Light Bulbs...Am I the only nut?

[onlinemoniker]

Today when I did my grocery shopping I bought another 40, 60-watt incandescent light bulbs. These bulbs (hopefully) now complete my stash of nearly 400 incandescent light bulbs I have bought over the past year in anticipation of them being gone.

I have been in a panic since January 1st when I woke up and heard the news that the moment of truth had arrived and no longer would the incandescent bulbs be produced for sale (due to a law passed by Congress a couple years ago.) Since the beginning of the year, I've bought another 150ish bulbs. Moving forward (after the store stockpiles are exhausted) it's florescent or halogen only for everyone else.

I know these incandescent bulbs use more electricity but they are much cheaper and the light is so much nicer than florescent. Someone's going to buy and use these bulbs. It might as well be me. And now I have enough bulbs to last me the rest of my life (provided I don't live to be older than 147.)

Any thoughts? Anyone else have a light bulb stash?

Anyone want a light bulb stash? They're still out there... Come, join me...

[CathyA]

I have a bulb stash too, and I hope it gets bigger. The right lighting is so important to me. Also, there is mercury in the new/required lightbulbs and everyone is minimizing it being a problem. But you know it's going to end up being another big toxic problem.
Walmart has a big section of them. I bought a couple, and then realized they were from Hungary. I went back and found a big section of ones from the U.S., which were even cheaper, so I've started buying them.
I don't see any problem with buying them up now!

[softweave]

Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs cost more, but they last much longer than incandescent bulbs. I used to buy soft light incandescent bulbs. Now I buy soft white CFLs. Here are some figures you may find illuminating. :-)
Total cost of a 60 watt incandescent bulb over a 30,000 hour lifespan is $187.82.
Total cost of a CFL bulb over a 30,000 hour lifespan is $43.65
I'm happy to pay a bit more up front to save so much over time.

[ToomuchStuff]

I am NOT a fan of CFL's. For starters, LONG before they came out, dimmers were put in all the rooms and they don't work with them. They also don't have the color range that regular florescent do.
I've started trying led's, but there are also issues with them. Some that I have picked up, say they are not for use in enclosed fixtures (which any with a globe are).
Regular bulbs are and will still be sold for some things, such as appliance bulbs or rough service bulbs. I am hoping before that is a last option, much choices that will fill the gaps are out.

[redfox]

No stash for me. I'm waiting for LED technology to get a bit less pricey. I have a few old fashioned bulbs for a chandelier, but that's it. And, I am happy with CF light. We've acclimated to it just fine over the years.

[rosarugosa]

We were early adopters of CFLs and are gradually transitioning to LEDs. We might have a couple of retired incandescents in the cellar but none in use in our home.

[Float On]

I like CFL but my husband complained that they didn't last as long as he thought they should. I would like to note that our house has deep porches on front and back and our cabin in the woods tends to be a little dark inside so we do need lamps on almost all the time. He got pissy about the CFL's and went out and bought a stash of incandescents.....and now he's pissy again about having to change bulbs every few weeks. I continually hear a 'dammit, I just changed bulbs' being yelled somewhere in the house every weekend. (I'm buying CFLs again).

[catherine]

I do not have a lightbulb stash, and there is nothing to fear. The world is not going to be doomed to CFL dimness!

CFL is the entry-level technology, and while they have been getting better, LEDs are definitely going to be more mainstream.

New non-incandescents are definitely long lasting. If you had stock-piled 400 CFL or LED lightbulbs, they'd be around for all your great-great grandchildren to enjoy. We just bought LED recessed lights for our kitchen and the Home Depot guy told us that they will outlive us (he didn't say that specifically but he said they have a lifespan of 26 years.. I'm 62.. in any case, there's a good chance they'll outlive both DH and I.)

By the way, my LEDs, when the dimmer is on full-blast give me the light of an operating room. I have to turn it down most of the time. CFLs come in a variety of light moods--daylight, outdoor, etc. They are definitely getting better.

My CFL that I have had in my entryway has been kicking for well over 5 years, and we use that every night from dusk until we go to bed, and many times DH forgets to turn it off. Like FloatOn, I love the assurance that I'm much, much less frequently going to have climb the steps tool to change front porch and hallway lights.

