Many unhappy with light bulb phase-out

WILBRAHAM, Mass. (WWLP) - A 2007 law that will phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2014 to push consumers to buy more energy-efficient bulbs is creating some strong opinions.

Some, like Ed Norman of Springfield, are against the planned phase-out all together. "I feel it's up to the individual, I feel the government shouldn't be making people buy light bulbs if they don't have to. I think it should be up to the American public," Norman said.

Others, like Gina Shaw of Springfield, say that they are willing to wait and see. “I think it's a good idea, I don't see a huge difference on my bill yet, but I'm willing to give it a try,” Shaw said.

Brad Willard of Ludlow has already gotten used to having energy-efficient bulbs in his home, but he says he doesn’t like the idea of a mandate. "I've tried them and that's why I know about the lighting effect, you have to kind of get used to it and I think that's more of a problem for me, but all in all, I think we should have a choice what we buy."

People who may have experimented with energy compact fluorescents (CFL’s) might have found limitations early on, not so much anymore, according to Joe Ovelhero of Home Depot in Wilbraham. "Dimmable was definitely an area where there was opportunity, so now there's dimmable CFLs. There was also opportunity with three way, a lot of your lamps take three way bulbs, they didn't have that, which they do now. So those limitations are kind of being taken off the board so to speak," Ovelhero said.

22News compared the cost of the cheapest four bulb packs that we could find of the older incandescents and the newer compact fluorescents at the Wilbraham Home Depot, and we found the pack of energy efficient CFL bulbs were less than a dollar more expensive. The compact fluorescents we looked at also had more than six and a half times the expected life of the cheaper incandescents.

Congress decided to delay the first stage of the planned phase-out to October. It was originally planned for January. In October, sales of, 100-watt incandescent bulbs will be discontinued. Lower wattage bulbs will be discontinued in later stages.