Time dimming for 100-Watt incandescent light bulbs

Time is dimming for those of us who favor 100-Watt incandescent light bulbs.

The government several years ago decided to flip the switch on incandescent bulbs in favor of better energy efficiency bulbs, and now, the time is here.

Some lighting companies plan to keep the bulbs on the shelves until they run out, and for customers, some are showing resistance to the new law.

"I am familiar with those, and those are not the ones I want," says Onalee Wilson.

Onalee Wilson says spiral compact fluorescent lights, CFL's for short, have a place, but not in her kitchen.

"I don't like the color, and I don't like the look of the new lights," she admits.

And she's not taking any chances, even if that means she has to find a little room on her storage shelves.

"I'm trying to buy enough so they'll live longer than I do," Wilson laughs.

"They're stocking their warehouses as well as possible to feed us as well as possible," says Petoskey Meyer's Ace Hardware manager Carole Genson.

Meyer's Ace Hardware is stock-piling 100-Watt incandescent bulbs before they stop making them on January 1st.  Manager Carole Genson says several people are like Onalee Wilson and want to get their favorite bulbs before they're gone.

"We're just selling through them," says Genson.

"A lot of people don't like the spiral, and I don't blame them, the incandescent, the old warm light people have grown up with, is really what people like," says Andy Driver, owner of Advanced Lighting Center in Gaylord.

Advanced Lighting Center has its shelves stocked and will sell the 100-Watt incandescents as long as they last.  Driver says some companies have worked around the system, creating 95-Watt bulbs, and he believes it's not CFL's, but actually LED's that are the future.

"It's a great law, because we all need to save energy, it's just the growing pains," says Driver.

But growing pains and change are hard for some to overcome and wish they had the choice.

"In some places I use them, but not in my kitchen," says Wilson.

Price is another factor.  Take for example a five pack of CFL's and compare it to a four pack of incandescent bulbs.  You're going to pay about six times as much for the CFL box compared to the other.  But here's the deal: Each CFL bulb is supposed to last about 10 times longer, and you're going to save money in the long run because of the energy consumption.  Some say that's not enough, and they'd rather have looks over the energy savings.

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