The prospect for global warming fixes via the government certainly looks bleak (Copenhagen’s failure and the collapse of U.S. Congress legislation), but it also provides U.S. companies with an opening to provide a fix - and that’s where a little light is added to a dark situation.

As this blog has long proclaimed, the real future in lighting is LEDs (light-emitting-diode bulbs) and not CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs), simply because the light is superior and they use even less energy. That’s right, it’s the same type of light you get in new Christmas lights.

So, while incandescent light bulbs go dimmer by 5 percent per a government mandate (this is actually a smart way to save energy as well), LEDs will be shining the way toward a new lighting future.  This article predicts, LEDS could be as common by 2020 as iPods were by 2010:

By the end of the decade, analysts predict, LEDs will be the dominant source for commercial and residential lighting.

One retailer has an even better comparison than iPods:

“From where I sit, lighting is undergoing the same transition that the film business did when digital cameras first came out,” says Chuck Swoboda, CEO of Cree, a publicly traded LED manufacturer and lighting-systems company based in Durham, N.C. “I think the writing is on the wall for older types of lighting technologies. It’s just a question of how quickly we make it happen.”

And if you fear these lights will be as distinct as the squiggly fluorescent bulbs have been said to be, then fear not. This press release shows chandelier bulbs have been created that look exactly like their incandescent rivals.

At a time when all governments are believed to be failing the climate change goals, we can take heart in the free-market ingenuity of the lighting industry. It just might help roll back greenhouse gas emissions. And that is surely good news.