Banning the Bulb?

Here is an article about new California legislation that is being introduced by California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine that would ban the use of incandescent light bulbs in the home by the year 2012. These are the most common light bulbs currently used in the home today. While they are cheap to purchase, they are expensive to run and are energy wasters. The alternative to incandescent is the compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) which uses about 25 percent of the energy of conventional light bulbs. Unfortunately, they often provide about 25 percent of the aesthetic quality as well. Incandescent light bulbs run in the yellow/red color spectrum and provide a warmer "feel" visually to a space - think sunlight, fires and candlelight. CFL's run in the blue color spectrum and thus create a cooler feel to a space (think northern exposure on a winters' day). I've tried them and I must admit I'm not partial to the color they produce.

While I'm all for reduction of green house gasses - one has to wonder - if we replace all of our warmer feeling lights with their cooler alternatives - will those of us in cold climates be turning up our thermostats to compensate?

I hope someone more scientific than I am works to come up with a way to satisfactorily coat or colorize the CFL's to make them a bit more palatable.