I guess you can use halogen if you want to heat your house with light bulbs.
By replacing the conventional bulbs with CFL's most people will in fact need to turn up the heat to compensate for lost heating.
At least in colder areas like Norway.
You could debate which heat source is most efficient; bulbs, ovens or fireplaces?
Can't give you any figures, but one second off would mean a lot of lost cash for us here at WeTalkToSatellites.
Not enough to put us out of business, but enough to cause the execs to come screaming with tears.
The summary gives the impression that they figured this out today. The announcement is just a reminder and a PR magnet.
This has been known for quite some time and is significant for some industries (like my field of work; satellite telemetry).
Things can get complicated.
I know nothing of how it works in the US, but in Norway it all depends on the contract.
If your job descrition includes programming and development, employer has every right to the IP.
On the other hand, if your job description does not involve programming or development you most likey have the IP rights on your side.
Same goes for researchers. If a researcher discovers something it is IP of the employer, because that's what you are hired to do. Should the cleaning personell happen to develop a clever way to clean the floors the employer does not automagically retain IP rights.
"The most important thing in a man is not what he knows, but what he is." -- Narciso Yepes
