Incandescent Light Bulbs Banned

[freethefly 6]

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Face it... LEDs are the light of the future, or so it would seem. My "biggest" concern was whether or not they emit the right wavelengths of light for a small, hydroponic indoor garden. They do, so I'm good.

Maybe for the "sea of green" method.
http://www.myhydroponicgardening.com/2011-best-led-grow-light-review/

Let me know how that works out for ya'.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[mpohl 1]

YAWN...incandescent light bulbs, banned throughout the EU, are now being marketed, legally, as personal heaters.

John Rich...very Rich! As always, you are kinda late, like a year behind, to any story. Or as your personal hero would have put it: YOU ARE FIRED!

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Start stockpiling your light bulbs now! Lock them up and cling to them along with your guns and your bible.

[JerseyShawn 0]

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I don't mind paying $50 for a 100-watt light bulb ... In 50 years I'll make my money back!

Duuuuh!

The only real saving you will see....fire.
No joke you would be amazed at how many fires are caused by the heat off of 100watt light bulbs.

Well there you go Shah.

Get some fire insurance, leave the lights on, and your condo problem is solved.

[champu 1]

I actually wrote my response and then read the article, disappointed to find I had been scooped on the Easy-Bake Oven joke.

And yeah, CFLs aren't perfect, but I use them most places in my house and they work well. Notable exceptions are chandeliers and ceiling fans that dim, in which case I use the 40W candle-style incandescent bulbs...

...oh, and the 1000W halogen work lights for home improvement projects.

[oldwomanc6 52]

Doesn't anyone else get headaches from CFL's?

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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Do you have any actual calculations though to show differently?

Have I done research which can be compared in every jurisdiction that factors in local electricity rates, local natural gas rates (or oil for those unfortunate enough who are forced to heat their homes through oil) and that factor in local taxes? Heck no ... there are not enough hours in the day to worry about such data. It would be different if I was being paid to produce such data, but I am not.

I never said I relied on incandescent light bulbs to heat my home (that would be inefficient). I still rely on natural gas. All I am saying is that incandescent light bulbs help heat the rooms you are in, when you are at home, in a room where your lights are on and it is cold outside. It's not the primary source of heat, but it is a heat source. It's easy for people in southern climates to not think about heat and to look down on people who need to heat their homes. But for those who actual deal with -30 temperatures in the winter, heat is very much on our minds.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[billvon 2,990]

>Doesn't anyone else get headaches from CFL's?

I used to from the cruddy ones (the ones with magnetic ballasts rather than electronic ballasts.) Avoiding the cruddy ones is pretty easy - don't buy any CFL's that seem unusually heavy.

[kelpdiver 2]

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I never said I relied on incandescent light bulbs to heat my home (that would be inefficient). I still rely on natural gas. All I am saying is that incandescent light bulbs help heat the rooms you are in, when you are at home, in a room where your lights are on and it is cold outside. It's not the primary source of heat, but it is a heat source. It's easy for people in southern climates to not think about heat and to look down on people who need to heat their homes. But for those who actual deal with -30 temperatures in the winter, heat is very much on our minds.

I think we're having a hard time understanding how it's any different from using more natural gas heat, and having cooler bulbs.

The other CFL objections I get - bulky, slow to power up, tends to have poor color temp (though better ones are available). But doesn't burn my hand or warm up the ceiling space - don't get it.

[shaark 0]

I lived all winter with LEDs for lighting, 12 volt system.

600 amp hour of battery capacity, 400 watts of solar panels, and a very capable wind generator. 3,000 watt inverter, with 6,000 watt surge capability, for 220/240 volt ac.
Electricity bill ---- $0

Quality of light was excellent. No problem with reading, etc.
The replacement cost of the 'bulbs' is between $12 - $30, depending on source, size and manufacturer.

Some special application bulbs are more expensive. While the quoted 50,000 - 100,000 hour life is probably reasonably accurate for simple LED bulbs, I found that the integral circuitry in large, complex LED bulbs was not so long lived. One $35 bulb I replaced had lasted less than 5,000 hours. Then again, while cheap, I seem to replace incandescent bulbs in my house very frequently.

[BrokenR1 0]

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Its a nightmare John, its already happened in Europe. Now I can't see a bloody thing, tun on a light and you have to wait for ten minutes for the bloody thing to 'warm up'

What about the instant on ones?

