WILL INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULBS BE BANNED? II

It seems as if the insanity over incandescent light bulbs is still with us, and this is an update on a previous post of the same name.* The question is, can an incandescent light bulb of lower wattage give off as much light as a standard incandescent light bulb. Right now there is a 72 watt halogen light bulb that gives off the same light as a standard 100 watt incandescent light bulb that is covered by the new rules.** So the answer is yes! I saw them on the counter in Lowe's Hardware and it has the same shape as a standard incandescent light bulb (which seems to be important to some people).

Now for Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) that in general give the same wattage light as an incandescent bulb but using only approximately one-fourth the wattage. They come in Bright White, Soft White, and Day Light. You can get CFLs in Bright White, (running on 23 watts as bright as 100 watts incandescent, 4 for $2.98, Utilitech). These use a bit less than a quarter the energy as the conventional incandescent light bulb. You can also get CFLs in soft white (running at 18 watts and giving the light of a 70 watt incandescent light bulb, 6 for $3.18, Utilitech). You can also get dimmable CFLs, but they are more expensive at $9.76 each for a 100 watt equivalent. In our experience you cannot mix dimmable CFLs with conventional incandescent light bulbs. They dim at different rates. You can get 3-way CFLs (We have one in day light) of 50-100-150 watts equivalent for $8.27 in bright white. You can get CFLs flood lights in bulb shapes and cone shapes (the CFL light is inside the bulb or cone). Lastly they come in lots of colors. Some I saw a Lowe's were pink,light blue, light red, blue, red, green, orange, even black.

Also coming along are Light Emitting Diodes (LED) that use even less energy than CFLs to produce the equivalent light of incandescent bulbs. Currently they are quite expensive because they are made by hand in the U.S., but plans are to have them made as soon as next year in a lower cost nation. At that the price drop will initially be only in half. Right now an 18 watt LED giving light equivalent to a 75 watt incandescent bulb costs $44.98. Like CFLs, they are a bit strange looking because they have to have cooling fins at their base.

But if you cannot tolerate any of the advanced lights, please just hoard the old incandescent bulbs. Go buy them by the case, buy two cases each of different light strengths, but please don't try to stop progress.

*http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/05/will-incandescent-light-bulbs-be-banned.html

** http://www.topbulb.com/find/incandescent.asp