Fluorescents are the light of workplace tedium and institutional misery, but we'd better start getting used to them. In 2012, 100-watt incandescent bulbs -- the same bulbs that are plugged into many of our table and bedside lamps and emit the warm yellow light that we associate with comfortable interior spaces and warm American homes -- will no longer be sold in the United States. The change is a part of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, which aims to reduce our unnecessary energy expenditures (40-watt bulbs will be phased out by 2014). It means that, in two years, consumers are going to have to start looking for new ways to light their homes and offices -- most likely, compact fluorescents, a more energy-efficient light bulb that generally emits a colder, bluer light.
