"This would be a sensible discussion if we actually paid for electricity, and if all the costs of electric generation were built into the price."

I pay for electricity! More than 15 cents a kilowatt-hour, too.

But your point is well taken. I'd phrase it slightly differently: If we paid all of the costs of electricity in the electric bill.

For example, if burning coal to make electricity causes acid rain, and the acid rain means I have to paint my house twice as often, then the extra paintings are part of the cost of the electricity.

"If they just ban incandescents, then we may lose high efficiency incandescents."

Yup - and that's clearly not the way to go.

"And if we have to use CFL's outdoors in Canada in winter, we may end up paying a lot more in replacement costs."

I don't know how cold it gets where you are, but here in PA I've used CFLs outdoors in single-digit (F) temperatures with no problems. Not all brands, though.

"If we just paid the full rate for our electricity, we wouldn't have to ban anything."

It's more complicated than that. A lot of folks don't really understand how electricity and energy work, so all sorts of urban myths spring up. Knowing the facts is the answer.

"Finally, nobody has told me what to use in my porch timer switch that has a *minimum* 40 watt bulb requirement (2)."

I can!

You need to replace that timer, or use at least 40 watts of incandescents.

Not only does it have a 40 watt minimum requirement, it is only rated for incandescents. (Halogens are actually a form of incandescent). That's probably because of the way it switches the lights on and off, using a solid-state device rather than a mechanical contact.

"They save energy, they save the environment."

Yes, but that's not the issue.

The problems some folks have with energy-saving technologies go a lot deeper.

First off, such things are a constant reminder that we don't have unlimited amounts of resources. To even think that is unAmerican to some, to come right out and say it is worse.

Heck, it's almost 2010; we were supposed to be riding supersonic George Jetson flying cars to our four-hour-a-day jobs, vacationing on the moon, and controlling the weather by now! Instead we're arguing about the price of LIGHT BULBS?

What the heck happened to the wonderful future Popular Science and Mechanics Illustrated promised me in 1965? Where's my housecleaning robot, my instant gourmet meals, my luxury automated suburban home, my retirement at 45 and my g-d supersonic George Jetson flying car?

The future sure ain't what it used to be.

Second, they require that learn new things and do some figuring.

In the bad old days people just put light bulbs in the sockets and complained about the electric bill. Additional entertainment and resentment were provided by those who went around turning off lights others had left on, and those who went around turning on lights others had turned off, because "it's too dark in here". You may recognize the dynamic from The Thermostat Wars and the Door/Window Closer-Opener Feuds.

Now we have a bazillion bulb choices and have to consider things like first-cost, total lifetime operating cost, time-value-of-money, recycling the burnouts, which socket gets which technology, dimmers, etc. That means *thinking* and doing *math*, neither of which is a popular American pastime.

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I really love the next part. You owe me a new keyboard for writing this:

"Grow up already. You're not that great to look at even under incandescent lamps."

Brilliant! I always knew there was a reason restaurants, bars and discos were dimly lit.

"The best case is the newer high efficiency incandescent bulbs"

Maybe.

The GE HEI lamps are supposed to come out next year, and be twice as efficient as current incandescents. (Current CFLs are more than four times as efficient). GE hopes that *eventually* HEIs will be as efficient as CFLs are right now.

I hope GE succeeds. But until you can actually buy HEIs, they're not a solution at all.

Note that GE isn't saying anything about how much HEIs will cost, nor how long they will last compared to conventional incandescents.

And even if GE meets their goals, LEDs will still be much more efficient.