Bye-Bye, Incandescent Bulb?

Is Thomas Edison’s most famous invention, the incandescent light bulb, about to fizzle into obscurity?

Thanks to global warming, the ban-the-bulb movement is gaining strength. Australian officials and European lighting manufacturers have announced phase-outs of the energy-draining bulb. A California legislator has proposed a ban. Now, in a move that could speed the move away from the 128-year-old invention, some of the world’s largest bulbmakers have joined environmental groups and the California Energy Commission in talks that could lead to a phase-out in the U.S. within a decade, sources say.
The scope of the move — and manufacturers’ support of it — is still undecided, they add. “We’re talking about a 10-year phase-out of incandescents, but there’s no plan on paper on how to do that yet,” says a source close to the talks who, lacking authorization to speak to media, asked not to be identified. “We’re thinking through and seeking answers to a number of questions,” said the source, noting the talks could yet fail.

The negotiations — which could yield a phase-out of incandescents for the huge California market, or perhaps affect the product line in most of the nation — are taking place amid evidence of a rising anti-incandescent clamor.

On Monday in Paris, the European Lamp Companies Federation, a trade group of lighting manufacturers in the European Union, unveiled a pact to phase out incandescent bulbs, without specifying a deadline.
Last week, Australians officials announced a phase-out of incandescents bulbs by 2009.
In California, state lawmaker Lloyd Levine in January introduced a bill that would ban the sale of incandescent bulbs statewide by 2012.

CBS News