[rmh47]

She is complaining that 90% of a light bulbs energy is lost due to heat. But in any system primarily one where you have a filament burning at 1000s of degrees Celsius, you will have a majority of the energy lost to heat and not converted to light.

I understand that. CF bulbs work on a different principle and are two to four times more efficient than incandescant bulbs (lumens/watt). That's what this whole discussion is about.

What I don't understand is how that translates into a diatribe at Rep. Harmann about not understanding thermodynamics. (I can think of plenty of other reasons to yell at Rep. Harmann.)

[LukeL]

Because of the quote of a light bubls energy being lost to heat. For the most part in order to generate light you need to heat up a materail to the point that it glows.