Energy Secretary Steven Chu, in a statement yesterday announcing new standards for lighting that will boost the efficiency of fluorescent tubes (yep, the very things casting the unattractive glow as you read this in your office cube).

The standards will come into effect in 2012 and by 2042, they will “save as much as $4 billion annually and avoid up to 594 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, roughly the equivalent to removing 166 million cars from the road for a year” (Washington Post).

As the Sallan Foundation gleefully put it: ” The end is nearer for incandescents. You’re on!”