GE announced at the beginning of this month that they will discontinue production of the hated compact florescent light bulbs (CFL) at the end of the year.
The news was met with joy by the Trifecta gang.
28 Comments on Lights Out for CFL Bulbs
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Crappy 19th century technology.
The CLF aka mini fluorescent bulbs, have been a mistake from the beginning. The length of service doesn’t justify the ridiculously high price, not to mention the mercury showing up in all the landfills. It was a case of government action outpacing technology. LEDs hold great promise. I just installed a 4′ led fixture in a room at my warehouse. When checking the lumens produced to that of a 4 foot fluorescent and the power consumed it wasn’t substiantially different, which I found surprising. Still the projected life of the lamps was substantially longer and they weren’t priced much different.
Incadescent bulbs for me, just like when this was a free country
now if trump would push for bringing back the old lightbulbs and the old toilets, he might just get my support
There are few things that are as illustrative (sorry – couldn’t resist) of the utter fuckedupedness of the feddle govt as CFL bulbs. On the one hand, they tell us how terribly awful any exposure to mercury (Hg) is and as a result places such as schools now do an emergency evacuation and shutdown, and send in HAZMAT teams in full suits and breathing gear if someone so much as breaks an old-fashioned thermometer. And on the other hand, they outlaw incandescent light bulbs that contain nice mostly benign tungsten and argon and insist we put mercury-containing CFLs in their place. In schools. Hospitals. Nurseries. Day-care centers.
Good golly! It’s enough to make me an anarchist! Oh, wait…
I just started using LED light bulbs – I have just one. Very nice light tone. I have a kilowatt meter hooked to the lamp and after about two weeks it says that the bulb is costing me $0.82 per month. This is my main light that gets the most use, usually on most of the night. You can get them on amazon for under $10 apiece and they are supposed to last about 13 years. Mine is a GE 60w replacement which is rated at 10.5 watts.
I think I will mail all of my other mercury-filled bulbs to 0bama’s green czar and tell him to shove them up his a$$.
It’s LED for me from here on out!
Standard Government Numbskulledness
We never used them at home. Marc’s and Home Depot had a massive supply of the ‘evil’ incandescent bulbs.
I did notice if I had to be around CFL lights for longer than 10 minutes I would start getting a massive headache. Same thing happened to a friend.
When I was a kid in the ’60’s my grandmother gave me a a light bulb made in 1910. It’s a 7 watt bulb and the darn thing still works fine.
Since incandescent bulbs are getting scarcer won’t the incandescent and LED bulbs look great in a $2000 chandelier.
Ok, this says under $5 and a 22-year life span. The package my bulb came in says it has a 13. 7 year lifespan. Think I paid $6 for it, but I bought it from a friend who always gives me a discount. Wallmart had the same bulb for about $12 not too long ago.
I’d like to see them for under $5. They will save you a lot of money in the long run. And I don’t think they break if you drop them, though don’t blame me if they do. 😉
I quit the CFLs long ago because they suck. However recently trying to buy new incandescent or halogen bulbs to match existing bulbs proved futile. Like for my can lights, so I bought all new replacements one day. Before I installed them, I stumbled upon 2700k LED BR30’s at WalMark’s for $2.88 each! Scores! They actually aren’t bad, they’re warm and provide nice light.
Similarly, I was shopping for T12 tubes recently for shop lights and I came home instead with a 4500 Lumen LED shop light that is 40W. (2) 40W T12’s only give you 2800 Lumens, I don’t really care for the 5000k temperature, but for a work area it is super bright. Not cheap ($42 for one light), but super bright. However I was thinking of changing the ballasts in my current fixtures so they would handle T8 tubes which offer more lumens than T12, so the added expense was only about $5 compared to the retrofit.
In short, I’m all for the LEDs so far. They offer nice light and after a couple years of use on my oldest ones, I think they will last 2x longer than CFLs.