I appreciate your fear for a world without incandescents, onlinemoniker, but there's no evidence to support it! Really. Start putting your money towards more long-lasting, energy-efficient sources of light. ;)

[ApatheticNoMore]

Well I bought some 3 way lamps a couple years ago (yes I wondered why such nice lamps were such a bargain - ha because 3 ways basically require incandescents, the LEDS will light on those lamps but they don't 3-way).

I never got into the florescents (ok there's a bag with a dead florescent bulb that I don't dare keep in my apartment and haven't taken to toxic waste that at this point after being outside and rained on and blown by leaf blowers has probably leeched all it's mercury into the soil - and that's about the reality of how florescents will be disposed of in this world where who has time to be driving several miles to oddly located toxic waste disposal all the time (in reality almost noone)). But luckily for the world I have used very few florescents! I kept using incandescents until LEDS became viable, so my lack of time to properly dispose of them is not a major issue (the spirit was willing, but the body was tired).

So now I have about half LEDS and half incandescents. True the LEDs have a warning not to put them in enclosed features but I have a LED in an enclosed feature anyway because whatever (burning down the house!). Frankly, I'm too sick of fine print I only see afterward to bother to replace it (it hasn't actually short circuited or burned down the house). Nothing quite gives out the glow of an incandescent (and yes I buy yellow color LEDS, close but not quite). I turn all lights off when not in use, I couldn't even conceive of not doing that (if one thinks they use too little energy to bother then that just illustrates Jeavon's paradox). As for short lived lights, yea maybe the LEDS will last forever (haven't died in 6 months or so anyway) but there is no shorter lived bulb than a halogen, incandescents last much longer than them. I don't have any halogens now,I bought several, they all died in short order!

[onlinemoniker]

For me, it's not about the expense. It's about the harsh light the compact fluorescents give off. Also, I am a person who likes a dimly lit room; about 45% of the bulbs in my stash are 40-watt. 45% are 60 and the remainder are 75-watt for use in outdoor lighting on my porch. I also don't like the fact that the fluorescents kind of pulse with the light. It's so annoying.

I only use a fluorescent in the fixture over my kitchen sink because it's so difficult to get the cover off. But I don't like it. Also, I am not convinced those bulbs last anywhere near as long as they say they do.

I confess, I have had NO experience w/ LED. Not even on Christmas trees. And, given the size of my stash (I allowed for about 1/3rd of them to go bad and still have enough to easily see me out,) I probably never will.

My problem now is finding a way to stop buying.

[catherine]

My problem now is finding a way to stop buying.

Hmmm.. is there a 12-step meeting for that?

[onlinemoniker]

Nothing quite gives out the glow of an incandescent (and yes I buy yellow color LEDS, close but not quite).As for short lived lights, yea maybe the LEDS will last forever (haven't died in 6 months or so anyway) but there is no shorter lived bulb than a halogen, incandescents last much longer than them. I don't have any halogens now,I bought several, they all died!

So true about the lifespan of halogen. All my under counter lighting in the kitchen is halogen (a total of 13 bulbs.) I am CONSTANTLY changing them (or they're just languishing, burned out.)

So true on the nice glow of an incandescent. This is my HOME. I don't want it to be lit like a factory or an operating room!

[danna]

LIGHTING..........It is enough to drive a sane person insane

Yes, the I can see how the CFL's last somewhat longer, we renovated the lower level of the house in to an inlaw suite
4 1/2 years ago. All new CFL's (except kitchen whole other story) 18 bulbs in total ----12 have needed to be replaced.
They are all light fixtures with 3 bulbs each. I didn't realize till I needed to change some in the bedrooms that they had
very special CFL's funny little bits on the bottom that did not allow you to put regular bulbs in. So had to search the city
to find the 3 places that still carried them (I live in a large city).
So better but not great when you consider the whole issue of disposal.
My kitchen has 3 fixtures with 3 halogens each...at this point it would have been cheaper to replace the light fixtures
then continue to replace the very expensive bulbs, I have lost track of how many I have bought.

[SteveinMN]

Wow. No stockpiling here. Good riddance to incandescents, I say.

There is no perfect lighting technology.

