The Jesus Bulb

The light bulb of your future within the next couple of years is the compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). Maybe you know it as the ice cream cone swirling bulb. You’re going to have them in your home, and at this Easter time, there’s another Light we’d like to talk about.

Sitting on the shelf somewhere in a store in your town is a common product priced at less than three bucks that will soon alter the fate of the entire planet. It’s a product that will solve some of the most profound issues facing our world: rising gas prices, energy consumption, global warming, dependence on foreign oil and chronic halitosis (okay, not so much the last one). It also looks kind of cool and will give the buyer a sense of selflessness and self-satisfaction all at the same time. At $2.60 a pop, just one of these products can save you $38 per year, which is a pretty good return on investment. Oh, and the product is good to last for about 10 years.

What is this world-changing widget?

A light bulb. And that’s no joke.

Introducing the compact fluorescent light bulb or “CFL” for short. Unlike the typical bulb that we screw into our lamps and cartoonists use to indicate that someone is getting an idea, these bulbs look a little strange with a shape that...