CFL

Four years ago, the U.S. Congress, to great fanfare, passed a law aiming to phase out the incandescent lightbulb in favor of longer-lasting, more energy-efficient alternatives. Recently, to even more fanfare, the U.S. Congress changed its mind. Whether this is good news or bad news is a matter of opinion.

The Easy-Bake Oven is falling victim to the fight against global warming. The incandescent light bulbs that heat the toy ovens are being phased out in 2012 in favor of energy-efficient compact fluorescents. But precisely because they are energy efficient, they don't get hot enough to bake a cookie.

A recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruling requiring all compact fluorescent light bulb manufacturers to provide information on proper handling and cleanup of broken bulbs grew out of a shareholder resolution sponsored by the nonprofit As You Sow. The FTC rule, which takes effect in mid-2011,...

GE and its products are part of the American iconography. Its founder was Thomas Edison, one of America's foremost thinkers, inventors, and tinkerers. His invention of the light bulb in 1876 marked the moment of GE's genesis. If you can say that light bulbs capture the spirit of American ingenuity,...

With high energy costs driving up electricity bills and an ever-widening array of lighting choices available at the local hardware store, it can be hard to pick the best -- and cheapest -- lighting option. In today's Savings Experiment, we'll explore the available lighting choices and pick...

Shares of Tyco International looked intriguing even before Tuesday's deal to buy Brink's Home Security. Now, with the business boosting its ADT unit, the stock appears too undervalued to ignore.

On September 1, the European Union began to enforce a ban on incandescent light bulbs. The response was immediate outcry from thousands of EU citizens who felt the blanket ban was overdone and failed to take into account hazards from compact fluorescent bulbs containing the toxic heavy metal...

Compact Fluorescent Lamps, or CFL's for short, have changed a lot in recent years. While the energy savings was unquestionable, the quality of the light coming off a CFL casts a shadow on their practical use, especially for areas where a crisp bright illumination was needed. The good news is...

This series explores aspects of America that may soon be just a memory -- some to be missed, some gladly left behind. From the least impactful to the most, here are 25 bits of vanishing America. Before a few years ago, the standard 60-watt (or, yikes, 100-watt) bulb was the mainstay of every U.S....

In case you haven't heard, it won't be too long before everybody in the country will be switching over to compact fluorescent lights, or CFLs. Although the twisty little lights are more expensive than ordinary lightbulbs, they use about a quarter of the electricity and last ten times as long....