Incandescent Light Bulb Ban

[John Edward Mercier]

I like CFLs too, but I don't like them for every application, and I don't like being told I can't use incandescents.

Goodbye heat lamps and easy bake ovens.

You're forgetting my lava lamp.

I would imagine its going to take a while to run out of the incandescents, does the ban have an effective date?

[KJM]

I've always been rather partial to using the sun for lighting. It's cheap, comes with a lifetime guarantee, it's environmentally sound (for the next few billion years anyhow), and can actually provide me with energy rather than use it up. Now if I could just get my solar powered flashlight to work I'd be all set.

[KJM]

I would imagine its going to take a while to run out of the incandescents, does the ban have an effective date?

(1) prohibiting the sale of light bulbs that emit less than 60 lumens per watt, effective January 1, 2012;
(2) prohibiting the sale of light bulbs that emit less than 90 lumens per watt, effective January 1, 2016;
(3) prohibiting the sale of light bulbs that emit less than 120 lumens per watt, effective January 1, 2020.

[Bill St. Clair]

There are lots of bills containing the phrase "lumens per watt", but I found only one that actually bans the sale of inefficient lightbulbs, and has gotten further than a committee. H.R. 3221, the "Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007", passed the House on August 4, 2007, and was placed on the Senate calendar on September 4. According to Thomas, it has not yet passed the Senate. Section 9021 is the light bulb ban (Thomas doesn't provide a direct link, but search for "bulb" after clicking on the link in line "3" of the link above to find it), similar, but not identical, to what KJM posted.

[Pat McCotter]

Public Law 110-140

[Bill St. Clair]

Yep. Also H.R. 6, the "Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007". Signed by Bush on Wednesday, December 19. Pray for cheap LED lighting.

[J’raxis 270145]

I've read that there is quite a quality difference with the cheap CFL bulbs... much shorter life.

The real future of efficient lighting is LED.

Indeed... once they get the color temperature down enough. As they are, "white LEDs" are bluer than the old-fashioned fluorescents.

Apparently the part of the brain that detects daytime vs. night is sensitive to the lower bandwidths of light contained within natural sunlight, so to your brain, sitting under (old-style) fluorescents or white LEDs feels like sitting in darkness. This of course wreaks all sorts of havoc on your wake–sleep cycles, and is why people who work in fluorescent-lit environments so often have chronic fatigue issues.

[J’raxis 270145]

Isn't there mercury in the other kind?

But of course. They need justification to declare your home an EPA Superfund Site every time a CFL is dropped and broken.

And as the post after yours mentioned, these things can't be disposed of normally and instead need to be recycled as hazardous materials. So there's another point of control they've just inserted into your life.

[RD]

You can also get three-way CFL's nowadays at places like Home Depot.

really??  i was just there today and didn't see them...  gosh some days i swear i'm blind!  if it were a dog it prolly woulda bit me... i'll have to go back.

Next time I'm there I'll look for 'em an try to get a sku for you.  I've gotta get over there in the next couple of days... the water softener needs salt...

[KJM]

The bill mentioned in the article is  H. R. 1547:

Title: To prohibit the sale of certain inefficient light bulbs, and require the development of a plan for increasing the use of more efficient light bulbs by consumers and businesses.
Sponsor: Rep Harman, Jane [CA-36] (introduced 3/15/2007)      Cosponsors (None)
Related Bills: H.R.2751
Latest Major Action: 3/16/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality.

It doesn't explicitly ban incandescent bulbs, but it does practically since they don't get anywhere near the efficiency minimums called for in the bill. So they would be phased out unless there were some serious improvements made in the meantime. It doesn't look like this thing's going anywhere soon though, so I wouldn't be too alarmed yet.

[David]

I use the compact fluorescents, but only in the summer.  The regular incandescents work good for winter.  warmer too. 

[KBCraig]

I've read that there is quite a quality difference with the cheap CFL bulbs... much shorter life.

The real future of efficient lighting is LED.

Indeed... once they get the color temperature down enough. As they are, "white LEDs" are bluer than the old-fashioned fluorescents.

Apparently the part of the brain that detects daytime vs. night is sensitive to the lower bandwidths of light contained within natural sunlight, so to your brain, sitting under (old-style) fluorescents or white LEDs feels like sitting in darkness. This of course wreaks all sorts of havoc on your wake–sleep cycles, and is why people who work in fluorescent-lit environments so often have chronic fatigue issues.

I hate LED flashlights because of the blue color. And not just the color, but in order to be efficient, they're a very narrow bandwidth. They can be very bright, but on a very specific wavelength, and the light is usually coherent. That means the light is very "flat"; blindingly bright if someone shines it in your eyes, but useless for seeing something in the dark.

There are newer LEDs that are supposed to be better, but I'm withholding judgement until I can test them.

In lightbulb applications, I think the key to a natural color is to mix different color LEDs within the same "bulb".

[penguins4me]

What. In. The. Hell?!

I'm in general agreement with KBCraig regarding LED issues (neither do I prefer fluorescent lighting), although I prefer the new LED mini-maglite to the old "starts bright, dims very fast, blackens the bulb" model, even with the side issues of it having a different quality of light.

Thankfully, I'll probably be dead of a stress-induced heart attack before this crap actually goes into effect. :P

[RD]

You can also get three-way CFL's nowadays at places like Home Depot.

really??  i was just there today and didn't see them...  gosh some days i swear i'm blind!  if it were a dog it prolly woulda bit me... i'll have to go back.

I too love the three-way light in the living room... dim for TV watching, brighter for reading, and really bright for when I'm cleaning  gotta get all that dirt ya know!  hehe

[Bill St. Clair]

That looks like $118.00! For one bulb. Looks like the same thing for $14.23 (plus shipping) at http://www.1000bulbs.com/3-Way-CFL/