The warm glow of the 75-watt incandescent light bulb soon will
wink out. Though the bulbs still are available in stores,
producers stopped manufacturing them Jan. 1. The industry is
phasing out incandescent bulbs to meet federal energy standards
by 2014. The 75-watt bulb is the second casualty of 2007's
Energy Independence and Security Act, which requires household
lighting to be 27 percent more efficient by next year. Light
bulb producers stopped making 100-watt bulbs a year ago, and 60-
and 40-watt bulbs will be discontinued in 2014. Dousing
incandescents will save energy, said John Watts, supervisor in
the energy services department at EPB. "There's a limit to the
power the United States can produce," Watts said. "You've got to
reduce somewhere or build more power plants to maintain the
energy load everyone's demanding." Consumers still have plenty
of lighting options, with halogen, compact fluorescent and
light-emitting diode, or LED, bulbs. Each has benefits and
drawbacks. Halogen bulbs are the most simi