broken light bulbSome ideas are broken from the start.Photo: laszlo-photo via Flickr

Apparently, the latest retro-hot-design fad revolves around inefficiency so glaring it’s blinding: a return to “vintage” light bulbs, which are energy-sucking exposed-filament copies of Edison’s original illuminating invention.

Restaurant designers all over the world seem to be snatching up these antique-style bulbs that cost anywhere from $9 to $20 at Pottery Barn and Anthropologie, probably because they’re being associated with automatic-trend-maker, the label “vintage.”

“Everybody’s going green, but we’re still hot and red,” retro bulb manufacturer Bob Rosenzweig told the New York Times. “My bulbs use a lot of energy and make the air conditioning work overtime.”

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I hope this trend is quick to burn out.

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