Lighting

The Navy has some background data from 2002 (also linked from Data) that shows Low Pressure Sodium generating well over 100 lumens / watt (183 for the biggest lamps). Lumens is the standard measure of the amount of light emitted from a bulb. Watts are what we pay for and incandescent lights consume a lot of watts (e.g. 100W) to make not so many lumens (e.g. 1700 or 17 lumens/watt). More lumens / watt is better so here are some better-than-incandescent options.

CFLs (~75 lumens/watt)

Sources & Advice

• In addition to CFLs up to 500W equivalence(!), http://1000bulbs.com/ sells some CFL types that may be hard to find locally: dimmable, 3-way, "torpedo", and globe. Now what was I reading about cold cathode fluorescents?
• TopBulb has a CFL wizard that is pretty handy-looking as well as a selection of different temperatures for each bulb option.
• Find an Energy-Saving Light Bulb from Environmental Defense looks very useful in part because they have reviews of specific models. Perhaps better than the EnergyStar equivalent search.

Disposal

• EPA fact sheet
• many lighting and hardware stores accept fluorescent bulbs for safe disposal

Analysis

• THE Bulb Math from the carbon-offset CFL folks
• EnergyStar requires that bulbs light up quickly. According to all anecdotal evidence, IKEA's CFLs are good on many fronts (e.g. color temperature & size) but are severely lacking in terms of coming up to full brightness promptly.
• Among other reasons EnergyStar labels on CFLs are good:

LEDs

• Toronto Hydro explains the potential of LEDs and highlights xmas lights, traffic signals, and EXIT signs as very practical products.
• standard size and track light bulbs you can get now. Most are pretty dim, so it's important to check the number of lumens (lumens/watt are similar to CFLs at best unless color comes into play).
• http://www.everled.com/ sells 4' tube replacements ($149!) and links to interesting resellers of their $40 flashlight replacement LED bulb and $20 mini MagLite LED bulb.
  • http://www.theledlight.com/ (new products) sells pretty much everything LED-related including a maybe-60W equivalent LED bulb and under-sink options (longer).
  • http://www.ledsupply.com/ sells interesting parts for building your own lights, including EverLED's tubes.
  • http://www.ledtheway.com/ sells floodlights, including colored stage lighting!
  • http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/ also seems pretty comprehensive
• http://www.carmanah.com/uk/ does solar LED lighting
• http://www.galliumlighting.com/ talks about some of the first products to emit as much light as incandescent or CFL. Unfortunately, lumens/watt isn't yet above that of CFLs (no mercury, 20 year life is a good start, though):