Incandescents are a huge waster of energy. But (like so many other things we buy) the initial purchase is cheap and we somehow rationalize the waste and the extra money they cost to operate. In many parts of the country, electrical service is variable enough that no bulbs last very long, including incandescents.

Fluorescents do contain mercury, so they require special treatment at disposal time. Some of them also do not dim well. But there are dimmable fluorescents. And three-way fluorescents. And, better yet, a huge variety of bulbs in all shapes and sizes and color temperatures. It doesn't take much searching to find a place (brick and mortar or on-line) that can sell a warm-white G40 globe lamp if that's what your fixture calls for. I can buy (and have bought) specialty CFLs which are indistinguishable from incandescent bulbs in appearance. Not a barrier if you know where to look.

I suspect LEDs will be there someday, too. The main issue with them right now is their use in enclosed fixtures. But that's not a safety issue -- it's a longevity issue brought on by the enclosed fixture causing the electronics that manage the LED to cook. That's never good for any electronic device. I'm confident, though, that that problem will be fixed. And the price will continue to come down. We may never see 25-cent LED bulbs, but, over the total life of the bulb, LEDs will be better priced.

A lot of what people dislike about "other" bulbs is sheer habit. We grew up with incandescents, so we've become accustomed to the light patterns and colors they display. We've quit thinking about how fixtures have been designed for them and how fixtures can be designed differently (dare I say better?) for new bulb formats. Change is hard. But I'm looking forward to this one.

[catherine]

A lot of what people dislike about "other" bulbs is sheer habit. We grew up with incandescents, so we've become accustomed to the light patterns and colors they display. We've quit thinking about how fixtures have been designed for them and how fixtures can be designed differently (dare I say better?) for new bulb formats. Change is hard. But I'm looking forward to this one.

+1

[ApatheticNoMore]

Well if new lights are built with new fixtures that's one thing, but it does sound pretty ridiculous to buy all new lamps to get new fixtures (and the time of apartments being renovated is about never - I have a stove with a permanent pilot - it's probably decades and decades old - that is how apartments actually are, they don't renovate except to prettify if they think it will bring more rent).

But anyway ALL LIGHTS WORK, the LEDS don't 3-way, and will maybe burn out quickly in enclosed features (that doesn't trouble me that much, I thought I was probably being unsafe by having it in there and felt guilty but just didn't care enough to remove it, I'm glad to know I'm only blowing the $20 or so bucks I paid on the LED possibly (and still getting use out of it in the meantime) and not being unsafe).

Meanwhile while we are being so careful to save a little energy here and there and forced to buy new light bulbs this is what industry is allowed to do (it's actually beyond belief, truthfully using incadescents doesn't bother me, but this made me entirely sick to my stomach, just horrified):
http://www.npr.org/2014/01/30/265396179/much-of-north-dakota-s-natural-gas-is-going-up-in-flames

[bae]

CFL bulbs, many of them, emit huge amounts of radio frequency noise, which disrupts the nearly-pristine radio listening environment I have here for my amateur/emergency communications radio station. This is a deal killer. (And disposing of them safely is a bit of a pain here.)

Incandescent bulbs don't "waste" energy here, as every bit of the heat energy they produce is generally appreciated to help heat the house, which is otherwise heated by electricity anyways, unless I am running the wood stove.

[freein05]

Wow. No stockpiling here. Good riddance to incandescents, I say.


A lot of what people dislike about "other" bulbs is sheer habit. We grew up with incandescents, so we've become accustomed to the light patterns and colors they display. We've quit thinking about how fixtures have been designed for them and how fixtures can be designed differently (dare I say better?) for new bulb formats. Change is hard. But I'm looking forward to this one.

+ 2

[rosarugosa]

I haven't checked recently, but I was able to dispose of CFLs at Home Depot, which seemed appropriate since I bought them there in the first place.

[Blackdog Lin]

Count me in as one of the fans of CFLs. The light spectrum took a little getting used to, but we now don't even notice the difference. And we save at least $10.00/month on the electric bill, even since we switched to them.

I'm looking forward to the newer LED technology, when it gets a little more affordable.

