Who took my 60-watt bulbs?
Steve Martaindale

Steve Martaindale is a self-syndicated columnist. Write him at penmanmail-steve@yahoo. com.

Almost hidden behind all of the fireworks of elevated mileage requirements in new vehicles, found in the recently passed and signed energy bill, was the death knell of the incandescent light bulb.

A marvel when it was invented, the now old-fashioned light bulb must give way to compact fluorescent bulbs, which use only a fraction of the electricity to produce the same level of light. The year 2012 is set as the target date for eliminating incandescent bulbs.

We have been gradually converting in our house by replacing old bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs for two simple reasons: one, they last longer, supposedly a lot longer; and two, they use less electricity.

Since we're already in transition, it surprised me the other day when my wife said, "I think you should buy some extra light bulbs to stick back in case we need them."

Why? There will be plenty of CFLs available. No, she was talking about the old-fashioned bulbs.

We have a 100-watt incandescent bulb in an outdoor storeroom. When the weather is predicted to get cold, we leave the screen door ajar and the light on. The cat knows she can get in there and onto a towel on a top shelf and keep warm. So far, the raccoons and possums don't seem to have figured that out or don't care.

CFLs do not emit the extra heat that incandescent bulbs do, another advantage during the summer. Cool it

Cool it

Of course, I thought as I saw her line of logic, there are uses for light bulbs that actually take advantage of the heat that is generated by all the wasted electricity.

I have seen bulbs used to keep eggs warm while waiting for them to hatch. Not as touching as a mother hen sitting on the eggs, but effective. They can be used to keep tender plants warm during a freeze.

What about the Easy-Bake Oven? It has been a children's classic for decades, allowing kids to bake their own treats under the power of a 100-watt light. Are we going to make them start using cigarette lighters now?

That's the way it often is with progress. The little issues get lost in the rush forward.

Human beings are an innovative lot. Give us a stick and we will devise a hundred tools from it. Give us a day of sick leave and we will come up with dozens of short-term illnesses. Give us a light bulb and we'll milk it for all it's worth.

Given that, surely we'll invent some other way to get heat from a light socket.

Hmm, I wonder if they've come out with a 750-watt CFLyet.

Better yet, with our cars getting so much better gas mileage in the future, maybe we can utilize them.

When it is cold at night, I could just leave the car's heater running and run a dryer duct from the car's interior to the cat's sleeping area. Incubating eggs could sit on the car's dash, warmed by the sun when it's shining and by the defroster when it's not.

And little Suzy's Easy-Bake Oven will be replaced by the Easy-Griddle as she learns to fry eggs on the engine's manifold.

The future is looking bright again.