And for those wit the led beam problems they make all sorts of varieties with different beam patterns. Some real neat ones too. I even think many of the Hummvees and MRAPs over here are using them as driving lights now.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/

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Rap is to music what etch-a-sketch is to art.

[nigel99 466]

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Its a nightmare John, its already happened in Europe. Now I can't see a bloody thing, tun on a light and you have to wait for ten minutes for the bloody thing to 'warm up'

Yes it pisses me off! Do they save energy? YES of course they do because after the first week no one bloody well bothers turning the light on because ITS POINTLESS!!!AAARRRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!

P.S The biggest problem with your poll is that I can only vote keep out of my light sockets once.

My wife hates them, I quite like them. She has a habit of turning lights on when she goes into a room and off when she leaves so the warm up drives her nuts.

Our voltage is quite close to the maximum legal tolerance, this means that incandescent bulbs typically last less than 3 months for us. I replaced the bulbs in the kitchen with the energy savers in Dec 09 and they are still going strong.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[mr2mk1g 10]

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Its a nightmare John, its already happened in Europe. Now I can't see a bloody thing, tun on a light and you have to wait for ten minutes for the bloody thing to 'warm up'

Yes it pisses me off! Do they save energy? YES of course they do because after the first week no one bloody well bothers turning the light on because ITS POINTLESS!!!AAARRRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!

P.S The biggest problem with your poll is that I can only vote keep out of my light sockets once.

My wife hates them, I quite like them. She has a habit of turning lights on when she goes into a room and off when she leaves so the warm up drives her nuts.

Our voltage is quite close to the maximum legal tolerance, this means that incandescent bulbs typically last less than 3 months for us. I replaced the bulbs in the kitchen with the energy savers in Dec 09 and they are still going strong.

Don't have a problem with the brightness on mine. Replaced all of my bulbs 18 months ago or so when the shops were all doing deals on them for 5 for £1. Not replaced a single one yet.

Used to have them as a kid (80's) as we didn't have national grid for a few years (wind farm and diesel genset). Those bulbs were horrible and I have 'fond' memories of going to the loo in the middle of the night, turning the light on, doing my stuff and going back to bed, turning the light off again... all without the light actually having done more than flash once or twice and make a dull whirring sound.

As a result, I watched these new generation of mini-flourescents hard before I bought more than one or two. The ones I have are at about 90% when you first turn them on and them warm up to 100% within, say, 30 seconds (by eye, obviously) but that's perfectly satisfactory by me. If yours don't (skyrad) - try a different make.

Electricity dropped significantly as a result. Parent's said theirs went down massively when they switched and they have one of those meter tracker thingies so could actually quantify it easier than just watching the neadle go round.

Whole ban pretty much turned out to be a big load of noise over absolutely nothing over here from my point of view.

[BrokenR1 0]

I was thinking a good idea might be to use the CFL's in most places with a couple of the LED types in closets, bathrooms, or places you want that quick on/off if the CFL isn't good enough for you.

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Rap is to music what etch-a-sketch is to art.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

The big issue for me is brightness. I can read to a 60 watt bulb, but I cannot to a 60 watt "replacement" cfl. I think the economics of them is much more tenuous here in NA where our meter rates are much lower than in Europe.
The hazardous waste thing is still a big concern.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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Have I done research which can be compared in every jurisdiction that factors in local electricity rates, local natural gas rates (or oil for those unfortunate enough who are forced to heat their homes through oil) and that factor in local taxes? Heck no ... there are not enough hours in the day to worry about such data. It would be different if I was being paid to produce such data, but I am not.

I never said I relied on incandescent light bulbs to heat my home (that would be inefficient). I still rely on natural gas. All I am saying is that incandescent light bulbs help heat the rooms you are in, when you are at home, in a room where your lights are on and it is cold outside. It's not the primary source of heat, but it is a heat source. It's easy for people in southern climates to not think about heat and to look down on people who need to heat their homes. But for those who actual deal with -30 temperatures in the winter, heat is very much on our minds.

I asked because almost every body seems to agree that the heat generated by the bulbs is cheaper to relace by more efficient heat sources. Hence, switching to LED for lighting would indeed cause your furnace to work a little harder to heat the house, but would result in less overall energy usage (and lower enery costs to the consumer).

