Gotta change the house bulbs again?

[botsapper]

From the 90's to the early 00's, there was the huge push and even legislation for 'Gorebulbs' (Energy independence and Security Act in 2007, signed in by Bush) compact florescent lamps. A very political tech 'hot potato' to help push out incandescent bulbs. The crappy color temperature, fragile materials and the mercury in them, hoped to go full-compliance, live up to their billing, save lots of money and save the environment. Ironically CFLs were really the first victim of the 'spirit' of the legislation, it kept the advancement of tech efficiency and helped the newer, cheaper and much better LED bulb. GE announced it will cut off the production of CFLs.

General Electric Will Stop Producing Compact Fluorescent Lamps to Focus on LEDs - CityLab

[redpoint5]

I must be missing the purpose of this thread. CFL technology was new in the 90's, and in many ways better than incandescent bulbs. Technology has continued, and now we have LEDs that have crappy color temperatures.

One thing I'm certain of, technology will continue to evolve and likely resolve most of the crappy LED color temperature issues, improve efficiency, and reduce the price premium.

Lighting efficiency seems to be one of the least "hot potato" issues that exists. I'd say AGW, Healthcare, and Gun Control are way ahead in the hot potato category. Heck, ethanol is even more controversial.

That reminds me, I have a CFL that went out in my exterior lighting. I'll change it out with a spare. When I finally get through my spares, I'll be switching to LED. Hopefully products that produce 100W equivalent at reasonable prices will exist by then.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I must be missing the purpose of this thread. CFL technology was new in the 90's, and in many ways better than incandescent bulbs. Technology has continued, and now we have LEDs that have crappy color temperatures.

One thing I'm certain of, technology will continue to evolve and likely resolve most of the crappy LED color temperature issues, improve efficiency, and reduce the price premium.

Lighting efficiency seems to be one of the least "hot potato" issues that exists. I'd say AGW, Healthcare, and Gun Control are way ahead in the hot potato category. Heck, ethanol is even more controversial.

That reminds me, I have a CFL that went out in my exterior lighting. I'll change it out with a spare. When I finally get through my spares, I'll be switching to LED. Hopefully products that produce 100W equivalent at reasonable prices will exist by then.

My wife gives me crap every time I have to replace a CFL that burned out. She thinks they are supposed to last forever, and has apparently forgotten that the incandescent bulbs they replaced were changed out almost yearly. I got in the habit of writing the month/year I installed the bulb on the bulb itself. I have a couple that are 10 years old now and still working.

I was happy with the CFLs. LEDs have the efficiency and long life, only even more so and more durable plus dimmable. What's not to like?

Well, the price is high... but my local energy company (Puget Sound Energy) regularly has large, instant rebates on LED bulbs and it's not unusual to find 60W equivalent LED bulbs for $1.50 now.

I'm gradually replacing my bulbs with LEDs now. Unfortunately, the REALLY cheap bulbs are only "warm white" (2300-3000K) and my wife and I both prefer the cool white bulbs (4000-4500K). But, the prices around here are pretty reasonable.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by botsapper

The crappy color temperature, fragile materials and the mercury in them...

Still this BS? The color temperature of CFLs is much better than incandescents (unless your ideal light quality comes from a whale-oil lamp, of course), they're less fragile than incandescents (ever shatter an incandescent with a few drops of cold water?), and the mercury issue has been shown over and over again to be just hysteria.

LEDs are even better. And you know what? My power bill went from about $60/month 15 years ago to around $40 now. 20 bucks will buy half a dozen LED bulbs at Home Depot.

[j12piprius]

I've been using 6000k cool white led bulbs for years, and they are quite reasonably priced on Ebay. For example I got 4 pcs LED Cool White E27 3*3W 9W Light Bulbs 6000K for $4.28 two years ago, i.e. $1.07 each and they last a long time.

[redpoint5]

The CFL I just replaced today was installed Oct, 2013. It's used outdoors on a timer, and I figure it probably burned out around October of last year. So, 2 years of daily 12 hr use is 8760 hours. The electricity for those 2 years is about $9.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

LEDs are even better. And you know what? My power bill went from about $60/month 15 years ago to around $40 now. 20 bucks will buy half a dozen LED bulbs at Home Depot.

My electric "cooperative" would punish you for conserving. In fact, they've already done that to me- and the three other members that have small usage. It's probably my own fault; I went to a coop meeting once and let it be known how I save so much energy. Within a year they restructured the billing system such that now the monthly connection fee is triple the cost of the power I use! So much for their <government imposed> monthly newsletter that says conserve conserve conserve.

Now my monthly usage is 1/3 what it was 25 years ago when I moved in and started my account. And I still run quite a few incandescents. No LEDs. A few CFLs.

[Fat Charlie]

I was impressed by GE. The article I read said that in 2014, LEDs were 5% of the market. In 2015 they were 15%, and GE sees where that's going and is going to stop producing CFLs in 2016. Why devote production and distribution to chasing a dying market when you could be pushing the growing market?

I love my CFLs and use their few seconds of warm up time to think "60 watts for 13, and I can't remember when I had to change it" and giggle. Their longevity actually hurts their reputation, at least color-wise. Since they last so long, differences in development and packaging make it hard to standardize on a single bulb type in the house. Mixing and matching slightly different colors is annoying.

I've still got a couple left, but I'm looking forward to moving to LEDs.

[Xist]

Frank, was there a once-in-a-lifetime deal on incandescents?

Redpoint, can you put the CFL on a sensor? Our landlord periodically needs to try to fix our outdoor lights and he has tried different sensors and timers. He put our porch light on a sensor and I removed it because it was flickering and hissing. We figured that it was designed for incandescents.

I had a roommate that got angry when the porch light was turned off. He hated trying to find his keys in the dark.

I think that Costco sells a four-pack of CFLs for two dollars.

[Frank Lee]

People give away bags of incandescents on Craigslist when they switch their houses over. I'm happy to recycle 'em.