The bottom line is that even the new-and-improved incandescents don’t pack nearly the efficiency of compact fluorescents. Moreover, the price point for the new incandescents is still higher than that of CFLs. So for now, stick with your CFLs and keep an eye on the emerging research.

But what’s interesting to see is the reason for the increased R&D. It stems partly from customer preference, yes – but at the same time, those customers probably would have continued buying incandescents regardless of their environmental impact. The real impetus behind the improved efficiency in incandescents is the legislation that demanded an efficiency level that threatened to doom the incandescent forever. It’s the same philosophy that underlies the Waxman-Markey bill currently in front of the Senate, or the Maine law mandating that manufacturers bear the cost of recycling their customers’ ewaste, or any other governmental intervention in the market in the name of environmental protection. While critics may argue that increased regulation hampers economic activity, it’s certainly evident that regulation does its job in terms of controlling environmental impact. And by increasing the need for R&D and encouraging manufacturers to seek out new markets or improved efficiencies, maybe such regulation can actually have a positive impact on economic activity in the long run.

Are incandescents out the door?

CFLs, LEDs, incadescents… there are so many options out there for lightbulbs these days, and each has its own advantages and drawbacks. Incandescent bulbs are the traditional lightbulbs that we all grew up with, and have been commercially popular since the days of Thomas Edison. However, incandescent bulbs emit not only light but also heat, making them extraordinarily energy-inefficient. In the United States, sales of these bulbs will be banned by 2012, given the number of handy alternatives.

Compact fluorescent lightbulbs, or CFLs, are becoming increasingly popular amongst consumers, especially as the quality of the light they give off is improved. According to the U.S. EPA Energy Star program, CFLs use about 75% less energy than incandescents, and last ten times as long. You can pick up a 6-pack for about $15, which is more than the initial price of incandescents – but CFLs pay for themselves within about six months. An environmental disadvantage of CFLs is their mercury content – many states require that CFLs be properly disposed of or recycled, and Maine even passed a law recently that requires CFL manufacturers to pay for CFL recycling. An aesthetic disadvantage of CFLs is their lack of compatibility with most dimming circuitry – however, this is sure to change in coming years.

LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are electronic lights that have frequently used in cell phones and computers. Packing twice the efficiency of CFLs (and with fully dimmable capabilities), they are also considerably more expensive than CFLs or incandescents – as in, $120 per bulb. Nonetheless, they are increasingly being used in large-scale lighting such as streetlights (the stimulus package is helping cities with the up-front cost), and even in the overhead lights at Buckingham Palace.

And what of our old friend the inefficient incandescent? Well, it may be making something of a comeback – scientists at the University of Rochester are using lasers to make incandescents much more energy-efficient. They still aren’t as efficient as CFLs, but the new research is encouraging to those who miss the traditional feel of these much-maligned bulbs. Now that’s the type of innovation that would make Thomas Edison proud.

To read the full article on Intuit’s Green Snapshot Program, visit the link here on GreenBiz.com or see Liz Liedel’s June 9^th Post here.

To get started reducing your business’ carbon footprint, click here to download Green Snapshot.

To learn more about how Green Snapshot works, see a video demo here.

Small business owners know that assessing their financial situation is critical to running a successful and sustainable business. Increasingly, this philosophy is being extended beyond financial accounting, and businesses both large and small are finding ways to account for other things – beyond money – that matter to their performance. But what if your small business doesn’t have the time, money or human resources to do an exhaustive footprint assessment?

Enter Intuit, the maker of Quickbooks, which has just released software that makes this process a snap. Their new (and free!) Green Snapshot add-in evaluates your existing Quickbooks files, and uses them to calculate your business’ carbon footprint. Not only that, but it automatically generates an analysis that shows you where your largest impact is and what you can do to reduce it. Sure, it’s a quick-and-dirty version of what is usually a complex process of understanding carbon emissions, but Snapshot’s reliance on extensive lifecycle databases means that its output is usually pretty accurate. And best of all for small business owners, it’s both easy and free.

In some ways, this is just an extension of what the Global Reporting Initiative has been doing with larger corporations for years – finding a way to quantitatively analyze environmental impact using the same tools that we use to quantitatively analyze financial impact. And, as GRI founder Bob Massie pointed out in a talk earlier this year at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, it is probably easier to quantify things like water usage and carbon emissions than it is to quantify “goodwill,” “intangible assets,” or other accounting measures that the finance world assesses on a regular basis. So why not give it a shot?

Via GreenBiz.