>> reporter: the bright idea that illuminated the world is reaching a less than glowing end. this week, ge is shuttering this plant in winchester, virginia, its last u.s. factory producing plain old incandescent lightbulbs. new energy standards will all but ban the bulbs over the next four years, forcing millions to switch to compact fluorescents. most of which are made overseas. seems the invention that thomas edison perfected 130 years ago is flickering and fading. >> this is edison's private experimental room at the laboratory. one of the things he was working on a lot in the late 1880s and early 1890s were ways of improving the electric lamp. >> reporter: edison historian paul israel says the great inventor would be torn about the change. >> on the one hand, he would have been disappointed. on the other hand, edison was always somebody kind of looking forward. one of the things he was always very interested in was more