{"id":7940,"date":"2014-03-25T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T15:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/?p=7940"},"modified":"2022-08-17T21:14:14","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T21:14:14","slug":"is-there-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/auto-insurance\/auto-insurance-news-blog\/is-there-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel\/","title":{"rendered":"Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re having trouble finding traditional 40- and 60-watt light bulbs, you\u2019re not alone. Due to government-mandated efficiency standards, starting this year, light bulb manufacturers have stopped making these popular incandescent bulbs. This follows the phasing out of incandescent 75- and 100-watt light bulbs in 2013. \u00a0And if you\u2019re still using a high-wattage halogen lamp, it would be a good idea to make sure you\u2019ve got <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/insurance-options\/renters-insurance\/\">renters<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/insurance-options\/homeowners-insurance\/\">homeowners<\/a> insurance \u2013 more on this later; keep reading.<\/p>\n<p>It all began with the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Energy_Independence_and_Security_Act_of_2007\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Energy Independence and Security Act<\/a> signed by President Bush in 2007.\u00a0 According to the Environmental Protection Agency, only 10% of the energy from traditional light bulbs is converted into light \u2013 the other 90% is wasted as heat.<\/p>\n<p>So given your favorite light bulb is no longer available, what are your choices? Basically, your choices are halogen, compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), or high-efficiency incandescents (regular incandescents that have the filament wrapped in gas).<\/p>\n<p><b>High-wattage halogen lamps <\/b><\/p>\n<p>High-wattage halogen lamps present a very real fire danger in the form of an estimated 30-40 million free-standing torchiere lamps found in use today. These floor lamps use either a 300- or a 500-watt halogen tube.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.des.umd.edu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Consumer Product Safety Commission<\/a>(CPSC) notes that at least 100 fires and 10 deaths nationwide have been associated with torchiere lamps containing tubular halogen lamps.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Creates four times more heat than the average incandescent bulb<\/li>\n<li>A 500-watt halogen hits temperatures of over 1,200 degrees &#8211; creating a serious fire hazard.<\/li>\n<li>Curtains and other combustible materials can easily ignite if too close to the lamp.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In 1995, fire caused by a halogen pole lamp at the Arkansas Hendrix College dormitory resulted in $450,000 damage. Hope those students had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/insurance-options\/renters-insurance\/\">renters<\/a> insurance coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Follow these tips from the CPSC for safer use of halogen lamps:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Purchase and use only fixtures tested by a recognized testing laboratory, such as U.L.<\/li>\n<li>Place torchiere halogen lamps away from curtains and combustible wall decorations.<\/li>\n<li>Use the lamp only for its intended purpose; clothing and towels should never be draped over a lamp.<\/li>\n<li>Turn off a torchiere halogen lamp when you leave the room or are not home.<\/li>\n<li>For torchiere halogen lamps equipped with a dimmer switch, operate the lamp at a setting lower than the maximum whenever possible.<\/li>\n<li>Keep halogen torchiere lamps away from bunk beds and lofts where bedding may get too close to the tubular bulb.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Compact Fluorescent Bulbs<\/b><b> (CFLs)<\/b><\/p>\n<p>CFLs contain a small amount of Mercury, a hazardous material that&#8217;s dangerous to human health and the environment.<\/p>\n<p>If a CFL breaks, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www2.epa.gov\/cfl\/cleaning-broken-cfl#instructions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cleanup procedures<\/a> are detailed, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Removing all people and pets from the room<\/li>\n<li>Airing out the room for 10 minutes<\/li>\n<li>Do not vacuum (vacuuming could spread mercury-containing powder or mercury vapor)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition, discarded CFLs usually must be taken to a recycling center \u2014 not thrown in the garbage. For that reason, many people are now choosing safer LED lights or other lamps instead of CFLs.<\/p>\n<p>See complete CFL cleanup and disposal instructions from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www2.epa.gov\/sites\/production\/files\/documents\/cflcleanup20120329.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><b>EPA<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>LED advantages versus compact fluorescent bulbs:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They turn on instantly<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t contain mercury<\/li>\n<li>Provides warm light similar to an incandescent<\/li>\n<li>Works well in the cold<\/li>\n<li>Lifetime is unaffected by cycling on and off<\/li>\n<li>Lifespans of 30,000 or more hours<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Whatever light source you choose, be sure you\u2019ve got a good <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/insurance-options\/renters-insurance\/\">renters<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/insurance-options\/homeowners-insurance\/\">homeowners<\/a> insurance policy. It\u2019s worth its weight in gold when you need it.<\/p>\n<p>Have you had a hard time finding incandescent light bulbs? Feel free to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/freewayinsurance\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">share <\/a>your thoughts in the comments section below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re having trouble finding traditional 40- and 60-watt light bulbs, you\u2019re not alone. Due to government-mandated efficiency standards, starting this year, light bulb manufacturers have stopped making these popular incandescent bulbs. This follows the phasing out of incandescent 75- and 100-watt light bulbs in 2013. \u00a0And if you\u2019re still using a high-wattage halogen lamp, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[60,61],"importance":[],"type-content":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25822,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940\/revisions\/25822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7940"},{"taxonomy":"importance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/importance?post=7940"},{"taxonomy":"type-content","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type-content?post=7940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}