[Gardenarian]

I use only CFLs - our hardware store sells them three for a dollar - it's some kind of discount through our electric company. We have a few odd-sized incandescents, but that's it. I didn't like CFLs at first but now they get bright right away and the color doesn't bother me.

I put in some lamps from Ikea at my cabin and they all take LEDs. They are odd bulbs - it seems like the only place you can get replacements are Ikea. My daughter has an older halogen Ikea fixture in her bedroom and Ikea no longer carries the bulbs - I hope the same thing doesn't happen with my lamps.

[pcooley]

I'm already happily switching my CFLs out for LEDs. The CFLs take so long to quit working though, I think it's going to be a long slow process. I like the Phillips LED bulbs that have the yellow exterior, but I think they're already phasing them out because people see it and think the light will be yellow. At least, the last time I was at Home Depot, I didn't see as many of that style. So I might end up hoarding a specific style of LED bulb. It's been many years since I've had any of the old style bulb.

[kib]

I''ve embraced LED technology and love it, but yeah, it's pricy, thank goodness we have a small house! I despise CFLs.

Funny how sensitive we humans are to the right lighting. A tenant who was working in exchange for rent chose and installed a light in my cute little cottage kitchen (I paid for the fixture), and I swear he reached into a nightmare of mine when he selected it: a "landlord's halo" - two exposed concentric florescent rings. It was absolutely the perfect lighting - for performing an autopsy. I hated the whole house until I replaced it with some LEDs.

[SteveinMN]

a "landlord's halo" - two exposed concentric florescent rings. It was absolutely the perfect lighting - for performing an autopsy.
Heh. I have a similar light, chosen while remodeling -- except that it does have a drum-shaped translucent cover and a warm-white "bulb" I special-ordered over the Internet. It is one of my favorite fixtures in the entire house. Bright clean normal-looking light right where I need it.

Horses for courses... :)

[kib]

The cover or 'warm white' might have made all the difference - my "expert" at the hardware store said there was no such thing, sigh. The light was certainly bright but cast a ghastly glaring blue hue over everything.

[SteveinMN]

kib, I did a lot of research when I put in that lamp because it was brand new, so I could have put in anything. I wanted something more efficient than incandescent. Fortunately I had lots of positive experience with non-cheap fluorescents because I've seen some which do look horrendous. Curiously, I'm not at all a fan of "daylight"-temperature bulbs. They're supposed to imitate daylight, but I find them to cast an ugly bluish pall on everything. :confused:

[George_H]

I don't think your the only one who does this. I personally have been converted to going the way of the twisty bulbs. They cost more but if you get good ones, they last a long time. If you like the aesthetic of the others then good for you.

[catherine]

Yeah, lighting is a very interesting and often overlooked element in the environment.. having been in theatre at one point in my life, I've experienced the painstaking detail the lighting designer put into every scene--yet how often do we walk away from a performance and say, what great lighting! (Unless it's over the top stuff in a rock concert or something)

Same is true in our homes. I remember when I first started working I went to one of my DH's colleagues for dinner. We were all young--early/mid 20s. Her apartment really looked put together (as opposed to our which was kind of a first-apartment mish-mash). One element was a light that was cast up from the floor, shining on a palm plant. She had spent all her money on furniture, and you'd think that this extra accent light/plant would have been a frivolous addition--but her apartment was amazing and so homey and I really think that darn little floor light did the trick.

[Rogar]

I have mostly CFLs with LEDs in the most used lights. I think the quality of light is slightly better with LEDs. I worry about the effects of burning fossil fuels on climate and figure accepting any small negatives in light quality is just one more little step to help out.

[mtnlaurel]

I thought of this thread last night....

Getting ready move out of rental home and in true cheap-o fashion am not replacing light bulbs as they burn out (lots of recessed lighting and don't worry many were burnt out when we moved in, so I am not worried about bad karma backlash)....
However. I need lighting to pull some late night packing.

At Walgreens to get something else, so decide on one stop shop for a pack of 4 old fashioned light bulbs....
They don't have them at Walgreens, only 2 light bulbs for $5. I thought that was too steep.

I didn't get them as they felt like an 'investment' to me and moved another working lamp into the living room instead.

Glad this thread is here, when we move into new permanent place I'll come back to do my light bulb investment research!