Are the days of Incandescent lighting numbered?

[Masozi]

As of January 1st 2011 the province of BC has told retailers to cease sales of 75 and 100 watt incandescent light bulbs. The retailers will be permitted to sell off any remaining stock but are not permitted to restock the older type bulbs in favor of switching to more energy efficient CFL or LED bulbs. A year from now the Incandescent bulb will not be available in any Canadian store as a full ban comes into effect.

Link to the story on the BC light bulb ban 2011 -  http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/12/31/bc-lightbulb-cfl-incandescent.html

Link to the story on the Canada wide ban in 2012. -  http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2529253520070425

I find that CFL light bulbs give off a weaker light than the current bulbs that I use in the lamps on my art desk, I currently use Phillips 100 watt Natural Light Incandescent bulbs for a stronger lighting experience. While many say its about time to move on to newer technology that cuts down on energy consumption. Opponents say that CFL's are more harmful due to their mercury content and that this is governments meddling in the choices that consumers can make.  US retailers can probably expect to see some change resistant Canadians coming down to get Incandescent bulbs that will no longer be available in BC soon.

In future I may offer cash to anyone going shopping to the US to grab me some boxes of dem old bulbs for my desk lamps. . . but not right now as I have quite a few.

[Kithop]

...and the whole thing is completely misguided, to be honest - I agree; CFLs have tons of issues with colour accuracy, flicker, and hazardous waste disposal.  I'm excited about LED-based lighting but it, too, is not perfect - again, issues with colour reproduction and low output/high heat when overdriven to compensate.

There are certain applications where a higher-wattage incandescent bulb is required, especially when the heat from those bulbs is used, or like I bet in your case - you want more accurate colour reproduction for artwork and such.  Plus, in wintertime the 'waste' energy from running incandescents at home becomes heat, that arguably could put a very minor dent in your heating bill (though I believe running a gas central heating furnace is still cheaper per W of energy for heating than electric?).  That said, I'm sure all of us could stand to replace many, if not most of our home lighting with non-incandescent / energy efficient bulbs, of whatever form (CFL, LED, etc.) and save the regular incandescents for those specific tasks.

What I don't understand is how they expect this to even make a huge difference; most people I know with incandescents, myself included (bad house wiring fries CFLs in less than a month in almost every damned fixture here, and since I'm renting, I can't fix it myself :/) run 60W or less.  The only time I'd ever use a higher-wattage bulb is if I really needed it in a rare case - most of my fixtures are only rated for 60-80W anyway, and I don't know if I've ever owned a 100W bulb. :p  But then I'm a basement dweller that tends to hate light, or something, so maybe I'm the edge case.  All they seem to be doing is punishing the minority of people that actually need these things and are willing to pay the extra on their electric bill (I mean, what the hell - we're paying for the usage already ANYWAY; that alone should be the incentive or disincentive) as some kind of weak feel-good measure while doing next to nothing to address the problem.

How about instead of arbitrarily banning these things, we fund research into improving the colour reproduction and getting the price down on things like LEDs or even a new alternative for energy efficient lighting?  Oh right - we don't like actually listening to scientists or paying them to do real work that doesn't fit a narrow political agenda. c.c

[Zen]

CFLs are generally a good replacement for incandescent bulbs.  They are cheaper, longer lasting, and produce the same lighting at 1/3 of the required wattage.  All this adds up to buying bulbs less often, and paying less for their usage, which adds up a lot over time.  There are also a bunch of other energy efficient lighting tricks, tools, and technologies that businesses use.

LEDs will become more common in time.  They do not have the technology at the level needed to replace CFLs reliably, but in about 5 years to so that will change.  Businesses use a lot of LED lighting in new units and retrofits, so businesses are driving that technology, and thus, it will happen.

I have never heard of CFLs burning out quickly, but that could indicate a dangerous wiring problem in your home, Kithop.  I know that landlords are not likely to fix that, though ... but something to be aware of.

As for BC's initiative, it's about 10 years behind at least.  This could have been done back then, easily, but no one seemed to care about energy conservation at the turn of the millenia.  They should ban 40w and 60w bulbs too, because those are MUCH more common than 75w and 100w.

[Kithop]

Ha.  Hahaha.  Dude, if you know anyone that's been to our place, 'dangerous wiring' is pretty much the name of the game.  I'm pretty sure we could report this guy and the entire place would probably be condemned. c.c;  Cut up outdoor extension cords spliced together to wire up power to the washing machine, strange-ass switch locations (the front living room lights are on a switch mounted to the top interior of a shelf built into the wall beside the fireplace, the switch for the exhaust fan in one bathroom is inside the medicine cabinet).  Hell, we just had the kitchen ceiling light just about *explode* from water dripping in from the roof and shorting it out.  Fell to the floor and shattered, everything.  Landlord bought us a replacement but said he couldn't get anyone in to install it because they would be too expensive - the fixture was just screwed into the ceiling drywall, with bare wire powering it - no junction box.

Thankfully both my ex and her new b/f both went to BCIT to become electricians (she's working as a fire alarm tech now), and he offered to try fix it with no warranty or guarantees... you bet your ass this house is a death trap. *sigh*

But that means we'd have to move, and right now, I can't find anything comparable (detached house, 2-4BR, with a big enough basement for me to set up my recording studio/jam space in AND pet friendly - at least cats, anyway) without spending at least $500-1000 MORE per month, living far away from transit.  :/  You bet we'll be taking a look again in the next few months, though.