Since you are claiming the opposite, I was just wondering if your objections were actually based on anything factual.

[DSE 5]

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There are plenty of cheaper options besides a $50 LED bulb, but I gotta admit, I like having my dimmers. Those will be a thing of the past.

I use dimmable LEDs every day.
See the pix of my skydiving helmet as an example.
Television studios are rapidly converting to LED because of the energy savings, heat savings, and consistency.

[NewGuy2005 53]

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Start stockpiling your light bulbs now! Lock them up and cling to them along with your guns and your bible.

... and gold!!

You got gold?

Yeah, and if you try and touch it I'll shoot!!


Chuck

[masterrig 1]

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Start stockpiling your light bulbs now! Lock them up and cling to them along with your guns and your bible.

... and gold!!

You got gold?

Yeah, and if you try and touch it I'll shoot!!


Chuck

I shoot back!


Chuck

[billvon 2,990]

>Have I done research which can be compared in every jurisdiction that
>factors in local electricity rates, local natural gas rates (or oil for those
>unfortunate enough who are forced to heat their homes through oil) and
>that factor in local taxes? Heck no ... there are not enough hours in the
>day to worry about such data.

Fortunately you don't have to; you can just go by efficiencies.

A good gas heater is close to 100% efficient; the only waste heat is the heat that escapes through the exhaust pipe, and nowadays that is a pretty small amount.

If you take the same gas, burn it to drive a turbine, spin a generator, transmit the power to a house, then drive a lightbulb with the energy, the end to end efficiency is, best case, around 40%.

>All I am saying is that incandescent light bulbs help heat the rooms you
>are in, when you are at home, in a room where your lights are on and it is
>cold outside.

True. And in the summer they heat the rooms as well, meaning that you not only waste that energy, you have to use even more energy getting the waste heat out of the room.

[BrokenR1 0]

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The big issue for me is brightness. I can read to a 60 watt bulb, but I cannot to a 60 watt "replacement" cfl. I think the economics of them is much more tenuous here in NA where our meter rates are much lower than in Europe.
The hazardous waste thing is still a big concern.

When I replace mine I use brighter bulbs. If it is a 60w "replacement" I use a 100w "replacement" instead. Overall it's using less energy and putting out more light. In the garage I replaced the original 100w bulbs with 300w equivalent ones. If one breaks though you're supposed to leave the room for however many hours and then air it out to disperse the mercury. I still like the led's better and will probably life cycle the current bulbs into those later.

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Rap is to music what etch-a-sketch is to art.

[ematteo 0]

CREE makes good LED downlights (CR6). They are expensive (~$53) but last forever (50,000 hours) and use 10.5 Watts for an honest 65 Watt equivalent. At San Francisco energy rates, that is about a 1 year payback on lights that are on most of the day. Color temperature is nearly identical to incandescent at 2700, and they dim to 5%. Retrofit into a standard 6" can in about 2 mins.

http://www.polar-ray.com/Cree-CR6-Series_c_118.html

Lucky folks in Massachusetts had a utility rebate that brought them down to $19.99. Still being resold on ebay for about $40 (with Home Depot EcoSmart rebranding).

[newsstand 0]

There is no 'ban' only tougher standards. Guess what happened? People made better bulbs.

http://mediamatters.org/research/201101040005

"Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

[quade 4]

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There is no 'ban' only tougher standards. Guess what happened? People made better bulbs.

Yes, yes, but you can see how that's not as "sexy" a thread title.

"Light bulb technology improves a bit", doesn't fit the "government bad" narrative.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[mnealtx 0]

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There is no 'ban' only tougher standards. Guess what happened? People made better bulbs.

Yes, yes, but you can see how that's not as "sexy" a thread title.

"Light bulb technology improves a bit", doesn't fit the "government bad" narrative.

"Conventional light bulbs don't meet those goals, so the law will prohibit making or importing them."

Sorta sounds like a ban to me.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[newsstand 0]

So when the mileage or emissions standards for vehicles are toughened do you call it a ban on less efficient cars? Do you go stockpile gas guzzlers? If it was truly a ban you couldn't stock pile anyway because ownership would be illegal, not just import or manufacture. Plus if you read the article you would see that incandescent bulb manufacturers responded by making 80 watt bulbs that are as bright as the current 100's.

It has been years since I have been here but it is nice to see that the camps haven't changed much.

"Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes