Also, there’s a poll at the end of this article, asking about what you might be doing for the upcoming ban in California.
On January 1st, 2011, just a few days from now, California will begin phasing out the legal sale and purchase of 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. In September of this year, GE closed their last US light bulb manufacturing plant.
Here’s a Reason.tv video on why “compact fluorescent lightbulbs” (CFLs), the favored replacement for Thomas Edison’s most iconic invention are not all that. Personally I prefer LED bulbs/lights and have successfully replaced many incandescents with LED’s in my home.
The rest of the country will begin a phaseout in 2012, as mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
This law phases out the use of incandescent light bulbs between 40 watts and 150 watts over a two-year period. Apparently China will still manufacture light bulbs at least until 2017 when they’ll disappear there too.
So the question is, what will you do?
One of my TV reporter friends asked me if I knew if people were hoarding high wattage bulbs. Since my namesake is “watts”, this seemed to be the place to ask.
Here’s the poll:
The poll is just for entertainment purposes.
A few comments…
CCFLs are okay. They do save money over incandescents, at least in warm weather.
T-8 and T-5 lighting is much much superior in both efficiency and lifespan over the CCFLs. The principle issue here is insisting on using sockets intended for incandescent use. CCFLs are a half-way point to real fluorescent lighting, and you lose a lot of the real advantages with this half-way stop…
It is also a drawback to LEDs, they don’t run very well as replacement bulbs in incandescent sockets without ginormous heatsinking. Good LED fixtures have been slow in coming as the initial waves omitted the required heatsinking, or at least didn’t supply enough, or had the power levels be so low as to be near useless. There are a few quality packages out there now, and they’re starting to make a little headway. But the socket compatibility will continue to keep performance less optimal and increase costs over what they could be.
If you considered more diffuse lighting, I think LEDs could prove vastly superior to CCFLs and even potentially clearly beat out T-8/T-5 lighting. The directional nature of the LED is actually an advantage if you stop trying to shoehorn them into a single fixture and instead spread them over your intended area ala canned lighting (which is probably the best stock fixture for LEDs as it plays to their strengths). This also means you *don’t* need fancy reflectors to get 50% of the available lumens that are largely wasted going straight into the ceiling/fixture/etc that incandescent/CCFL/T-8/T-5 all need. You can effectively de-rate the LED by almost half and still have the same lux level on the intended area to be lit.
Now if you built an LED specific fixture of mini-cans every 4 feet or so across a room with a room-wide dimmer… That would probably be about perfect. Unfortunately, few people want to remodel ceilings to redo their lighting, but I’m sure we’ll get there sooner or later.
When they finally outlaw 40W bulbs, what am I going to do with my Lava Lamps?
some alternative (real) uses for LEDs.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/12/28/1480358/minnesota-office-ceiling-lights.html?storylink=rss
The LVX system puts clusters of its light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, in a standard-sized light fixture. The LEDs transmit coded messages – as a series of 1s and 0s in computer speak – to special modems attached to computers.
A light on the modem talks back to the fixture overhead, where there is sensor to receive the return signal and transmit the data over the Internet. Those computers on the desks aren’t connected to the Internet, except through these light signals, much as Wi-Fi allows people to connect wirelessly.
LVX takes its name from the Latin word for light, but the underlying concept is older than Rome; the ancient Greeks signaled each other over long distances using flashes of sunlight off mirrors and polished shields. The Navy uses a Morse-coded version with lamps.
The first generation of the LVX system will transmit data at speeds of about 3 megabits per second, roughly as fast as a residential DSL line.
Mohsen Kavehrad, a Penn State electrical engineering professor who has been working with optical network technology for about 10 years, said the approach could be a vital complement to the existing wireless system.
He said the radio spectrum usually used for short-range transmissions, such as Wi-Fi, is getting increasingly crowded, which can lead to slower connections.
“Light can be the way out of this mess,” said Kavehrad, who is not involved in the LVX project.
But there are significant hurdles. For one, smart phones and computers already work on Wi-Fi networks that are much faster than the LVX system.
Technology analyst Craig Mathias of the Farpoint Group said the problems with wireless congestion will ease as Wi-Fi evolves, leaving LVX’s light system to niche applications such as indoor advertising displays and energy management.
LVX Chief Executive Officer John Pederson said a second-generation system that will roll out in about a year will permit speeds on par with commercial Wi-Fi networks. It will also permit lights that can be programmed to change intensity and color.
For the city, the data networking capability is secondary. The main reason it paid a $10,000 installation fee for LVX is to save money on electricity down the line, thanks to the energy-efficient LEDs. Pederson said one of his LED fixtures uses about 36 watts of power to provide the same illumination that 100 watts provides with a standard fluorescent fixture.
Besides installation costs, customers such as St. Cloud will pay LVX a monthly fee that’s less than their current lighting expenses. LVX plans to make money because the LED fixtures are more durable and efficient than standard lighting. At least initially, the data transmission system is essentially a bonus for customers.Pederson said the next generation of the system should get even more efficient as fixtures become “smart” so the lights would dim when bright sunlight is coming through a window or when a conference room or hallway is empty.
Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/12/28/1480358/minnesota-office-ceiling-lights.html#ixzz19QzBq4Bt
Use the long lasting bulbs with a dimmer they will last 50 years.
I normally buy 40watt and 25w, but lately getting some big ones to have on hand
70’s 90’s 150’s just found some 300w industrial mogul based , designed from the 50s
for large rooms like basket ball gyms in schools!!!!!! I will buy more.
David L says:
December 27, 2010 at 1:02 pm
I have an old Alladin lamp with a mantle. With regular liquid paraffin that sucker throws the light and heat! I also have a few Coleman gas lanterns. They throw a lot of light and heat as well. For romantic evenings I still prefer candles, although every room in my house has one or two oil lanterns. So y’all can keep your lightbullbs! :-). I just make sure my fire insurance is all paid up
fire insurance is all paid up
how many will die, how much co2 from house fires?
dumb very very dumb
Tim L
So who is going to go through the household garbage to ensure these CFLs don’t go into the trash when it becomes mandatory that everyone buys them?
You do realize that’s what’s going to happen? People who are forced to buy CFLs will also need to be forced to dispose of them properly.
Well I don’t have time to read ALL of the posts above; so here’s my two cents on LED light bulbs.
I recently purchased Three Phillips LED light bulbs. They describe it as replacing a 40 Watt incandescent A19 bulb. It not only screws into the same Edison socket; but the 40 Watt incandescent bulb fit perfectly into the plastic shroud that the LED came in; so they are mechanically the same shape. The LED is much heaveier since there is a fairly massive heat sink portion.
The LED is rated at 8 Watts of electricity, and it emits 450 Lumens with a Warm White color Temperature of 2700 K.
So it simply is not true that LEDs are necessarily cold as in day white.
This bulb has a slightly more than hemispherical diffuser dome just like an incandescent lamp. Inside the diffuser dome there is a Yellow near sphere; which lights up a warm white when turned on.
The yellow stuff is a phosphor; which is typically a Yttrium Aluminium Garnet; that is doped with Cerium (oxide).
This is a totally unique material combination. The Cerium (rare earth) doping in the Garmet has a unique and very narrow blue absorption spectrum at 460 nm wavelength; so inside the yellow dome is a BLUE Gallium Nitride or Indium Gallium Nitride LED. Now ordinary BLue LEDs are usually 470 nm wavelength as 460 starts to look a bit Indigo/violet looking which is not a pleasant Blue light. But 460 is what matches the Cerium doped YAG absorption line.
There is NO OTHER similar absorption situation for any of the rare earth materials; and it is a patented technology (can’t remember who).
So the LED emits a blue light, and the YAG phosphor absorbs some of it. The YAG in turn then fluoresces, and emits a broad yellow centered spectrum of light. This plus the remainder of the BLUE light from the LED forms white light.
In fact you can prove that the highest efficiency white light is produced from a blue and yellow complementary colored pair, at about 400 Lumens per Watt maximum.
Depending on how thick the phosphor coat is, the amount of blue light absorption changes. Thicker phosphor traps more blue, makes more yellow, and makes a warmer color; so they can make it daylight white, with a thinnner phosphor that gives more blue and less yellow.
