Your bulb is about to be phased out

Regardless of some last minute assurances a couple of weeks back that republicans had interceded to stop the lunacy of completely outlawing and eliminating incandescent light bulbs forever, the forces behind the push to force all of us to use those squiggly fluorescent bulbs have prevailed.

So if you want to forestall the inevitable perhaps it isn't too late for you to go out this last few days of the year and scarf up several dozen incandescent bulbs for your own private use. Or else in another month or so? You may be looking at the last of your bulbs as some once did the carrier pigeon. AS of January 1st. they are illegal to sell. That's all folks!
Say goodbye bulb

New light bulb efficiency standards will begin phasing in on Jan. 1 despite intense opposition from conservatives, who have blasted the rules as a textbook unnecessary federal regulation.

While Republicans secured inclusion of a measure blocking funding for enforcement of the standards in a year-end spending bill, energy efficiency groups say the provision will have little practical impact. The Energy Department rules will nonetheless go into effect at the start of 2012.

"The [spending bill] cut funding for enforcement, however the law is still in effect," said Jack Gillis, spokesman for the Consumer Federation of America. "It is our expectation that companies will still comply with the law."

Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, said companies have been preparing for the new light bulb efficiency standards since Congress passed the 2007 energy law requiring traditional incandescent light bulbs to be 30 percent more efficient starting in 2012.