Early in 2007, GE announced they'd be developing an incandescent bulb with efficiency comparable to the CFL. By the year's end, they withdrew this promise & last year, they closed their last manufacturing plant in the US. All of the CFLs available are made in China - lesser environmental & labor standards + long carbon-based transport, including by super containerships. Where is the environmental benefit & not producing lighting - of whatever type - a REAL security problem for the US?

Photons are also ionizing. I think what you mean is harmful radiation, which in this case would be higher-energy photons.

Just tuned in. When will we see the shelves stocked with LED type 'bulbs'?

best read ever:
Disenchanted Night: The industrialization of Light in the 19th Century, by the fabulous Wolfgang Schivelbush.
(yes, it was written in English.) All his books are terrific.

IN the 1970s New York City made it illegal for office buildings to keep their lights on, because of the energy crisis What happened?

The incandescent ban has been in effect in the EU since fall of 2008. This shows how far in advance they are than us, despite the recycling problems for compact fluorescents.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs are recyclable at Home Depot. Take them to Home Depot and they will be properly recycled.

As far as recycling CF bulbs, Home Depot takes them for recycling.

As far as recycling CF bulbs, Home Depot takes them for recyling.

The growing use of compact flourescents will have affects on emotions. The cooler, more pale, greenish quality of many of them is really bad for people's emotional state.

Fortunately, LEDs are on the way -- no mercury, even more energy efficient, and much greater control of color.

My most vivid memory of my trop to New Zealand was how DARK it got at night. I spent hours on my first night there looking up at the night sky and enjoying all of the stars I couldn't see at home. It was ase inspiring.

Light _is_ radiation -- the question is, in what part of the electromagnetic spectrum does the radiation fall.

Incandescent lights fall well within the visible section of the spectrum -- towards the warmer colors (reds, oranges, yellows). Flourescents are cooler, which is why they emit more UV.

ALL lightbulbs emit radiation: photons, tons of them. Light is radiation.

My most vivid memory of my trip to New Zealand was how DARK it got at night. I spent an hour or more on my first night there looking up at all the stars that I couldnt see at home. It was awe inspiring!

The new New York Times building is the worst light polluter in midtown! That building is ALWAYS fully lit up. It is a beacon of wastefulness.

Does her book mention Marshall McLuhan. He identified the light bulb as a clear demonstration of the concept of “the medium is the message”.

A light bulb does not have content in the way that a newspaper has articles or a television has programs, yet it is a medium that has a social effect; that is, a light bulb enables people to create spaces during nighttime that would otherwise be enveloped by darkness. He describes the light bulb as a medium without any content. McLuhan states that "a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence.