Incandescent Bulbs Going Away

[crokett]

Bulbs will be phased out starting 2012

I've already started replacing the incandescents in my house with CFLs.

[LCHIEN]

if anyone thinks the new CFLs are expensive should consider that for the 1800-hour life of a 100W incandescant bulb that costs $0.25 to 0.50, the bulb will use around $20 of electricity. If you go to a long-life incandescant bulb, then you are not really gaining anything, it uses same watts, it puts out less light for a longer length of time, costing you $40 for electricity and less light. The main thing you get from a longer-life bulb is less light and longer time between changes, saving that $0.25 cost of the bulb.

[Cheeky]

i have a couple opinions:

compact fluorescents don't last as long as treehuggers (i'm a pseudo t-hugger, but only when you don't have to sacrifce product decency) and manufacturers claim. incandescents last longer than the anti's claim (in my opinion)

cfl's are temperamental. you are advised not to turn them on or off frequently, you have to leave them on for a certain amount of time.

they are temperature sensative. i have 2 large CFL's in my garage, and when it's below 48deg, it takes a while for them to fire up.

many fluorescents emit a cold and obtrusive light, like this one in my panasonic bath exhaust, and there are no alternatives.

have you seen dimmables? i haven't

try recycling these things.

[thrytis]

I think we have a ways to go in technology before 2014 before the incandescent bulbs will completely go away. I have several light fixtures around the house that CFLs won't fit in. I also haven't seen a non-incandescent bulb for things like oven lights. I would be surprised if there isn't a lot of fine print that goes along with that law that keeps them around well beyond 2014.

[Tom Slick]

The minimum efficiency standards for new construction (i can't remember the proper name) has already phased out the standard incandescent in any new construction. the only "legal" way to use a incandescent is with a dimmer. technically incandescent fixtures can only be sold as "replacements." the same is true with T12 fluorescents, only T8 and T5ho can be installed in new construction.
I agree that we need some new technologies, or at least more readily available technologies to fully replace incandescents.

If old Edison was still alive he'd be ticked. the phonograph is gone, the last commercial DC lines were shut down last month, now the edison bulb is being phased out. what's next, film projectors?...

[jziegler]

have you seen dimmables? i haven't

Actually, I bought one a few years ago at Home Depot, but have only seen them online since then. And it cost at least $15 then. They don't seem too much cheaper now. Plus, it was so big that it won't fit in most fixtures.

I've started using CFLs some places at home, including using them to increase brightness in fixtures that have lower wattage limits. But the majority of my house still uses conventional bulbs due to dimmers or other factors.

Jim

[jziegler]

If old Edison was still alive he'd be ticked. the phonograph is gone, the last commercial DC lines were shut down last month, now the edison bulb is being phased out. what's next, film projectors?...

Don't know if you were being sarcastic about film projectors or not, but DLP cinema is already replacing film projectors in many theaters. http://www.dlp.com/cinema/

Like CFL over incandescent, there are pros and cons. I won't get into that here, too far off topic. Looks like most of Edison's inventions are going away...

Jim

[Black wallnut]

Methinks CFL's are a poor excuse for a light source. I've bought plenty. They cost more but do not last any longer. I've even bought lamps designed around them and although lifespan has been longer the amount of light produced leaves a bunch to be desired. They do seem to be getting better and lasting longer. I think LED is a much better prospective technology for use as a light source.

The claims that incadecent bulbs waste electricity by producing heat I take for what it is worth. Here in the northern zones where we have 4 complete seasons having lighting devices also producing heat is not a bad thing 7-9 months a year. Also in my area of the world electric is produced by both wind and hydro. The major dams on the Columbia river never operate at 100% capacity mostly due to not enough demand to do so. Hence there is no shortage of electric power. We have such a surplus that we sell power to our southern brothers in California. This for me and my close neighbors makes the "green" arguement pointless. Unless it can be proven that by cutting back on power consumption used on lighting will enable us to remove dams and restore anadromous fisheries to before dam levels, and this is a big strech. Likely saved power will be either used in other ways, i.e. the next new must have gadget in household appliances or comfort items or sold to other users thus lowering their needs for power produced by other means. Wind power btw is increasing rather rapidly.

I will likely stock up dramatically prior to the phase out with a supply to last literally years.

[Greg.B]

I like the quality of light they throw off verse the watt consumption. However they are not dimable, which is an issue since many people enjoy diming control, myself included. However I can attest they last much longer than regular bulbs. I've had some CFL's going going for 4 years or so.

[Sugarman]

100W incandescant bulb that costs $0.25 to 0.50, the bulb will use around $20 of electricity.

Where do you find a bulb for $0.25 or $0.50?

[Uncle Cracker]

I know that a lot of solid-state timers and such will fail if used on a CFL. I wonder how they will compensate us for having to replace all that kind of stuff when we can't get incandescents any more??

I also know that there's gonna be a lot of snakes and lizards in home enclosures that use incandescents for heat that are gonna be disappointed...

[messmaker]

100W incandescant bulb that costs $0.25 to 0.50, the bulb will use around $20 of electricity.

Where do you find a bulb for $0.25 or $0.50?

Wal-mart or Dollar store has 4 for $1 around here. I see them for less from time to time.

[mschrank]

i
have you seen dimmables? i haven't

Yup,
http://www.thegreenguide.com/blog/freshfinds/340

I really want to like CFL's, and I've replaced a bunch of incandescents in my house. But, as stated above, they still don't quite have the warm color quality, and I have yet to find one that lasts as long as the advertising claims. I put 6 in my kitchen last January...3 have died already.

But the energy savings has sold me so I'll continue to try using them. I just get tired of returning the ones that don't last.

[LCHIEN]

100W incandescant bulb that costs $0.25 to 0.50, the bulb will use around $20 of electricity.

Where do you find a bulb for $0.25 or $0.50?

here: Lowes, 8-pack sylvania 100W, $1.98

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...873&lpage=none

[linear]

I think LED is a much better prospective technology for use as a light source.

Prospective being the key word there.

We have some challenges around reliably interfacing a low voltage DC device to our existing medium-voltage AC mains. It's not that those issues can't be solved, but a lot ofprogress remains to be made.

Efficacy (lumens per watt) of LED is now approaching fluorescent levels, at least for laboratory demonstrations. We are still a few years out from seeing LEDs that you could put to practical lighting use.