EU Bans Old-Fashioned Light Bulbs

They are mistaken & crazy....It'll be like low-flush toilets....people will get their hands on full-flush as they were prohibited and use them anyway (this happened in the US)....

If they want to migrate to exclusive use of CFL's - god speed to all....I've had 2 (GE) to short & fry the bases (they were only slanted at about a 25-30 degree angle) - my home is without 'em now...

I do not want to hear my wife say to me "honey, I smell something electrical burning"......ever again

The early CFL's burned out in an enclosed or globe fixture. They seem to work alright upside down, but some fixtures will not accept them, and the ones with the snap on shades I'd be afraid to use. I hope they get the heat problem fixed soon.

I have limited PV/battery backup power and the CFL's work great in that respect.

Remember a particular General many years ago say one word, "nutz".

CFL's? Crikies, enough heavy metals in them to revive an Egyptian Mummy.

Go the way of LED's. Those new brighter ones, run cheaper and last longer than I do in bed.

Somebody has to solve the "droop" problem before LED lighting become practical.

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/optoelectronics/the-leds-dark-secret

I've tried a few CFL's, and never gotten the ROI that one should expect. They never last as long as promised and cost as much as a case of 60W soft whites. I still use CFL's in an application or two where I wanted more lumens than the fixture was rated for or canister lighting to replace the 75Wpar flood lights that flashed when they over heat.

LED'S are great, but they are super expensive.

I could be wrong but I really expect the bans on standard incandescents to either be repealed or the laws to enforce it will draw so much more money and man power at some point it wont be worth the effort. There are just to many applications where incandescents are needed and will not be replaced by anything even close to there cost range any time soon.

I have many CFL's and I like them but still they don't fit all application's and LED's are not cost effective or nearly as effective to be a solid alternative yet.

At what point did incandescents become the bad guys of power usage anyway? Isn't there a much bigger nit to pick on overall power usage some place else?

Like the fact every village, town, city and intersection out in the middle of nowhere needs to be lit up to near daylight levels at night all night every night? One overpass near my place has 10 towers with 8 1000 watt bulbs in each light assembly. If I have my automatic head light sensitivity set to high my cars headlights shut off when I drive by. Thats on average 960 KWh (about my monthly electric bill)being burned every night for what purpose?

In the name of safety?

Cut that down to half that much power and let me and several neighbor hoods keep our 100 watt bulbs!

Evey dumb law produces opportunity!

Anyone want to buy some incandescents?

I guess that is all right as long as they also have a rational plan for dealing with the huge amounts of mercury waste that this will generate.

They do have such a plan, right?

What about Halogen?

Halogens are still incandescent bulbs, only with bromine gas to improve the color temp from 2500k to approx. 3000K.. Same exact lumens per watt..

Hey, I agree, let em ban em, that opens up a GREAT Gray Market for light bulb pushers.. haha

Well,

the article PW linked to says Halogens are 1 of the preferred replacements

They aren't as cheap as incandescents, but the light is nice...

A quick search gives an improvement of 10-30% using halogens

It's all BS..

Take a 100 watt incandescent, and a 100 watt Halogen, test them with a watt meter, guess what, they are BOTH 100 watts.

The only way you can save using Halogen, is if you reduce the wattage, like an 85watt Halogen replacing a 100 watt reg lightbulb.

They both have the same filiments.. The only difference is the Bromine Gas to make the color less yellow..

Watts are watts, no doubt.

That's not the question

Halogens look brighter watt for watt to my eye, so I can use a lower wattage bulb.

The same wattage on my motorcycle is sure much more effective for riding...

The envelope is thicker, so they don't break as easily, I use one for a clamp on light in my shop.

Cfl's started out more expensive, a generic 60watt equivilant is about a buck now, a 25watt equivilent is $5. sounds a lot like the free market in effect [supply&demand] speciality bulbs are always more expensive than the common stuff.

Half the lights in my house are CFLs and I don't have any problems with them. The other half are all on dimmers: I paid about £10 ($15) for a CFL which claimed to be compatible with dimmers and it lasted about two days.

What about my fridge and ice box? Will I have to leave the door open ten minutes so they light bright enough for me to find the ice cream????
How about my oven? Someone mentioned all incandescents will go Bye-Bye soon.

Sounds like it.... however we DO have 0 degree CCFL 5 watts, and I can order one in a very small envelope... sounds like we need to export to EU.. ha....

Unfortunately, this is what happens when governments with too much regulating power place ideology above technology & market economics. Light bulbs are the least of our worries!

Light bulbs are the least of our worries!

So what are the most of our worries

Banning incandescent's is low hanging fruit. A little ink, eliminates the need for a few power plants, the ROI is decent...

Change is difficult.