Shopping for light bulbs yesterday was instructive. The San Jose Walmart had virtually no incandescent light bulbs, except for specialty bulbs. They did have lots of CFLs. A nearby Lowes also had very few incandescents, but had a good assortment of LEDs along with the CFLs.
Incandescents are being phased out. CFLs are a transitional product with LEDs being the probable eventual mainstream lighting product.
LEDs can significantly reduce consumption of electricity in the U.S. and eliminate billions of bulbs from the waste stream. But so can fluorescents.
That’s why the shift to LEDs is happening much more slowly than VCs or entrepreneurs expected. Widespread consumer and residential penetration of LED lighting is still some years away.
But it will happen and the amount of electricity we use will drop accordingly.