States flipping switch on incandescent bulb

EDISON, N.J. – They insist it’s nothing personal, this sudden vendetta lawmakers nationwide seem to have against one of Thomas Edison’s most enduring contributions to the world: the incandescent light bulb.

First it was California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, who last month introduced a bill to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs in the state by 2012.

“I love Thomas Edison,” Levine said. “Growing up, Thomas Edison was one of my heroes.”

Connecticut followed suit a few days later with its own incandescent ban. Then, last week, New Jersey Assemblyman Larry Chatzidakis introduced a bill calling for the replacement of incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs in state buildings.

Nevertheless, it’s looking like Mr. Edison’s light bulb – the bulb most Americans grew up with, the bulb most American homes still use – is in for some dark times.

After more than 125 years of faithful service, incandescents are slowly being supplanted by compact fluorescents, those often-curly-shaped bulbs that plug into the same sockets and kick out the same amount of light but use far less energy.

According to Energy Star, a collaboration of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, compact fluorescents use two-thirds less energy than incandescents, which convert only 5 percent of their energy into light and turn the rest into heat.

“This is something that gives us the opportunity to save money and to diminish our impact on the environment when you look at the amount of energy needed to power these bulbs,” said Chatzidakis. “These bulbs are going to have to be replaced anyway. It’s just common sense.”

So where does that leave the legacy of the man they called the Wizard of Menlo Park?

Untouched, said Jack Stanley, curator of the Thomas Edison Menlo Park Museum.

“Edison understood that technology changes and without change we don’t have progress,” Stanley said. “It’s like with the phonograph. We don’t listen to cylinder records anymore… . But that doesn’t change the fact that Edison still invented recorded sound.”