CFLs

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.

Powering a home costs the average U.S. household $2,160 a year. While heating and cooling a home are the primary energy guzzlers, appliances also consume their fair share. Of course, there are ways to keep your energy usage -- and your monthly bill -- skyrocketing each winter. Using efficient...

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,...

As many consumers interested in saving money (and perhaps the planet) replace their incandescent bulbs with more energy efficient ones, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced new packaging rules to help them determine a bulb's true brightness. Light bulbs have been marketed for decades...

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....