light bulb

Anyone who watched the adoption arc of CFLs can predict what will happen with LEDs: In a few years, they'll be popular, and everywhere. Harder to predict is how to invest in them. But we have a suggestion.

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.

California's Lunera Lighting is a cutting-edge LED maker that's using a contract manufacturer in the East Bay, near San Francisco. Its reasons for doing so shed light on some forces that could aid other U.S. manufacturers in the race for global competitiveness.