly decrease the electricity the country now uses.” As an example, one 20-watt CFL will give the same light output as a 75-watt incandescent bulb, but over its lifetime would save 1,300 pounds of CO2 from being released and will save the consumer $55 in electricity costs. It is hard to see a downside to this, but as someone will point out, CFLs cost more than traditional bulbs. This is true, however Southern California Edison, a regional power company, is running a program that brings the cost of the average CFL down to $1 from $2.50, making it the far better alternative to traditional CFLs.

California has led the US and, at times, the world in groundbreaking environmental efforts. While this is far from groundbreaking, it may be one of the easiest and cheapest ways everyone can help reduce their environmental/energetic impact on today's world.

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