goodbye incandescent bulbs

[backdoorchicken]

i like the new bulbs.

 

[calista]

I see a great business opportunity here for someone to start a bootleg incandescent bulb purchase and delivery business. Dollar Stores, watch out!

People responding to the company's survey said that economic constraints have influenced where they now buy light bulbs. Twenty-six percent said have changed their habits and now favor low-price retailers, dollar stores and club stores.

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/0...dark-about-federal-phaseout-traditional-bulbs

 

[hoping4better]

CFL's are a bad deal. They're bad for the environment and they cost more and they are a pain to get rid of being hazmat and everything. LED's are alright except that they will never truly be cheap to maintain because they require a circuit board just to make them work. I'm sure that's not environmentally friendly either because pretty much all electronics are supposed to be disposed of at a hazmat facility!

Why don't they just produce cheaper and environmentally friendly energy solutions? Large scale solutions and every little man doing his/her best to be wise with consumption of energy is the only way to go. Big corp needs to get out of bed with big gov't and let the people decide what they want. Wasn't there something about we the people somewhere in our founding? When did we forget that?

 

[NickyPick]

I'm not too happy about the switch either. Being deaf, my alarm clock is a lamp over my head that flashes. I don't know how that would work with bulbs that don't come on right away.

 

[owler]

LEDs are not ready for prime time yet. Too expensive and even though they don't burn out for a very long time, the brightness of the lights dims much much sooner than advertised, meaning you have to replace them before they burn out.

Time to stop making laws because of emotional knee jerk reactions.

 

[ARose4Heaven]

Environmentally safe? Is there such a thing?

Many, many years ago a lady I knew had a bonfire, cleaning out the house after her husband died. You can not believe the things she burned...right in town. Cans of paint, furniture, batteries, aerosol cans, plastic lawn chairs, car batteries, a tractor tire...etc. After 3 days,she had the entire town covered in a thick blanket of smoke...that's when "somebody" finally called the fire department on her. You know, those bluggers didn't say a thing about the caustic stuff? They were only concerned about the pile of car tires she had laid aside to NOT burn. And they weren't too pleased about the inferno being less than 50 foot from the neighbors garage. Go figure!

Did you know car batteries make green flames? It's kinda kool.

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
CLF's are nothing new. They are just like well known and respected fluorescent bulbs commonly used in US commercial and residential lighting in last 80 years.

The only difference between CLF and fluorescent "classic" ficture is that CLF is a twisted miniature fluorescent bulb with it,s own electronic starter built into base..

I do not understand all this hoopla about minute amounts of mercury CLF contains. "Regular" fluorescent 20 or 40W tube contains much more mercury, and yet nobody cares about them breaking or about disposal. Everybody tosses them to the trash bin.

So what is this paranoia about CLF coming from? Ignorance and resistance to change I believe.

I replaced 95% of incandescent bulbs for CLF's over 10 years ago, saved me lot of energy money and I am pleased with change.

CLF' s burn much cooler, also saving aircondition costs, still last many time longer than incandescents, if you do not the particular "cool' or "warm" spectrum there are many choices between from day light cool 5600K down to "warm" 2200K which is closer to incandescent bulb.

If you buy them by pack the price went down recently to almost what you pay for incandescent bulbs.

I will still hoard bunch of incandescent bulbs for future brooding needs.

I am also against government regulations regarding choice of lighting, if some people still wants to use incandescent bulbs for lighting they should have right to do so.

Just like if I want to use oil lamp to light up my room at nigh I can. We can still buy oil lamps and oil to use in them.

 

[hoping4better]

Quote:
CLF's are nothing new. They are just like well known and respected fluorescent bulbs commonly used in US commercial and residential lighting in last 80 years.

The only difference between CLF and fluorescent "classic" ficture is that CLF is a twisted miniature fluorescent bulb with it,s own electronic starter built into base..

I do not understand all this hoopla about minute amounts of mercury CLF contains. "Regular" fluorescent 20 or 40W tube contains much more mercury, and yet nobody cares about them breaking or about disposal. Everybody tosses them to the trash bin.

So what is this paranoia about CLF coming from? Ignorance and resistance to change I believe.

I replaced 95% of incandescent bulbs for CLF's over 10 years ago, saved me lot of energy money and I am pleased with change.

CLF' s burn much cooler, also saving aircondition costs, still last many time longer than incandescents, if you do not the particular "cool' or "warm" spectrum there are many choices between from day light cool 5600K down to "warm" 2200K which is closer to incandescent bulb.

If you buy them by pack the price went down recently to almost what you pay for incandescent bulbs.

I will still hoard bunch of incandescent bulbs for future brooding needs.

I am also against government regulations regarding choice of lighting, if some people still wants to use incandescent bulbs for lighting they should have right to do so.

Just like if I want to use oil lamp to light up my room at nigh I can. We can still buy oil lamps and oil to use in them.

Good point. I too feel free choice must remain, but nonetheless I am concerned about using hazardous materials in mass quantities. True: I was ignorant of the mercury in the standard fluorescent bulbs. Now I know and will probably avoid them. I wouldn't call my reaction paranoia, but frustration with being forced into bad choices.

I am glad we're still allowed to raise our chickens though.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

My issue with them is the quality of light. Despite what they say, the color temperature of the CFLs is no where near that of incandescents (even the ones they say are full spectrum). They are UGLY! The light coming out is not comfortable and does not put you in a good mood. The same is true of fluorescents. They were created to be energy efficient and not necessary for how they make people feel.
Humans are most comfortable in light that either closely mimics sunlight or firelight. The incandescent mimics both. CFLs and fluorescents mimic neither.

LED is where they are going. The industry is very aware that people hate CFLs and fluorescents. They are frantically trying to come up with something else. LEDs are great at energy efficiency. They have a long use life. They generate little to no heat so your HVAC costs are lower AND you cut your risks of fire. However, they have not yet managed to make a warm white LED. Currently they are very, very white and clinical looking. The warm white is in the works though. Once they figure that out it will kill CFLs completely. Thank heavens!

Cost IS coming down on the LEDs. Every year the cost falls exponentially. We are currently at the break even point. Between HVAC savings and savings on maintenance costs, LED fixtures cost about the same as CFLs. Most LEDs have a continuous use life of 11 years. That is, if you left it on 24/7 it should last 11 years. Most places of course won't use their lights 24/7 though. Your maintenance guy can work on other projects than replacing light bulbs.

I work in theatre lighting and LED lighting is the direction we are going. In another 10 years it is likely that everything will be LEDs in our world. There are currently all LED concert tours running across the country. Rather than using 400 amps of power (or 48,000 watts) the entire rig might use 40 amps of power (4800 watts). It is a huge, huge deal. Plus, the colors coming out of LEDs are amazing and beautiful and intense. The LED movement in the entertainment industry is very exciting!

Having said all that, the government has no business outlawing light bulbs. It is an unconstitutional law. Additionally it is hypocritical. Seriously? The energy savings from the incandescent to CFL shift is minimal. If the gov't really wanted us to save energy there would be price cuts and grants for other, proven forms of alternative energy sources. Clearly someone is set to make a LOT of money from the sale of CFLs.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Well said. I agree.