Hot on the heels of his infamous apology to BP earlier this summer during the congressional hearings into the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas) has just offered a new environmental bombshell bill in the House. The Better Use of Light Bulb Act (HR 6144) would repeal parts of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) — the act that currently stands to phase out the use of most inefficient incandescent light bulbs in the United States by 2014.

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Post tags: CFLs, congress, green design, green lighting, incandescent lightbulb, joe barton, Policy, politics, sustainable design

Housewares mega-retailer IKEA has announced that it will stop selling traditional incandescent light bulbs in its U.S. stores effective January 1, 2011. This fall, IKEA will introduce a “retro-fit” halogen bulb that fits in a conventional socket and produces warm light with a third less electricity.

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Post tags: CFLs, halogen lighting, ikea, incandescent bulbs, LED lighting, solar lighting

The UK’s first fully dimmable energy efficient light bulb was launched today, as part of a Greenpeace initiative at 100% Design London. Greenpeace commissioned top designer Jason Bruges to create an interactive garden of light, which responds to human movement through “touch pads” dotted around the installation. This is the first lighting project of its kind in the world to use fully dimmable, compact fluorescent bulbs.


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Post tags: CFLs, compact fluorescents, dimmable CFLs, eco lightbulb, energy efficient lighting, green lighting, Greenpeace launches dimmable eco lightbulb in London, greenpeace light garden1, London Design Festival

With all the recent talk of CFL’s, LED’s, and other fancy-sounding efficient lighting options, we thought it fitting to resolve some of your lingering lighting and lightbulb questions for this installment of Ask Inhabitat.

Q: I want to switch my home to compact fluorescent bulbs and use them in my recently remodeled family room. However, I don’t like the spiral look of CFL’s – they’re rather ugly, and would detract from the newly designed space. Are there CFL’s that are actually attractive, or covers that I can use to hide the spiral?

-George, Kentfield, CA


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Post tags: ASK INHABITAT, CFLs, compact florescent bulbs, Dear Habby, Environmentally friendly lighting, Habby the Inhabitat Owl, illustration by Jill Fehrenbacher, sustainable lightbulbs, Your Green Dear Abby