So it seems that as part of the energy bill our government, in its infinite wisdom, is looking to ban the incandescent light bulb by 2012.  From an energy stand point that sounds good, but it does run into a minor problem.  All of those fluorescent bulbs are filled with mercury vapor.  So now when you drop a light bulb and it breaks, you'll be polluting your home with a difficult to clean up neurotoxin.  If it doesn't break in your home, then it breaks in the dumpster, or in the land fill and gets back into the environment.  Hooray!

Personally I'd have avoided legislation like this and put an emphasis on developing the technology for LED bulbs.  These are even more energy efficient than CFL's and don't have the pollution issues of CFL's.  Either that or develop a CFL that doesn't rely on mercury first.  It seems that we are, once again, solving one problem by creating another.