I will offer a counterpoint. And, in this case the market forced the decision.
Consumers don't want to pay higher electricity bills. Utilities are being forced to switch to green power generation which is quite expensive. That leaves zero money left for upgrading the power grid which is operating close to capacity (Tier 1 and 2 power alerts, etc.) Oh right, and we're using more power than ever.
So what's the solution? If you use less power the grid can continue to operate in its current state without huge upgrades/expansion. This frees up money the utilities use to pursue green power initiatives that consumers want.
Pick your poison. A recent article in the LA Times stated the city of LA has replaced about half of its street lights with LEDs. LA has about 200k street lights. They've replaced 114k units, saving over $5 million annually in electricity and over a 60% improvement in efficiency.
Plus, CFL and LED lighting tends to produce less heat so you have less heat load to deal with during the summer months. So either be prepared for increased energy costs or use energy more efficiently. Its exactly like gas prices. They go up, people are suddenly willing to buy fuel efficient cars. Funny how that works.
What the hell is the big deal about light bulbs?
When I lived in CA they *begged* us to conserve electricity. When we didn't conserve enough they threatened us with rolling black-outs and browns-outs. As our air conditioners died during the peek of summer we all got the message.
Two years later So. Cal. Edison said we had reduced our electricity use so much that their revenues were down. They lobbied for and got the okay to raise the rates that consumers paid for electricity. We ended up paying more than ever.
Funny how that works.
We still have all those rolling black outs and such on extremely hot days. In fact, at work when those alerts are called they'll switch over to the backup generators. Guess its part of the deal we have with Edison.When I lived in CA they *begged* us to conserve electricity. When we didn't conserve enough they threatened us with rolling black-outs and browns-outs. As our air conditioners died during the peek of summer we all got the message.
Two years later So. Cal. Edison said we had reduced our electricity use so much that their revenues were down. They lobbied for and got the okay to raise the rates that consumers paid for electricity. We ended up paying more than ever.
Funny how that works.
When I lived in CA they *begged* us to conserve electricity. When we didn't conserve enough they threatened us with rolling black-outs and browns-outs. As our air conditioners died during the peek of summer we all got the message.
The white coating deflects nearly 85% of the heat that hits it, reducing the surface temperature by as much as 50 degrees. That means less energy is needed to cool the hotel's interior, cutting air-conditioning costs and carbon emissions.
I wonder if this negatively affects airplane personnel. The roofs might be too shiny...Instead of banning light bulbs, wouldn't it make more sense to make laws about maximum absorption of new roofs and building siding? I always thought it was dumb that houses have dark exteriors and black roofs. It's like some kind of conspiracy by energy companies to sell electricity to run air conditioners.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/15/business/fi-cool-roof15
Why hoard and stockpile? You misread the law. Only the least efficient standard bulbs are banned. Incandescent bulbs aren't banned. Specialty bulbs aren't banned.SO...I forgot to stockpile 100Ws last year, but this year Im going to be warehousing the 75Ws. So far I have 7 bulbs.
Why hoard and stockpile? You misread the law. Only the least efficient standard bulbs are banned. Incandescent bulbs aren't banned. Specialty bulbs aren't banned.
Want 100 W bulbs right now? Try Home Depot for example. Buy them today, tomorrow, or any time. http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051
Why can you still buy that 100 W bulb? It is a specialty bulb, and thus not banned. All they have to do is label it for vibration (such as a ceiling fan), rough service, different color, high temperature, cold temperature, etc. Then it is legal to buy and sell that 100 W bulb.
Many other sellers sell them, I just linked one company. Try Amazon for 5224 varieties of 100 W incandescent bulbs.
Or, they can sell the more energy efficient incandescents. Those are more rare and are usually hybrids though (part halogen mostly incandescent).
The nation's light bulbs begin facing new efficiency and labeling standards starting Jan. 1, but don't expect old-fashioned incandescents to suddenly disappear from store shelves.
The congressionally mandated efficiency standards gradually phase out Thomas Edison's 131-year-old creation in favor of other light bulbs that use at least 25% less energy. The first to go, beginning Sunday, is the traditional 100-watt, followed in January 2013 with the 75-watt version and in January 2014 with the 40-watt and 60-watt bulbs.
Yet even Edison's 100-watt bulb will still be available for a while. The bipartisan law mandating the phaseout, which President George W. Bush signed in 2007, says the bulbs can't be manufactured or imported after Jan. 1 but lets stores sell them until stock runs out.
In California, which implemented the efficiency standards a year earlier than the rest of the nation, it took several months for the 100-watt bulbs to exit stores. "We expect the same at the national level," says Noah Horowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
"We'll still have 100-watt incandescents on our shelf through June," Bill Hamilton of Home Depot predicts, based on the amount of remaining stock.
Major manufacturers and retailers say they'll hew to the efficiency standards even though Congress passed a one-year spending bill earlier this month that bars the Department of Energy from spending to enforce them through the end of September 2012.
A major reason, says Jacklyn Pardini of Lowe's, is that "people are looking for more energy-efficient options."
Lighting Science Group, which makes LEDs, says it doubled its revenue from LED sales in the last year and expects "exponential growth next year" regardless of what Congress does, says Jim Haworth, the company's CEO.
