A bill introduced yesterday in California’s Legislative Assembly hopes to find out. The bill–AB 722, literally titled, “How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb”–is authored by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) and would make the state the first to ban sales of incandescent light bulbs by 2012. Though compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs (incandescents’ more efficient counterparts) cost several times more than a traditional bulb, they are up to 75 percent more efficient and last up to ten times longer. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, replacing a bulb that is run 4-8 hours a day could save $38-$72 over five years. And regular readers here know those savings also translate to cleaner air, cleaner water, and a more secure and healthy climate. Moreover, for Minnesota, where the generation of almost a third of our state’s largest utility’s electricity impacts Native lands (nuclear power and large-scale hydro), using energy in smarter, more efficient ways also means less impact on communities of color that disproportionately bear the impact of electricity generation and global warming consequences.

To be sure, efficiency is only one “wedge” in the diverse, sensible strategies needed to slow global warming, and switching to CF bulbs is itself only a portion of the “energy efficiency” wedge. Even CEOs of major energy companies acknowledge that some kind of carbon regulation is ultimately necessary to tackle global warming. But for those who feel the urgency of the global warming problem or simply seek innovative, modern, and efficient energy solutions to light their homes, an investment in CF bulbs are an easy first step. And while making the CF switch is now largely an action driven by individual consumers, the California bill offers this promising idea a prominent home in public policy as well.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 23rd, 2007 at 11:11 am by Fresh Energy and is filed under Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.