Consumers not yet warming to new light bulbs

Americans are about to suffer a cruel breakup: Their 130-year love affair with the incandescent light bulb is coming to an end.  Home décor retailer IKEA sent a reminder of the bulb’s dwindling shelf life this month, announcing it would halt the sale of traditional venerable bulbs at all of its U.S. stores. But while Thomas Edison’s invention is slowly being dimmed into retail oblivion, consumers have been slow to accept the two emerging alternative technologies, known as CFLs and LEDs. The main complaints: CFLs, or compact fluorescent lights, cast a harsh, greenish beam, unlike the warm, amber glow of incandescents