Still, the incandescent phaseout worries a third of Americans, who say they prefer traditional bulbs, according to an October survey of 303 adults conducted for lighting company Osram Sylvania. One in eight, or 13%, say they'll stockpile Edison's 100-watt bulbs.
Congress' bill did not address the other part of the lighting standards: labeling. The Federal Trade Commission, effective Sunday, requires that all newly made or imported bulbs carry labels on the front and back of packages that list brightness (or lumens), estimated yearly cost and life span as well as its color (or light appearance).
Q: Do the standards ban all incandescents?
A: No. Edison's bulbs won't meet the rules, but the halogen incandescent will. So, too, will the CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) and the LED (light-emitting diode), each of which is at least 75% more efficient than the traditional incandescent. Also, the rules don't apply to less commonly used incandescents such as appliance, three-way and colored bulbs.
its just a god damn light bulb!
Well what about this?
edit: Chincanery?
"halogen incandescent"
Way to split hairs. Im not dead but Im going to die. So I will make a will. The best and brightest filament bulbs are not completely gone - yet - but they will by next year.
I have CFLs and LEDs......
What will really bake your noodle is trying to calculate....something.
Allow me to explain. Most of the mercury in the oceans and hence environment, comes from electrical powerplants. If you lower the electricity consumed, you lower the mercury in the environment, but CFL production increases the mercury in the environment. You see where I'm going with this? You see the ironing?
How much mercury do power plants emit to light a CFL?
About 50 percent of the electricity produced in the U.S. is generated by coal-fired power plants. When coal burns to produce electricity, mercury naturally contained in the coal releases into the air. In 2006, coal-fired power plants produced 1,971 billion kilowatt hours (kwh) of electricity, emitting 50.7 tons of mercury into the airthe equivalent amount of mercury contained in more than 9 billion CFLs (the bulbs emit zero mercury when in use or being handled).
Approximately 0.0234 mg of mercuryplus carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxidereleases into the air per 1 kwh of electricity that a coal-fired power plant generates. Over the 7500-hour average range of one CFL, then, a plant will emit 13.16 mg of mercury to sustain a 75-watt incandescent bulb but only 3.51 mg of mercury to sustain a 20-watt CFL (the lightning equivalent of a 75-watt traditional bulb). Even if the mercury contained in a CFL was directly released into the atmosphere, an incandescent would still contribute 4.65 more milligrams of mercury into the environment over its lifetime.
Well what about the ACTUAL LAW:Well what about this?
Meet any one of those exclusions and the incandescent bulb is legal to make, sell, and buy in the United States FOREVER (or at least until the law is changed again). That Home Depot bulb is legal at 100 W forever since it meets exclusion XII, rough service.(ii) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘general service incandescent lamp’ does not include the following incandescent lamps:
(I) An appliance lamp.
(II) A black light lamp.
(III) A bug lamp.
(IV) A colored lamp.
(V) An infrared lamp.
(VI) A left-hand thread lamp.
(VII) A marine lamp.
(VIII) A marine signal service lamp.
(IX) A mine service lamp.
(X) A plant light lamp.
(XI) A reflector lamp.
(XII) A rough service lamp.
(XIII) A shatter-resistant lamp (including a shatter-proof lamp and a shatter-protected lamp).
(XIV) A sign service lamp.
(XV) A silver bowl lamp.
(XVI) A showcase lamp.
(XVII) A 3-way incandescent lamp.
(XVIII) A traffic signal lamp.
(XIX) A vibration service lamp.
(XX) A G shape lamp (as defined in ANSI C78.20–2003 and C79.1–2002 with a diameter of 5 inches or more.
(XXI) A T shape lamp (as defined in ANSI C78.20–2003 and C79.1–2002) and that uses not more than 40 watts or has a length of more than 10 inches.
(XXII) A B, BA, CA, F, G16–1/2, G–25, G30, S, or M–14 lamp (as defined in ANSI C79.1–2002 and ANSI C78.20–2003) of 40 watts or less.’
Thus, for example, a 53 W to 71 W incandescent bulb is legal as long as it produces at least 1490 lumens. Or 73 W or higher bulbs are legal as long as they produce more than 2601 lumens. This is a hard target, but not impossible to meet for an incandescent bulb.Rated Lumen Ranges \ Maximum Rate Wattage
1490–2600 lumens \ 72 W
1050–1489 lumens \ 53 W
As long as I can still get candelabra bulbs for my fancy fixtures, I'm okay.
I've been using CFLs in most of my lights for years now. Use less electricity, less heat, never had a problem with them knock on wood. They last a long time. Unfortunately the savings in electricity has been more than offset by the sharp rise in hydro rates over the last few years. The government pissed a lot of money away on failed renewable energy projects, not to mention the Ontario gas plant scandal that cost over $1 billion.
I jumped on the CFL bandwagon, then each expensive (GE brand) died a quick death, now I'm back to old school and yes, I'm stockpiling them...
Yup and those are the ones that produce THE BEST LIGHT!!LTC8K6 said:Inefficient incandescent bulbs are being banned.
Tis a matter of taste.Yup and those are the ones that produce THE BEST LIGHT!!
Back then it was Safeway. What the hell is the big deal about light bulbs?
KT