A [Not-So] Bright Idea

Incandescent light bulbs have been around since 1879 (thank you Thomas Edison). Now our overreaching federal government has decreed that we, U.S. citizens, cannot use incandescent bulbs in the range between 40 and 150 watts after 2014 (see here). One result of this loony legislation is that the last incandescent bulb manufacturer in this country, a General Electric plant in Winchester, VA, recently shut its doors, laying off 200 workers. We will soon enough be required to use expensive compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs – mostly made in China) or the very much more expensive LED-arrays. Now there are a number of problems associated with CFLs that were (possibly) not known when our environ-nazis passed this legislation. A few of them are:

- CFL bulbs contain mercury vapor and are dangerous if broken around the house … and are required to be thrown away using complicated hazard-disposal methodologies.
- CFLs do not operate well below 20 degrees F. This means that all outdoor lighting applications in the northern climes will be required to use expensive LED arrays. However, another complication arises here. LED arrays generate almost no heat … as opposed to incandescent lights. This means that, in snow and sleet storms, LED arrays freeze up and don’t defrost of their own accord.
- Have you ever tried to place a lampshade with a self-contained bulb-clip over a CFL bulb? It is all but impossible.
- Most CFL bulbs do not work with dimmer switches … so much for mood lighting.
- CFL bulbs do not come with three brightness levels like many of us now use in large decorative lamps.
- Some CFL bulbs do not work well when upside down.
- CFl bulbs don't look and work well as spot lights
- CFL bulbs do not come in colors. So much for bug repellent and holiday lighting. There is some provisions in the ban on incandescent light to circumvent this flaw but due to decreased manufacturing volumes of regular incandescent lights, such specialty lights will likely be much more expensive.
- Some people suffer from nerve problems when around the electromagnetic emissions from CFLs.
- There are many other problems with CFL bulbs … see “Design and application issues” at the bottom of this Wikipedia`reference

Soooo … next time you see incandescent light bulbs on sale, stock up for forever. Many others already are.