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LEDs are so cool and they use so little energy. Buying an incandescent bulb is like riding a mule to work.
Sometimes the mule is the only way to get there.
I have several antique fixtures that I can no longer use because only an incandescent bulb will fit. It ticks me off that the gubmint decided for me to throw perfectly good light fixtures in the trash, all for the want of a 40W incandescent bulb.
LEDs will continue to decrease in price and will be the majority option for most. Incandescent (except for specialty operations) and most flourescent and CFLs will be made obsolete.
Remember the brouhaha over banning of 100W light bulbs? They were supposed to be banned 2 years ago but they are all over the place. In fact, I can get 150, 200 and 300W all day. I am personally glad they are still around.
I just to moved to a new place and EVERY SINGLE LIGHT FIXTURE has incandescent light bulbs in them. This is annoying to me as I don't enjoy heating a living space with constant waste heat from inefficient bulbs in the year 2015. Therefore, I am going to have to go out and purchase some efficient bulbs for only the fixtures I use the most that do not act as a space heater and cause me to use the AC more.
The incadescent 60's are gone, unless you get one of the ones back on the market that are specially made, at literally ten times the old cost.
I just bought a batch of incandescent 60's. Why would they be gone? They're somehow making incandescent bulbs more energy-efficient, though. The packages say they only use 52 watts, or something. And the 75's only use 60w, or whatever.
I just to moved to a new place and EVERY SINGLE LIGHT FIXTURE has incandescent light bulbs in them. This is annoying to me as I don't enjoy heating a living space with constant waste heat from inefficient bulbs in the year 2015. Therefore, I am going to have to go out and purchase some efficient bulbs for only the fixtures I use the most that do not act as a space heater and cause me to use the AC more.
Guess my line of reasoning-you use lights more in winter, when it's cold, so heat from a light bulb is not an issue.
But then where I live, I don't think of AC as a necessity. I realize there's parts of the country where this isn't true tho'.
LEDs are so cool and they use so little energy. Buying an incandescent bulb is like riding a mule to work.
I like LED's for energy savings (in the long run), and they are instant on unlike fluorescents that need time to reach max lumens. Some have strange throw patterns, but by and large are an improvement at the lower light levels. For example I had a dining room table light which had eight different bulbs. Aside from the heat they threw off, I was paying for 60w X 8 whenever that one fixture was on. I bought two regular size 10w LED's for the bowl, and six 4w for the candle opera style bulbs. So I went from 480w to 44w just on that one light alone.
However they do not produce the same lumens for household (interior/exterior) use that incandescent or halogen bulbs do in the upper ranges of 200-500. For my father who needs extra lighting due to major vision problems (MD), the LED's just don't cut it for household use. So hopefully there will always be incandescent/halogen bulbs in the upper range at reasonable costs. That is unless the technology for LED's can get into those upper ranges.
I like LED's for energy savings (in the long run), and they are instant on unlike fluorescents that need time to reach max lumens. Some have strange throw patterns, but by and large are an improvement at the lower light levels. For example I had a dining room table light which had eight different bulbs. Aside from the heat they threw off, I was paying for 60w X 8 whenever that one fixture was on. I bought two regular size 10w LED's for the bowl, and six 4w for the candle opera style bulbs. So I went from 480w to 44w just on that one light alone.
However they do not produce the same lumens for household (interior/exterior) use that incandescent or halogen bulbs do in the upper ranges of 200-500. For my father who needs extra lighting due to major vision problems (MD), the LED's just don't cut it for household use. So hopefully there will always be incandescent/halogen bulbs in the upper range at reasonable costs. That is unless the technology for LED's can get into those upper ranges.
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Agreed. We have no grid power due to our remote location, and supply our own power with solar panels, generator, and deep-cycle batteries. At first, we felt happy that LEDs were available, as they use so little power, esp when we don't have much of it to spare. So we outfitted our new home with LEDs. Gradually, however, we began to feel irritated by the off-color of the bulbs. While we still use them for outdoor lighting and for indoor task lighting, we have begun to replace some of the living area bulbs with incandescents again. We didn't even bother with the CFLs, as they were always annoying to both of us.
Now our living spaces feel more like "home" again!
Actually you have much wider options in terms of light color and intensity with LEDs. I'm not sure what you mean by "throw light." As an engineer I use different terms. I'm sure if it were 100+ years ago you would be moaning about how great whale oil light was.
Try this term. A single 200w incandescent bulb on the wall next to my front door throws more light than my neighbors CFL spotlights. I can light up his yard and he is across the street. Or...the halogen spotlight on the back of my house lights up my shed 100 feet away. The floodlight version next to it lights up the rest of the yard.
I am not concerned with color, I want just short of fire when I need light and only incandescents do that. Though I use 60w versions on timers around my house I have yet to see a Cree LED floodlight to suit my needs.
If a burning filament within a vacuum bulb is the modern equivalent to whale oil, bring it on.
One way to get the same amount of light from LED's as from high power incandescents is to use fixtures that take more light bulbs. If you use LED bulbs that shine as brightly as 60 watt incandescents, and you want a 200+ watt incandescent, use 4 of the LED bulbs instead. They also "throw" the light better that way, because they cover more directions, around more obstacles, etc., by being from different bulbs spaced apart from each other. Their only real problem is how much they cost when you first buy them, not counting how much they save in electricity over the years.
Two more advantages of LED's: They're less of a fire hazard. And, if you have a dimmer, they dim better.
They may be cool but they don't throw the light as well as the incandescents. The only thing that beats those is actual day light.
This from someone who does lots of needlework.
I'd call myself a 'serial stitcher'. There is always a couple or three projects in a box by my chair, along with a pile of yarn. I use the cfs DAYLIGHT bulbs, equivilant of a hundred wat. These are basically also marketed as 'the ott light' but don't cost as much as their setups. It is bright and you get the 'lift' of an analog to sunlight. Which is great for cloudy spring weather like what we're getting now.
I like them in larger rooms too. I find ONE of these lights the whole kitchen without having to do multiple lights.
I agree the 'regular' cfs bulbs have that odd yellowish glow.
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