The 100-watt bulb at death's door - The 100-watt light bulb, among the brightest of lights and a mainstay of floor lamps and floodlights around the world, has entered its final days of life.

The phased demise of the incandescent bulbs by legislation is really a severe case of overregulation.  Let's say one has a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, with a combined living room/den, and a dining room, a 2 car garage and maybe a little workshop area in the garage.  Add in closets and pantry and such, there will be about 17 to 18 areas needing lighting--7 or 8 of them for only a minute or two at a time maybe twice a day and a couple which may be used for one to three hours once or twice a week.  But instead of being able to buy a light that comes to full brightness almost instantly and costs a few cents, the homeowner must buy all the lights as either CFL, tube fluorescent, or LED costing many times more and there are a lot of CFL bulbs out there with mercury in them that require special disposal.  I saw some rather sobering pictures of a guy who was changing a CFL, dropped it, then cut his foot on the glass.  These CFL bulbs can be a serious health risk if improperly handled or broken accidently.

Why can the customer not be left with a choice of selecting more expensive/lower operating cost fluorescents or LED bulbs for lights seeing significant use and low cost bulbs for those with intermittent or short usage?  Let the customer choose with his wallet instead of taking away those choices.