Would You Spend $50 for a Light Bulb That Lasts 20 Times Longer?

You may have noticed that 100-watt incandescent light bulbs are vanishing from store shelves. That's because the federal government banned their manufacture as of Jan. 1.

They're too energy inefficient. Most of the energy they use is from heat, not light (sort of like a political campaign, eh?).

By the way, you can still find them online, but once the current inventories are gone. They're gone.

That's not all. Other incandescent light bulb wattages will be vanishing soon enough: Starting in January, 75-watt bulbs will be banned; 60-watt and 40-watt bulbs fade to black at the start of 2014.

That doesn't mean you won't be able to get your bright lights on. You've been able to get the fluorescent bulbs for awhile, but some people don't much like the quality of the light.

Manufacturers are coming out with LED lights now that produce whiter, brighter lights at a fraction of the wattage. This Associated Press report run by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that the light-emitting diode lights "don't contain any volatile, hazardous substances (like fluorescent bulbs) and are durable. They also last longer.

"Osram Sylvania, a division of Germany's Siemens AG, said that it's shipping the first batches of its Ultra LED bulb to some Lowe's stores. The bulb uses 20 watts of electricity and costs $50."

I actually have a first-generation fluorescent bulb in one of my lamps that I've had for at least two decades. It was worth the prince's ransom I paid for it at the time.

How about it? Are you OK with the new, more efficient light bulbs—bulbs that convert more energy into light instead of heat? And would you be OK spending a few extra bucks on a bulb if you only had to replace it every few years, instead of every few months?