Shops ready for light bulb switch

Old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs are headed the way of rotary phones and record players.

As of Jan. 1, manufacturers are required to produce bulbs 25 percent more efficient than traditional ones.

The old-fashioned incandescents still are available on local store shelves, although that might change soon.

"I'm sure we have, literally, hundreds of them," said Bill Pyle of F.M. Pyle Hardware Company on Charleston's West Side.

Goldfarb Lighting in downtown Charleston and Zegeer Hardware on the East End also are fully stocked.

"No one's getting into a mad rush. We're fully loaded right now," Julie Zegeer said.

There are signs that homeowners in other parts of the country may be hoarding the incandescent bulbs.

Zegeer Hardware, a Do It Best Hardware franchise, receives its stock from a Do It Best distribution center in Medina, Ohio. Julie said that distribution center had no 100-watt incandescent bulbs in stock last week.

Other nearby distribution centers were running low: a center in North Carolina had 600 units of 100-watt incandescent bulbs, but a Waco, Texas, center had only 72 packages and a distribution center in Mesquite, Nev., had only 36.

Pyle said he doesn't expect demand to increase until supplies of old-fashioned incandescent start dwindling.

"They ban making them, so eventually the supply dries up. Once the supply starts drying up, then they'll panic. And by that point it'll be too late," he said.

Congress passed new light bulb efficiency standards in 2007. The standards will roll out over the next few years, with stricter standards on 100-watt bulbs starting this year. The requirements will expand to 75-watt bulbs in 2013 and 60-watt bulbs in 2014.

Lawmakers axed funding for enforcement of the new standards last month as part of a federal spending bill. That likely will have little effect on the standards, however. Manufacturers say they still plan to abide by the new rules.

Still, incandescent bulbs aren't actually going away. They'll still be on store shelves but will be more energy efficient. And more expensive. 

Although Thomas Edison's traditional incandescents do not meet the government's requirements, halogen-based incandescent bulbs do.