Ten Things You Need To Know About Lightbulbs

Light bulbs

Guest post by FDL RN BSN

Really.  You need to know this stuff

You need to know because beginning in January 2012, the US government has mandated that light bulbs be 25% more energy efficient.  You may know that Thomas Eidson developed/refined the first electric light bulb in 1879.

Until recently, light bulb technology, if you can call it that, had not changed much in the intervening years.

Ten Light Bulb Facts:

1. You now buy light bulbs based on watts, the amount of energy used:  40, 60, 100 watts.
2. New bulbs are measured in lumens-their actual brightness  That’s right, lumens. Stay with me.  You can do this.
3. No, the new standard does not affect all light bulbs. Various specialty bulbs are exempt including: 3-way bulbs, colored lights, bug lights, oven and refrigerator bulbs, heavy-duty bulbs, and others.
4. The Federal Facts of  the new law are here.
5. In their waning months of retail life, incandescent bulbs continue to dominate market share, accounting for about 82 percent of sales, followed by compact fluorescent lamps, at 17 percent, and light-emitting diodes at about 1 percent.. (Info dated 1/11)
6. Dec. 31, 2011, marks the last day U.S. manufacturers will be allowed to distribute traditional 100-watt bulbs.
7. Jan. 1, 2013, is the last day 75-watt incandescents can be manufactured for sale.
8. Jan. 1, 2014 is the final day for the manufacturing of 60-watt and 40-watt bulbs.
9. US Dept. of Energy says that by 2015, when the changes are complete, compliant bulbs could save consumers 6 billion in energy costs.
10. There are 4 choices of bulbs on the market:

Regular Incandescent Light bulbs

Old Fashioned Flourescent Fave (james bowe)

• Cost 25-50 cents each

• Last up to 1000 hours

• Energy cost 60 watts

• Yearly cost to operate: $4.80

• Upgrading from these bulbs saves money.

HALOGEN-INCANDESCENT

• Cost $1.50-$2

• Last up to 3,000 hours

• Energy cost 43 watts

• Yearly cost to operate $3.50

• These bulbs are about 25% more efficient and  are dimmable.

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFL)

CFL (common pixels)

• Cost $2-5.00

• Last up to 10,000 hours

• Energy cost 13-14 watts

• Yearly cost to operate $1.20

• About 75% more efficient and available in a range of light tones

• OOPS, break one and the mercury inside becomes a HAZMAT problem.

• There is no dimming these babies.

Light Emitting Diode Light Bulbs (LED)

• Cost $20-$55.00

• Last up to 25,000 hours

• Energy cost 13-14 watts

• Yearly cost to operate $1

• Safe.

• Dimmable and come in warm tones and cooler hues

• Prices are expected to drop dramatically over the next few years.

• LED is by all experts  the wave (light) of the future

Bare Bulb Facts

There you have the bare bulb facts.  Just like electric cars and wind mills, the new bulbs on the block are more energy efficient and will save us money.

Just like electric cars and windmills, the new bulbs are more expensive up front and have some definite draw backs.

So far for electric cars and windmills, the government have not mandated their use-at least not yet….

Reader Questions:

Do you use CFL, old timey filament bulbs, or are you on the cutting LED edge?

Are you ok with the feds eliminating a bulb from sale for energy reasons?

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Tags: light bulbs, light bulbs and federal law, outlawing flourescent bulbs, outlawing the 100 watt bulb

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 at 6:03 am and is filed under personal finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.