As we attempt to make our homes more environmentally friendly, the government is telling us that we should take out our incandescent light bulbs and instead use compact fluorescent bulbs. However, I have a number of objections to these bulbs. First, they seem a lot dimmer than the incandescents. When I replaced old bulbs with new ones that were labeled to have the equivalent wattage, I was dissatisfied; the new bulbs did not brighten the room as well. I prefer bright rooms. My second objection is that I have some small lamps in my bedrooms. You know the kind; the lamp shade has two wire loops that slip down over the light bulb. I cannot quite get the lamp shade to slip correctly on the swirly compact fluorescents. Third, last winter I had to replace the bulb in my porch light. Naturally, I put in a compact fluorescent. When the cold weather arrived, the bulb shone very dimly until it heated up enough to glow more brightly. By the end of the winter, the bulb did not work anymore. It did not have the long life that we are promised for their higher costs. Finally, my last objection is much more serious. These bulbs contain a small amount of mercury. If one should accidentally be broken, it will release mercury into your home environment-not a good thing at all. And when one does burn out (like my porch light), we are instructed not to throw them in the trash but to dispose of them properly. Have no fear. A better solution is coming along. This solution is LED low voltage lighting and other low voltage lighting solutions that are being developed.

When LED lighting comes into common use the light bulbs will look even stranger than the coiled tubes of the compact fluorescents. LED bulbs are very small but give off a lot of light for their size. You have probably seen a flashlight with an LED bulb. It gives off a slightly bluish glow that does an excellent job of lighting your path or tabletop. When used in other applications, they are either clustered together or strung in a tube. Decorators are now beginning to incorporate them into the decor of houses in a number of ways. One attractive application is as recessed lighting in a ceiling. This type of lighting scheme uses the bulbs made up of a cluster of LEDs. When these are recessed into the ceiling of a room, they provide the room with a warm glow and no harsh glare. The color of this light closely resembles that of the incandescent bulbs. The other type of lighting arrangement that is popular these days is the rope lights that illuminate areas such as under or on top of the cabinets in the kitchen. This represents more of a mood lighting arrangement.

With this rapid development of low energy lighting, the government should be cautious and take its time to decide what type of lighting they want to mandate and to not force compact fluorescents as the only option.

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