Lighting

TO most of us, candles are simply a finishing touch -- a bit of wax and a wick to create the kind of mood enhancement that, until recently, electric light could not hope to equal. But to the candle industry, which sold about $2 billion worth of pillars, votives, tapers, floaters and other candle styles last year, the increased popularity of this ancient item raises safety issues.

Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said today that Australia would gradually ban incandescent lightbulbs and require the use of more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs instead. Legislation to restrict the sale of the old bulbs could reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by hundreds of thousands of tons and cut household lighting costs up to 66%, Turnbull said. Australia produced almost 565 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2004, officials say.

A bill that would ban the sale of traditional, energy-hogging incandescent light bulbs by 2012 got the green light Monday in a first legislative vote. Replacing incandescent bulbs with high-efficiency compact fluorescent bulbs would be good for the environment and consumers' pocketbooks, said Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), chairman of the Utilities and Commerce Committee. The proposal, AB 722, cleared Levine's committee on a 7-2 tally.

Designer David Winston's take on soft light is dubbed the Super Nova. The vinyl-based fabric cylinder comes with a pump. Blow it up, insert the fluorescent bulb encased in a shockproof plastic sleeve, and you have a huggable, glowing roly-poly that can stand (well, tilt) in a corner, lie on the floor or hang from a rafter. Winston, founder of the Manhattan design firm Cleanroom, says he's inspired by the effect of different materials on people's moods.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Nate Tyler was finishing off his salmon dinner at a restaurant in Sydney, Australia, last spring when suddenly the lights went out. The eatery went dark, along with much of downtown, including the city's famous opera house. "I thought 'Holy moly, this is gorgeous!' You could see stars in the sky," he said. "The restaurant used candles. It was atmospheric. The food tasted better."

Following San Francisco's lead, Los Angeles County and city officials are urging people, businesses and government to switch off nonessential lights for one hour next month to save energy. Led by Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke and City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, the proposed effort asks Angelenos to simultaneously go dark between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, as San Franciscans do the same. Local officials are expected to vote on the plan next week.

City and county officials had asked thousands of Los Angeles County residents and businesses to switch off their lights for one hour Saturday night in an effort to raise awareness about energy conservation and environmental issues. But a late start in publicizing the event may have dimmed its effectiveness. Organizers called for lights to be turned off between 8 and 9 p.m. Saturday -- and at 8:30 p.m. in downtown Los Angeles, several buildings traditionally aglow were less so.

The Times Square New Year's Eve ball is celebrating its centennial by going green. The centerpiece of the world-famous holiday extravaganza was revamped with 9,576 efficient LED bulbs that use about the same electricity as 10 toasters. The small light-emitting diodes, created specifically for the event, are more than twice as bright as last year's lights, a mix of more than 600 incandescent and halogen bulbs.

IT'S twilight on an early winter night downtown, and in front of Walt Disney Concert Hall, a few Angelenos stroll by on their way to dinner. A scattering of visitors, seeing the building for the first time, stop to take in its undulating curves. An out-of-town architect raves about the striking use of disparate materials. Two young tourists from Thailand photograph each other. Ask about Frank O.

When they were unveiled five years ago in time for the Democratic National Convention, the 30 towering glass-and-steel pylons decorating the entrance to Los Angeles International Airport were proclaimed the city's "Electronic Stonehenge." Today, they're as gray and unchanging as the original -- and most nonelectric -- Stonehenge thousands of miles away.