Following the 2007 federal energy bill that phases out inefficient incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012, the good old technology eschewed. With consumers opting incandescent bulbs over florescent ones, researchers have been striving to make the former better and more efficient.

Philips Lighting’s Halogena Energy Savers are the opening ones that emerged. Despite being expensive compared to the conventional ones, they are 30 percent more efficient and last three times longer. Another company,  Deposition Sciences came up with a special reflective coating to gas-filled capsules that surround the bulb’s filament that acts like a heat mirror and bounces heat back to the filament thereby converting it into light. These bulbs have a 30 percent efficiency gain, but the company promises to increase it to 50 percent. Los Angeles based inventor David Cunningham developed a reflective coating and fixture design that he claims would make incandescent cent percent more efficient. In addition, a Physics professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Shawn-Yu Lin, devised a high-tech, iridium-coated filament that recycles wasted heat to improve its performance.

There are many more attempts being done throughout the world to bring back the lost shimmer of our very own incandescent bulbs, but what’s holding it back is the fear of the energy bill released a couple of years ago. However, leading lighting companies General Electric, Osram Sylvania and Philips are all putting their efforts towards energy conservation and providing consumers better incandescent bulbs they desire.

Via NYTimes