The "Did You Hear The Latest News About Lightbulbs? Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading my morning newspaper which is always one of my favorite things to do to start the day.  Well, this morning I found out something that I never expected.  Actually, why didn't I know this before now?  Must be a reason why I never knew it before now!  There...on the bottom of one of the pages in my morning newspaper, in 36 point type, was spewed out in bold letters a headline that read.... Incandescent light bulbs are officially over.  What!!  How did I miss that?  The story in my LNP Newspaper was first published in the New York Times.  It began with the sentence.. It's the end of an era.  In America, the incandescent light is no more (with few exceptions).  Under new energy efficiency rules that took effect Tuesday, shoppers in the United States will no longer be able to purchase most incandescent bulbs, marking the demise of a technology patented by Thomas Edison in the late 1800s.  Taking their place are LED lights, which - love them or hate them - have already transformed America's energy landscape.  The story goes on to say that the new technology has driven down electricity demand in American homes, saving people money.  And, by using less power, LED's have already helped lower the nation's emissions of greenhouse gases, which warm the planet and are a major cause of climate change.  If by now you don't know what LED stands for...it means light-emitting diodes.  The new efficiency standard announced by President Biden's adminsistration requires lightbulbs to meet a minimum standard of procducing 45 lumens per watt.  (A lumen is a measurement of brightness, and incandescents typically produce far less than that per watt.). A rule change applies the new standards to a wider universe of lightbulbs.  The only older bulbs that still can be used are those that go inside ovens and bug lights.  Now that the new rule is in place, the Department of Energy expects Americans to collectively save nearly $3 billion a year on their utility bills.  The knock on LEDs from the past was that they were more expensive to buy, but prices for LEDs have rapidly fallen.  Over the next 30 years, the rules will also cut carbon dioxide emissions by 222 million metric tons, according to the Energy Department.  LEDs have other advantages in that they last 25 to 50 times longer than their incandescent counterparts.  The new regulations may go over with little fanfare being that retailers have been taking the old bulb off the shelves in anticipation of the rule.  I certainly didn't notice a difference in the brightness of the new bulbs.  And, anything to save a few dollars is fine with me.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.