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The incandescent light bulb’s days are numbered. Under federal law, the 100-watt bulbs are supposed to be taken off the shelf next year, followed later by the much more common 40- and 60-watt models.
But guess who’s still using them? The Department of Energy!
As I write within the at the Department of Energy, the department’s inspector general released an audit on Wednesday showing that it is continuing to buy obsolete fluorescent lamps, bypassing the more modern technologies that it spent tax dollars to develop. Yet even much more surprising, it’s still purchasing the well known incandescent bulbs instead of compact fluorescents.
The department operates at 24 places and the auditors stopped at seven of them. “Despite the substantial advantages of C.F.L.’s, all from the sites we visited continued to invest in incandescent lights,” the report said.
It is not the very first time the department didn’t rush to comply with new policies. Within the 1990s, after a worldwide agreement to stop production of chlorofluorocarbons simply because of their damage to the ozone layer, the Energy Department stockpiled them ahead from the ban on sales for use in its uranium enrichment plants, for example.
The department does not have a clear explanation for why it is not using the money- and energy-saving advice that it prompts others to take. But a spokeswoman, Stephanie Mueller, said it would do more effective in the future.
“Sometimes the very first steps can be the hardest, but once you begin to take these steps, it is simpler to initiate change across a big organization,’’ she said.
What are your thoughts on this? Are you investing in Dallas Radiant Barrier to lower your bills or will you invest in a CFL?
