Consumers confused by new energy-efficient light bulbs

Wall Street Journal : A federal law passed in 2007 requires that light bulbs now sold in the US be 25% more efficient than incandescent bulbs. But the very efficiency of LEDs and compact fluorescent bulbs is confusing consumers, reports the Wall Street Journal‘s Gwendolyn Bounds. A 100-watt incandescent bulb, which most people would regard as bright, emits 1600 lumens of light. That same luminosity can be obtained with a 20-W LED or a 30-W compact fluorescent bulb. Recognizing the potential for confusion, General Electric, Osram Sylvania, and other manufacturers of the new bulbs, have devised new, color-coded labels, but they have not adopted a uniform labeling scheme.