Problem is there is no red from the yellow phosphor. This is typically handled by spiking the YAG phosphor, with a little bit of a red Phosphor; to give it a red kick. There’s lots of ways to do this.
This Phillips Lamp is very well designed; and the people doing it (LumiLEDS) really know what the hell they are doing. They rate this lamp for a 25,000 hour life. I have one in my bedside lamp that I read by, and another one in a floor lamp.
Now MOST of the packaged LED bulbs I have seen so far, are SPOT light types; and they aren’t nearly as efficient as this broad beam 40 Watt Equivalent bulb.
This also was the cheapest one I could find at Home Depot, at about $21.50 each. Some of the spot lamps werre more than $40. I’m not planning on buying any of those; but I have seen a bunch of them in use in a “Chillis” Restaurant.
The LEDS are somewhat more efficient in their best implementations, than CFLs and they don’t have any Mercury hazard. They are quite recyclable.
The Phillips model # is 8E26A60 56 Lumens per Watt is very good production performance. They have done over 100 Lumens per Watt in the lab; and the industry gurus believe 200 L/W is reachable.
The theoretical 400 L/W max is not a practical white light source; You could make a flashlight like that that looks white; but without a red spike; you don’t get a real color illuminating source.
I’m quite impressed with the LED industry’s performance; and I’m sure they will reach their goals of 200 L/W one of these days.
By the way; CREE REsearch in North Carolina; are another extremely competent LED source; and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy their products either as the price comes down.
But CFLs suck as far as I am concerned; and my approach to eh imminent demise of Edison Incandescents; is to stock pile as many of them as I can get my hands on, before the Sacramento idiots make them illegal. They can have my Incandescent lamps when they pry my cold dead fingers off of them.
But LEDs are coming; and no thanks to Gummint meddlers.
The mob will bring in the incan. bulbs from Canada and Mexico like they did for booze during Prohibition. They will probably cut a deal with the First Nation Tribes to sell’em on the reservations.
I have read the Republicans have vowed to repeal this really dumb law.
I am sorry for having posted misinformation – these small bent tubes are not CCFLs because their cathodes are not cold. I read up on them and it seems the difference is that CCFLs use way higher voltages, thus allowing electron emission without (pre)heating.
Their usefulness is indeed limited. For some reason, the cheapest ones seem to last longest for me.
But you can have a little science nerd fun with those and a CD. For boring physics reasons, a CD is like optical gatter, splits white into colors; if you hold it at the correct angle to the CCFL and your eye, you can in fact see the emission lines or bands (usually 5).
Folks, take heart,
Just google
light bulb rough service
and there you will find where the incandescent bulb will live on FOREVER – at least in the USA – because the 2007 ‘law’ specifically EXEMPTS rough service bulbs from compliance
yes, they are a bit more expensive, but a viable option pretty much forever – I have directly talked with a few of the manufacturers to verify they are not bound by the 2007 law
pass the news of this along…
One other comment,
As for longevity of an incandescent bulb, I have 100s in use and most are on dimmers and most last for 10 years or more – they are all 130v (have not seen anyone comment on 120v versus 130v, but, 130v bulbs are far less likely to blow on power up)
I even have several that are on all the time, no dimmer and many last for one year or more before exhausting themselves (130v A19 100W mostly)
So, just remember, pickup 130v instead of 120v and you will most likely receive a ‘dividend’ of extra life for no extra cost.
BTW, most local outlets of bulbs are not stocking 130v, so buy online, plenty of sources.
“SemiChemE says:
December 27, 2010 at 11:48 am
What about my easy-bake oven?”
Name change . “Dimly-Lit Cupcake display”.
None of the above. Though I no longer live in California, my answer would be “Carry on as I’ve been doing without such intrusive legislation: Use whatever kind of light suits me in each application, til someone arrests me for doing so. In some cases this means CFL or LED and in others it means incandescent.” Who are they to tell me what to do in my own home and how large my electric bill can be? If they really care that much, when are they going to come after me because my freezer and washing machine are older and not quite as energy efficient as current models? When are they going to start turning down my thermostat by force? Lights are small potatoes compared to all of the above, energy-wise.
