Im not saying its a bad thing to require the new bulb for lighting. I just hope they make an exception for those who need it.
California does other things to cut down on greenhouse gases. I believe they are trying to pass a law that prohibits California from buying electricity from other states that comes from coal-fired power plants.
Incandescent bulbs as a source of light are very inefficient. I use the new kind for applications where I want light without all the heat, also a 23 watt bulb puts out as much light as a 100 watt incandescent.
It takes 714 pounds of coal turn burn a 100 watt incandescent bulb 24 hours a day for 1 year.
A typical 500 megawatt coal power plant produces 3.5 billion kWh per year. That is enough energy for 4 million 100 watt light bulbs to operate year round.
2000 census of california shows 33 million people. If everyone only used the equivalent of 1 light bulb, it would take 8+ coal fired power plants just to keep them on.
Howstuffworks "How much coal is required to run a 100-watt light bulb 24 hours a day for a year?"
If Californians only used the equivalent of 1 100 watt bulb operating 24 hours a day, and they switched to compact fluorescents, we could shut down 6 coal burning power plants.
I imagine actual numbers of incandescents used in the state of California far exceeds this.