Though, to stay on topic - I actually had a TON of CFLs burn out in various fixtures at my old place in Burnaby, too, which was a newer (late 80s?) house by Metrotown.  Usually it was when there was two or three bulbs/sockets in a fancier fixture; the single-socket fixtures tended to be OK.  I dunno - I have a pile of them in a bag I've yet to take back somewhere for recycling.  Almost everything here is incandescent, now, with a few stupid 4W LED colour-changing ones for looks here and there. :P

[Zen]

Damn that place sounds as bad as the deathtrap I lived in in Newton.  Cedartree Village Apartments, NEVER live there.  Ever!  I hear you about moving, it's nuts in this area.  But, if you ever do move out, and you want to report them, let me know.  I can get the contact for the right people at city hall who will be all over their asses.   ;)

I'm still surprised CFLs would burn out so fast.  I'll ask my EE contact about that, maybe they know why, and might be able to recommend some future safeguards against that ... beside living in a non-death-trap.

[Kithop]

If it helps, every single one of them, at the base, the plastic had gone this ugly tinge of yellow, and it looked like there were streaks of black dust inside the tube itself. <.< Whatever that means.

[Zen]

Overheating.  The black builds up as they are used, because of the heat of the Fluoride gas in the tube.  More black means more heat.  One thing to watch for is that the housing is not recessed into something that traps heat, and that they are not housed in a unit that does not dissipate heat.  CLFs actually get hotter than incandescent so you have to make sure they vent properly.

If not, then it's just crappy wiring or a bad unit, overpowering them and causing them to overheat.  Or at least that's my guess.

[Kithop]

We did have a couple recessed fixtures in Burnaby, so that's probably it, then.

Though there was one dual-socket fixture that was open to the air and it seemed if you had one bulb in, and one socket empty, it'd be fine.. but as soon as you put a 2nd bulb in the spare socket, one of them would burn out barely a week later. :/

[Tai]

I don't mind CFL, the only thing is that they take a bit to warm up to get a semi decent white out of them. Another thing that CFL are bad at, lamp or fixtures with dimers.
The only thing bad about LED lights are that they are horrible at flood applications. LED are great if you using then in spot applications, though to evenly fill a room good luck.
I still like my fluorescent tubes, they come in different color temperature and they last quite a while too.  
Also now you can recycle CFL and florescent tubes at no cost.

[EskapePeanut]

I have old fixtures in my house so no CFLs for me! I tried them..they don't fit. They also give off too much heat and are ugly and are toxic. Also when you live far off in the mountains where power surges are an issue..and you end up wrecking a lot of bulbs anyway..the CFLs just won't cut it. Also NO CLOSED FIXTURES! ..again major issue. Alos UBER expensive..no thank you I can't afford them. Did I mention how UGLY they are? They are ugly and I don't like them. They CAN make incandescent bulbs better but they wont. So I will wait till I am forced for change everything....or I'll wait til LEDs become better. For now its 'yay' to shopping in the states. That's my five cents on the whole matter.

[Tony Greyfox]

My building replaced the fancy lighting in my bathroom with CFLs recently... it's a row of those globe type lights, which now have CFLs inside of them. They start out rather dim, then get brighter until I feel like I'm showering in the heart of the sun. =P

[Cross]

...CFLs... ...also give off too much heat and are ugly and are toxic.

if im not mistaken CFLs give off little heat at all. incandescents are the ones that will burn you. im pretty sure anyways, let me just go touch one of each. yep, the incandescent one is already too hot to touch and the florescent is still only warm, both bulbs are in the same fixture and have been on for the same amount of time.

regardless I still think its a bad plan to ban incandescent light bulbs. but i guess the BC gov't is saying "we would rather have toxic landfills then pay for more power from the US people that own the hydro company." maybe they will start a recycling program for cfl's? maybe they will have some sort of initiative? all I can say is i'm still angry about the BC hydro sale, shouldn't have been done.

[Silvermink]

I admit I'm a little iffy about the chemical makeup of CFLs (mercury?) but I try not to be too alarmist about that kind of stuff. I've always been an incandescent lighting diehard and as a photographer I feel like anything that looks white but photographs green is kind of suspect, but we got a new torchiere for our living room with a CFL and I quite like it.

The only thing I don't like, really, is that it takes a bit of time to warm up and get to full light output sometimes, but when it does I'd say it's almost as bright as the power-hungry halogen torchiere we used to have there. Safer, too, because damn do those things get hot - we got rid of it when we accidentally knocked the plastic shade slightly off-angle and the bulb actually melted a big hole in it. Fire hazard much?

[Zythren]

I don't notice a huge difference besides price, so meh, who cares. A lightbulb is a lightbulb. :birdy:

[Silvermink]

I don't notice a huge difference besides price, so meh, who cares. A lightbulb is a lightbulb. :birdy:

For most applications I'd agree, but if you're doing color-sensitive work, proper lighting is crucial.

regardless I still think its a bad plan to ban incandescent light bulbs. but i guess the BC gov't is saying "we would rather have toxic landfills then pay for more power from the US people that own the hydro company." maybe they will start a recycling program for cfl's? maybe they will have some sort of initiative? all I can say is i'm still angry about the BC hydro sale, shouldn't have been done.

Yeah, I feel the same way about BC Hydro being so gung ho about things like wind power, dams, and run-of-river power projects - I feel like it's more about image than anything. Those technologies may not do things like release particulates into the atmosphere (yay) but they destroy wildlife habitats, can have plenty of unforeseen consequences (e.g., massive CO2 release from rotting vegetation in the case of flooding forested areas via damming), and interfere with people's enjoyment of not only nature but their own local environments (see, for example, wind power projects on Wolfe Island in Ontario - there was a recent CBC Radio documentary on that).

Personally, I like nuclear power, but it suffers from a bit of an image problem. :P

Anyway! </semiofftopic>