Are the days of Incandescent lighting numbered?

[mediar]

There is ONE issue I have to CFLs, and that is showing stains on clothing. For some reason if there is grease or oil on a shirt (for example) it's visible in sunlight, under regular florescent lights and the Incandescent light, however it's invisible under any CFL I've used. Other then that I really like CFLs, prefer the "Day Light" ones, gives the room a nice bluey glow. There will be some issues with a few of our older fixtures that a CFL won't fit in. They take those thin, pine-cone shaped bulbs.

[Silvermink]

There is ONE issue I have to CFLs, and that is showing stains on clothing. For some reason if there is grease or oil on a shirt (for example) it's visible in sunlight, under regular florescent lights and the Incandescent light, however it's invisible under any CFL I've used. Other then that I really like CFLs, prefer the "Day Light" ones, gives the room a nice bluey glow. There will be some issues with a few of our older fixtures that a CFL won't fit in. They take those thin, pine-cone shaped bulbs.

Yeah, I've always preferred daylight-balanced lighting as well. I bought a whole mess of blue-tinted incandescent ones a few years ago and am only starting to run out of them now.

What would be really cool is lighting that changes color temperature with time of day to simulate the same color-temperature cycles as the sun, but I don't expect to see that commonly-available any time soon. :) You can do it on your computer, though - I have f.lux installed on both of my machines and really like it.

[EskapePeanut]

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.

Its true that because of their low wattage, the temperature is lower...but I have seen a CFL bulb first hand melt a wall fixture and start smoking! So I don't trust them. You might be lucky, but I'd like to you try the temp thing again with a much older bulb as well as different manufactures before writing off that it doesn't get hot.

Another thing is that you have to open a window and let the mercury vapor dissipate before doing anything!! WTF!

Besides your supposed to let a bulb cool down before touching it anyway xD And light energy = heat energy.

[Zen]

Its true that because of their low wattage, the temperature is lower...but I have seen a CFL bulb first hand melt a wall fixture and start smoking! So I don't trust them. You might be lucky, but I'd like to you try the temp thing again with a much older bulb as well as different manufactures before writing off that it doesn't get hot.

Another thing is that you have to open a window and let the mercury vapor dissipate before doing anything!! WTF!

Besides your supposed to let a bulb cool down before touching it anyway xD And light energy = heat energy.

Not entirely true.  CFLs get very hot, hotter than incandescents in some case.  The venting of the unit they are in is quite important.

As for venting mercury gas ... only if you break them open!  They are pretty resilient, but they do break!  That's about the only time you have to worry about mercury vapours.

But yes, always let lighting cool before touching it!  Doesn't matter what kind.

[Silvermink]

Another thing is that you have to open a window and let the mercury vapor dissipate before doing anything!! WTF!

If the bulb breaks, yes. I try not to freak out about stuff like that, but I admit broken bulbs leading to mercury vapor does make me a little uncomfortable.

However, I've broken maybe one light bulb (an incandescent) in the past five years, and I think CFLs are physically stronger than incandescents, so I wouldn't say I'm losing sleep over it.

[orwin]

Dollar Giant still has a pretty good stock of incandescent light bulbs.  Stock up now.

Problem with CFL's...you can't dim them without getting the really expensive ones.  I have a light fixture in my dining room that takes 5 bulbs...at $15 a piece, that gets pretty expensive to buy dimming CFL's.

Most countries around the world are discontinuing them though, so it is really a matter of time.  Hopefully the costs of LED lighting will catch up to CFL's soon.

I've had a few CFL's killed by power surges as well, so I've stopped using them.  Best way to save energy is just to leave the lights off to begin with.

[Silvermink]

Problem with CFL's...you can't dim them without getting the really expensive ones.  I have a light fixture in my dining room that takes 5 bulbs...at $15 a piece, that gets pretty expensive to buy dimming CFL's.

Ouch! I haven't looked into dimming CFLs myself, but $15 a bulb is a lot of money, yeah.