Incandescent light bulbs are officially banned in the U.S.
Incandescent light bulbs are officially banned in the U.S.
America’s ban on incandescent light bulbs, 16 years in the making, is finally a reality. Well, mostly.
Incandescent light bulbs are officially banned in the U.S.::America’s ban on incandescent light bulbs, 16 years in the making, is finally a reality. Well, mostly.
Well... only 11 yrs after EU... That's not so bad.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_08_1909
I've been in the industry for over a decade and I find it fascinating how much lighting has changed in that time. When LEDs were first available, they were $60+ per bulb. Now you can get multipacks for under $10. Also, CFL bulbs were almost universally hated by everyone (and for good reason) now we no longer sell them. We strictly sell LEDs for regular lighting and we still sell incandescent specialty bulbs. Also, when LEDs first arrived there was a lot of distain for them, especially by the elderly. They wanted their energy wasting incandescent bulbs dammit! It seems the majority of them have come around because they've learned that LEDs are better.
What is not banned?
Surprisingly, there is a whole slew of exempt special-purpose bulbs that will continue to be manufactured, according to the Energy Department. Here’s what manufacturers can still build and stores can continue selling:
- Appliance lamps, including fridge and oven lights
- Black lights
- Bug lamps
- Colored lamps
- Infrared lamps
- Left-handed thread lamps
- Plant lights
- Floodlights
- Reflector lamps
- Showcase lamps
- Traffic signals
- Some other specialty lights, including marine lamps and some odd-sized bulbs
I mean, good for the effort, but that's still a lot of exceptions.
I took a look at the article and I came out with two points:
-
finally! Congratulations! Join the rest of the world where changing a freaking lightbulb costs you no mental pain.
-
left handed light bulbs? Are these a thing? Are these purpose built for specific applications, like counter clock wise screws?
-
Makes sense. Nonetheless, reminds me of modern washing machines. Yeah they make sense and save water but it stinks that it's a compromise and it takes twice as long to wash. With Led bulbs it's always a say a prayer situation to see if a particular bulb works with a particular dimmer and isn't a flickering mess.
electric companies started subsidizing LEDs 10 years ago at box stores. electricity use went down and the bills went up as usual. all the while still burning coal. 🤔 incentives? probably part of the same mandates taxes get spent on
Once they got the white light spectrum figured out I was fine with switching to leds. Less power, don't get hot, last longer.
RTFA. There are a whole list of exceptions, and appliance bulbs are the first bullet points.
Doors anyone have a recommendation for LEDs that don't constantly flicker and can dim without going out whenever my AC kicks on?
Let's be real here, people have switched to LEDs a long time before this ban happened. But that's a good thing, and kind of the whole point of the timeline of this ban.
You want the market to decide on its own that LEDs are superior and then give it time to slowly switch over. Setting a ban and then forcing people to switch in 3 months to some new lighting technology is only going to build resentment from certain groups. Setting a ban that is 5, 10, 15 years out is the smart way of doing it. The thinking is that by then, the superior product will have already taken over the older tech and people won't be up-in-arms over the big bag gob'ment telling them what to do.
