If you were totally unaware of the fact that incandescent light bulbs are becoming illegal in the U.S. as of January 1, you're not alone. A recent survey showed that only 4 in 10 people were aware of the ban, meaning that they're the only ones currently stocking up on the warm-glowing, old-fashioned bulbs, in anticipation of their complete disappearance.
Per the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, 75-watt and 100-watt incandescent bulbs were already phased out of production this past year due to their energy inefficiency, which is why you haven't been able to find any on store shelves. On January 1, 2014, the same will happen for 40- and 60-watt bulbs, which are the most popular, and they're meant to be replaced by more expensive LEDs, or by the less pleasantly colored compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), which are the most readily available now at your neighborhood grocery store or pharmacy.
LEDs are getting cheaper and more sophisticated, and certainly last longer than standard incandescents (see this documentary for a history of how the lightbulb was one of the first technologies designed with planned obsolescence in mind, in order to make us buy more of them), but a lot of us are still attached to the specific warmth and appearance of incandescent bulbs, regardless of their energy wastage. There's good news there though: At least one American manufacturer, Newcandescent, is capitalizing on a loophole in the law that doesn't ban what are called "rough service" bulbs, originally designed for subways and high vibration industrial situations. They're selling rough service bulbs for residential use in wattages from 25 on up to 300.
The owner of Newcandescent will have you believe that CFLs are actually bad for your health, and somewhere out there are studies that say they trigger migraines.
What of those fancy 30-watt Edison bulbs that are so popular in trendy restaurants nationwide? Those don't appear to be the target of the ban, and are readily available from specialty vendors like this one, and Newcandscent makes a clear, round version as well.
And just to get back to this planned obsolescence angle, there's a lightbulb in a Livermore firehouse that holds the Guinness record for the longest burning bulb in the world. It hasn't burned out now in 112 years, after being first switched on in 1901. No one really understands how or why, except that it must have been made with a really strong vacuum inside, and there's a live cam fixed on it that fans watch a grainy image of on the web. It was once a 60-watt bulb but now burns at about 4 watts. If only they were all made like that.
