Watts happening with light bulbs in California

SACRAMENTO
December 29, 2011 7:29am

If you’re looking in California for a 75-watt bulb made after Jan. 1, 2012, good luck. Chances are that you’ll be buying bulbs rated at a maximum of 53 watts.

The state’s phase-in of lower wattage bulbs ratchets to the lower bracket after a year of Californians getting used to buying 72-watt bulbs when they looked for 100-watt bulbs.

The other 49 states wrestle with the 100/72-watt requirement starting Sunday, a year behind California.

The state believes as much as $35.6 million was saved this year with burned out 100-watt bulbs being replaced by the 72-watt versions, which, it says, put out about the same amount of light.

Newly-made 60-watt and 40-watt bulbs ratchet down to 43 and 29 watts respectively, in a year.