No, I'm not talking about Canadian Football League widows–in this case, the CFL "wife test" refers to Compact Fluorescent Lighting and the fact that more women than men seem to resist the switch from incandescent bulbs to the more energy efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.

In a fascinating article in today's Washington Post, titled Fluorescent Bulbs Are Known to Zap Domestic Tranquility, the author posits that the campaign to install CFLs in American homes is failing because the bulbs fail the "wife test."

According to Wendy Reed, director of the federal government's Energy Star campaign, which labels products that save energy and has been working with retailers to market CFL bulbs:

There is still a big hurdle in convincing Americans that lighting-purchase decisions make a big difference in individual electricity bills and collectively for the environment's.

I have heard time and again that a husband goes out and puts the bulb into the house, thinking he is doing a good thing. Then, the CFL bulb is changed back out by the women. It seems that women are much more concerned with how things look. We are the nesters.

Popular Mechanics (which is likely more widely read by men than women) recently conducted a test of seven common CFLs against a 75-watt incandescent bulb.

The results surprised us. Even though the incandescent bulb measured slightly brighter than the equivalent CFLs, our subjects didn’t see any dramatic difference in brightness. And here was the real shocker: When it came to the overall quality of the light, all the CFLs scored higher than our incandescent control bulb. In other words, the new fluorescent bulbs aren’t just better for both your wallet and the environment, they produce better light.

So ladies (and gentlemen), in an age when we need to choose to reduce our energy consumption, why not give the new CFLs a try? Just be sure to talk it over with your spouse first.

Carbon Neutral Journal's choices are brought to you by Jorgensen Associates.

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