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I bought a bunch of incandescents on clearance for bulbs that couldn't be replaced by cfl's (my garage door opener & outdoor dusk-to-dawn sensor lights don't work with cfl's).. At the time, LEDs were too expensive & too poor in light output to match incandescent bulbs.. Now, I'm adding nearly all led bulbs/ fixtures to our new house - including led shop lights & outdoor bulbs.
I'm a little nervous that many of the LEDs out there are sourced from China & don't carry a "UL" label though (or that if they do, it might well be fake).
It's amazing but true- there are still a bunch of fixtures for sale at big box stores that are not LED/CFL compatible. I recently had to replace some outdoor motion lights and dusk/dawn lights and was just dumbfounded by this. CFL's are decades old tech, and even LEDs have been mainstream for a good 5+ years, yet they are still manufacturing fixtures that can't handle either.
I hate incandescent lights with a passion. It is just so wasteful (in terms of money, ignoring the environment) to pay the power company for 90% more electricity than I need when I turn on a light. Not to mention that CFLs and LEDs can be had for about $1 each at Walmart (60w equivalent, non-dimmable).
I buy two versions of 3500 florescent in the 4' length for the hospital...
The one with the better Color rendering is very noticeable and I use those for the lobby areas...
In fact I was questioned when the painters were in last year... the Admin wanted to know why I had changed color for some areas???
It wasn't the paint but the Color Rendering of the 3500 bulb... she did not believe me until I did a demo...
Then she wanted to know why I don't use the better bulbs everywhere and I said they were nearly a dollar more each and she understood... but wanted the bulbs in her office changed out to the more expensive ones.
Local Chain Hardware stores have LED for $1.16 each and listed as dimable for the 60W equivalent...
I quit using them many years ago, because to hang on to old technologies that create more harm to the environment and country is, in my view, irresponsible. My personal comfort or aesthetic preferences are not all that matter in this life. At this juncture, aesthetic needs are being met by the industry so that can't be a justifiable excuse anyway.
I replaced our old toilets as soon as there was a viable alternative for the same reason, and did not respect those in my community who, when they needed to replace theirs, were defiantly hunting for the old ones to use in their homes.
But doesn't the manufacture of the replacement LED bulb utilize more resource than keeping your existing bulb? To maximize resources (setting power consumption aside), you would replace the incandescent bulb when it died, but not before.
This is something often overlook with the push for all things GREEN.
If you already own an item it often changes the economics tremendously vs deciding what to buy.
Way off topic...
My 85 year old widow neighbor had an old 1980 Buick with 31,000 miles and she puts about 1500 miles annually on it for Doctor and Groceries.
Her Grand Daughter made such a fuss she talked Grandma into a new Plug in Prius.
The old car was traded for $400 and Grandma on a Fixed Income now has car payments and new car insurance for a car she doesn't like... she really misses the bench seat and ease of getting in and out plus everything was familiar.
The Prius is having fuel problems she drives so little the Prius gas becomes stale...
I'm all for better... but taking the environmental cost to dispose of what has already been built and paid for is not honest.
This is something often overlook with the push for all things GREEN.
If you already own an item it often changes the economics tremendously vs deciding what to buy.
Way off topic...
My 85 year old widow neighbor had an old 1980 Buick with 31,000 miles and she puts about 1500 miles annually on it for Doctor and Groceries.
Her Grand Daughter made such a fuss she talked Grandma into a new Plug in Prius.
The old car was traded for $400 and Grandma on a Fixed Income now has car payments and new car insurance for a car she doesn't like... she really misses the bench seat and ease of getting in and out plus everything was familiar.
The Prius is having fuel problems she drives so little the Prius gas becomes stale...
I'm all for better... but taking the environmental cost to dispose of what has already been built and paid for is not honest.
I was in the electrical diistribution business and except for 2 leds in some frequently used fixtures i have all regular incandescent lamps. Being in the business i paid around .25 cents for them
Same here, the incandescent bulbs I use are in things that are not used enough to justify the extra cost, plus I use 130V bulbs, I have a 25W 130V bulb in one lamp that has lasted since 1991.
Every light bulb in the house is LED. No problems with incompatibility here, even GU-10's and 110V halogens.... Oh and this includes the 300W of LED lights on the Marine Reef tank (and that is true 300W not 'equivalent'). The corals love LED's....
I wish I had stocked up. I stuck my head in the sand and refused to believe they would actually stop producing them. This past week I put my last incandescent bulb into a fixture, and went off to buy more, only to find my local stores do not carry them. At all. Grrrr....
They stopped making them? Is that freakin' why I can't find them anymore?
Why didn't I know this?
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