No more incandescent light bulbs after January 1

wthr ^ | 11 8 13

[InvisibleChurch]

Starting next year, it's lights out for certain types of light bulbs in the United States. You'll no longer be able to buy an incandescent light bulb starting January 1, 2014.

Under the Energy Efficiency and Security Act of 2007, signed into law by then- President George W. Bush, light bulbs must become more efficient in terms of energy used for generated light.

That means incandescent lights are phased out. And you'll reduced to choose between a compact fluorescent (CFL) or light emitting diode (LED) bulb.

For example, instead of burning 60 watts when you turn on the lights, you could use about 9.5 to 12 watts, depending on what type of replacement bulb you install.

[traderrob6]

“You’ll no longer be able to buy an incandescent light bulb starting January 1, 2014.

FALSE”

How so?

[heartwood]

You'd pretty much have to institutionalize me if I had to live with CFLs.

Or maybe I'd just get more of these babies.

220 Watts, all fluorescent, eat that, eco-guilters.

[KarlInOhio]

It depends on how much you use them. If it is something like a closet light you rarely turn on then incandescent is the way to go. On the other hand I have a light over an otherwise very dark stairwell that I keep on all the time in the fall and winter and about half the time in spring and summer. Figure it's on 75% of the year. At 11 cents/kWh bulbs cost about $1 per watt per year for 100% usage, so switching to fluorescent saved around $30/year, or far more than the bulb cost. LED would be a little more efficient and just generally nicer colored, but at the time CFL was much cheaper.

Right now I am switching to LED bulbs and eagerly wait for some cheaper 100-watt or 150-watt three way equivalents.

[KarlInOhio]

As far as I know, halogens (which are a type of incandescent) are efficient enough to remain legal. Also there are many heavy duty bulbs still available in otherwise illegal wattages, even if they are a little dimmer than their normal duty equivalents (mainly from rating them at 130 volts and then running at 120, so they run cooler than normal). I guess there must be some exception for "special" bulbs like heavy duty ones.

[apillar]

“You’ll no longer be able to buy an incandescent light bulb starting January 1, 2014.

FALSE”

How so?

Not sure what the original poster meant, but I'll attempt to answer. Back a year or two ago the congress banned any funds going for enforcement of the ban, even though the law is still technically on the books. Most US manufacturers had already stopped producing the bulbs in anticipation of the ban...HOWEVER...Chinese manufacturers are taking up the slack and ignoring the ban. For instance the 100watt incandescent that was banned in 2012 is still readily available on websites like lightbulbsdirect.com as will the other wattage's of incandescents when the they are banned in 2014.

[DCBryan1]

I went to LEDs from CREE (BR30s) and A19s in my kitchen and it dropped the thermal load from 80 degrees in the room with AC on, down to a nice 72. As the CFLs and incandesant bulbs throughout the house go out, we are replacing with kick ass LEDs 2700k, 800 lumen Crees. KICK ASS!

[LibLieSlayer]

I despise the entire bush clan... aka the clinton gang.

[Fresh Wind]

I finally broke down, and as an experiment, I bought a dimmable LED 60W replacement bulb for about $12.

So far, I’m very happy with it. The color temperature matches the incandescent that it replaced and if anything, it’s a little brighter. It draws a little under 10 watts.

The fixture that it is in typically runs about 12 hours per day, so I estimate the payback period will be less than a year and it doesn’t have the drawbacks of the CFL.

That said, there are other places where, economically, it makes sense to stay with incandescents.

[ErnBatavia]

My plumber buddy tells me there’s a fix for that which they do many times. We lost contact a ways back, so I don’t have the specifics.

[exit82]

“If you like your light bulbs, you can keep your light bulbs. No one is going to take them away from you . . .”

Well,that was illuminating....

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

No need to buy any after 1/1/14.

I bought cases of them around 1/1/13.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Have done this to test it myself.

Did you wait for the energy saver bulb to attain full brightness? It takes about 5-10 minutes.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

I stocked up on these incandescent bulbs, and have enough to last decades.

From time to time, I buy more, because here in Maine there’s a discount/salvage/discontinued items chain store, and they sometimes have both 100 watt and 75 watt incandescent bulbs in stock.

I won’t buy the curly-cue bulbs. Not interested.

[thackney]

Read post #10

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3088980/posts?page=10#10

[Marie]

Me too!

[Fresh Wind]

My best guess there is a 120v to 12 volt transformer in the base of the bulb.

Not true. This is what's typically inside an LED bulb:

It's what's known as a switching mode power supply which is smaller, lighter, and more efficient than a traditional transformer/rectifier (LED's want DC, not AC) supply. The drawback for this type of supply is RF radiation, which can interfere with radio reception.

[thackney]

And they represent a lead-poisoning hazard if they break.

CFLs contain mercury, not lead. They contain far less mercury than the straight tube florescent used for many decades.

[thackney]

Incandescent light bulbs made in Texas will still be available for purchase in Texas.

Where is there a incandescent manufacture in Texas?

[piytar]

Dunno. Was just referring to this: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-incandescent-light-bulb-bill-becomes-law-185800535.html

[jsanders2001]

> Have done this to test it myself.

Did you wait for the energy saver bulb to attain full brightness? It takes about 5-10 minutes.

Don’t remember but I know I the incadescents and halogens are full brightness instantly withmo wait...: )