“”””” John says:
December 29, 2010 at 5:55 am
One other comment,
As for longevity of an incandescent bulb, I have 100s in use and most are on dimmers and most last for 10 years or more – they are all 130v (have not seen anyone comment on 120v versus 130v, but, 130v bulbs are far less likely to blow on power up) “””””
John, I can’t disagree with your position; but you should be aware of what you are getting. A “130 nV incandescent lamp is just that; a filament lamp that was designed to operate at 130 Volts RMS AC.
If you use such a bulb on the standard US power which is either 120, or 117, or 115 depending on who you talk to, then the filament will run cooler than it is designed to and it will put out a lot less and redder light. And it will certainly last a lot longer as a result.
You can get a similar result by running ordinary lamps on a dimmer; but then you have to deal with all the RFI problems of partially dimmed SCR dimmers.
Small decorative (25 Wattt and less) are notoriously bad for both lifetime, and also light output. To run on 120 AC at such a low Wattage, the filament has to be so delicate, that you can’t stand very much Tungsten evaporation before the filament fails.
And in places like Kiwiland where they have 230/240 Volt AC (and 50 Hertz too) low Wattage incandescents are even dicier.
For me, I am using some CFLs and some LEDs simply because nobody else in my family ever turns a light switch off. My wife can turn every single light in the house on within the first 45 seconds of arriving home; so I spend half of my waking hours turning off lights, and closing doors to compartmentallize the house for heat retention. I also happen to be the one that pays the power bill.
But I’m not agaisnt conserving when I can; I don’t like to see waste; but I also don’t like to be governmented to death either.
I’m quite happy with the 18-20 things that the US Constitution tells the gummint to take care of; and even happier when they allow me to take care of what ever else I may need.
As my cfl bulbs burn out I plan to throw them in the regular trash, and when I take it to the dump I plan to make certain those bulbs break. F the government!
This issue will likely go the way of asbestos, especially for the workers, where after years of exposure and many deaths, many more years will be spent fighting for their compensation – if they survive long enough to use it on medical bills.
From Wiki:
“Immediate chelation therapy is the standard of care for a patient showing symptoms of severe mercury poisoning or the laboratory evidence of a large total mercury load.”
Maybe that’s the “immunisation” they were talking about. In any case, the whole thing is awash with blind, green feel-goodery that not only costs far more than it’s worth (except unemployment figures – anyone want a job?), but will eventually kill you.
George E. Smith:
“And in places like Kiwiland where they have 230/240 Volt AC (and 50 Hertz too) low Wattage incandescents are even dicier.”
Low wattage bulbs here in Australia tend to have a much yellower light compared to higher wattages due to the thicker filament needed for 25W @ur momisugly 240V. I remember my 25w bedside light as a child would last around a year or 2 before it winked out. You could always tell when it was close due to the singing noise of the spark trying to jump the widening break in the filament. Eventually, there’d be a bright flash, a “tink” noise and I’d have to stop reading my encyclopedias. Such memories.. 😉
When I am forced to use CFL’s instead of incandescents, I will also be forced to throw away six ceiling fans in my house that are a mere three years old. The CFL bulbs are about 1/2″ longer than incandescents and DO NOT FIT inside the bowl of the light. How green.
On a related note, I was amused to read the fine print on the LED christmas lights I bought this year. “Up to 88% less!” power consumption for the LED lights. Wow… but that’s “comparing a 60-light LED string to a 100-light standard incandescent string.” Funny they did not also put “Up to 40% fewer lights!” in large print on the front of the box.
You can get incandescent light bulbs rated for 25,000 hours that are used by the hospitality industry. If you use them for an average of 7 hours a day they’ll burn out in just a little under 10 years and cost about a buck or less per bulb depending on how many you buy.
https://www.nathosp.com/product/25k19_c/standard_incandescent_light_bulbs
Once you stock up all you’ll have to do is watch out for the light bulb police who’ll be monitoring everyone who might be using those unauthorized, evil incandescents!