Which brings up another point. Before you invest into LED lighting, take careful consideration as to how they will be used and how they calculate the 25-30 year life span. Most LED manufacturers say 3 hours of use per day, in the winter my basement cans are on nearly 18 hours a day. As a result, I’d be ecstatic if they last 6-8 years rather than the advertised 25 years because a CFL would have lasted 1 year down here.
Cheaply made LED lightbulbs can put out a crapload of radio frequency interference . . . which is not legal according to the FCC. But they don’t care. Neighbor’s LED bulbs can make my ham radio all but unusable.
Home Depot is selling commercial LEDs to consumers, which is also illegal, but it’s a bitch to get them to do anything about it. It’s up to the FCC’s enforcement division, and it’s pretty low on their list.
Never had trouble with incandescents.
went LED a couple months back. My son told me about how little energy they use. It was simpler to buy them then to break my wife of her 30 year habit of leaving every frikkin light in the house on.
Here’s a little trivia a T12 is 12 1/8’s of an inch in diameter or
1 1/2 inches. A T8 is one inch. Each number represents 1/8 of an inch.
I’ve noticed the radio interference. I’m glad I use terrestrial radio at night, to sleep.
I wenght 130 t survivalist and bought a few cases of incandescent 60,75 and 100 watt bulbs. Also I bought 130 volt bulbs. They last foreve when compared to 120 volt bulbs.
When I first heard talk of the outlawing of incandescents I began picking up several packs of 100 watts and other wattages on each shopping trip. I never bought a CFL. I moved in July and my new house was full of them. I replaced them all. And, I threw them in the trash. I still have plenty of 100 watt incandescents.
oh yes, the ‘Energy & Security Independence Act’ of 2007, signed into law by …. ahem ……. George W. Bush
oops….. I meant the ‘Energy Independence & Security Act’
LED life 13 years. Sure beats replacing the bulbs every 3 months.
You are right there. Bush and a republican house did it. That’s why we have the likes of Sanders and Trump in contention for the presidency. People are sick of the etablishment. That deal stank to high heaven. You know the CFL producers out bid the incandescent manufacturers for government votes. They even out bid the EPA who hates mercury. By the way, I really do know how to spell went. However, apparently I don’t have the patience to proofread.
I have enough incandescent bulbs, various watts, to last my lifetime if I live to be 105. PLUS enough to share with at least one of my kids until I croak at a massive old age. Got some of those special natural spectrum ones too.
I too have a pile of 100W bulbs, I use them in the engine room, crawlspace and pipe room only so I have a lifetime worth of them. I’m big on the UL rating which should adhere to FCC regs, and while cheap, the recent batch I bought were subsidized by ComEd through WalMark’s.
Which goes to prove that Donald is right about having the Mexicans build a wall. Liberals have utilities subsidizing light bulbs at fcukin’ WalMark’s.
The Feds treat them as “hazardous waste” with the concomitant costs.
ANYTHING to fuck the taxpayers.
And where in the Constitution is the authority for the Feds to dictate light bulbs?
I can’t find any reference to light bulbs, at all.
Guess it wasn’t such a bright idea..
First GE kills the incandescent light industry through crony capitalism, … I wonder who owns the biggest LED factories?
I am an electrical contractor.
After the initial fad wore off people started to realize that they were inferior to standard lamps. A big part of the problem was that CFLs were oversold. Exaggerations about life, efficiency, and return on investment created consumer expectations that could not be met.
The exact same thing is happening with LED lighting.
Also, as to toxicity, LEDs are far worse than fluorescent lights. Toxic metals are used, and unlike fluorescents, there is no way to effectively recycle them.
I really miss the good old days when lighting advances were sold based on being better, rather than more politically correct.
If you have a Dollar Tree store near you, they still have the incandescent bulbs in 60, 75 and 100 watts (and 3-way bulbs as well). They are “triple life” bulbs and apparently are considered as being “rough duty” bulbs (which can be legally produced). Most of the packs contain 2 bulbs for $1. I try to buy a couple of packs every time I’m in there and have built a fair stock of them. They generally last for a couple of months of continuous burning.