Curious, whee did you get your information. Nothing in the stores or in papers yet. I have not used the 100 watt bulb for years. The new ones are better and easiers and cheaper.

Sorry, found the article. The reason is too hot and not recommended in many light fixtures.

Once you become accustomed to the slower start-up of fluorescents, the better quality CFLs are excellent. I don't use them everywhere, but at least half our lighting is CFL and it's fine for reading - which we do a lot of, being Amazon Prime customers.

Like it or not, it's time for America to stop using 85% of the world's resources, and start conserving.

I paid $25 for two of the new 3 way bulbs and I thought the light socket was defective. I bought two incandescent 3 way blubs and they worked fine. I am stocking up on the old bulbs. I already have a case of 60s, I rarely use 100s. I had an electrician out for another problem and we discussed the new bulbs and he said if you can't read with one use a higher wattage. He said the reason you have to use a certain wattage is because of heat and the new bulbs don't get near as hot.

I'm still a fan of the great Thomas Alva and love my 100's for reading lamps. stocked up at 4/84 cents the heck with the new stuff. It's time to stop blaming our country for such garbage I'm with twotogo

No need to hoard 3-way or 60W incandescents because the ban covers only 100W bulbs.

Rather than switch to CFLs (I agree about the mercury hazard) you could also switch to halogen reading lamps. Halogen bulbs use 72W to produce the same number of lumens as 100W incandescents. They are more expensive, but they last much longer and use 28% less electricity. They also take up less space and look much better, IMHO.

BTW, the law was passed in 2007, with implementation delayed to 2012. Whether you like it or don't like it, you have George W Bush to thank (or blame) for it.

the 100 watt bulbs are just the first, they are going to phase out all of the incandescent bulbs over time. It was in my local newspaper and 100 watt is just the first one to go.

I don't think that the ban covers all incandescents, but by 2014, it will cover most of the ones in common use, including 40 watters. I guess it's up to you if you want to start hoarding all types.

Incandescents aren't 'banned', they just have to meet modern efficiency standards. 100W bulbs producing 1500 lumens of light will no longer be available, but 50-70W bulbs producing THE SAME AMOUNT of light will be available. I like the curly bulbs, myself. The mercury 'hazard' is exaggerated.

Here is a link that might be useful: Efficiency explanation

I light my whole house on 40 watts. I bought the 2 watt LED bulbs and the work just fine. I have some focused bulbs for reading lights. Expensive but will pay for themselves in the electrical bill

My late mother "hated" anything "new" including those twisty bulbs. She spent the last few years of her life buying up a supply of her favorite "old-fashioned" bulbs. Well, she died this past January so her hoard out-lived her. I wonder if my brother sold them at her Estate Sale. I must ask him.

The light bulb problem has dissappeared. The radio commentator who was pushing this story has moved on to other complaints against the party he doesn't favor. Incandescent bulbs continue to be readily available. I'm wondering if the OP still trusts that radio commentator or if maybe you are starting to have a tiny bit of doubt?

We have replaced every bulb in our house with LED's.
The ones in the ceiling look just like nice can lights, blend in perfectly put out 75W on full power (have them all on dimmers) and full power is just 13W used, dimmed down all the way is just nice glow that lights the whole house at night and only burns approx 1W.
Also they put out ZERO heat and should last right around 20+ years.
They are instant on and fully bright instantly.

Cost was $35 each at Home Depot, a can light would have cost the same or more.

Just a bit of info for Marylanders regarding LED's -- Potomac Edison has a rebate program of $30 per LED fixture. We're about to replace all our flood bulbs in our can lights (27 in total). With the rebate, it won't cost much more to replace with LEDs than it costs for the $10 bulb currently used, especially since they are all starting to go bad.

I have tried the fluorescent twist bulbs inside and out. Outside they take a little time before they are bright, then they are very bright. The inside bulbs do not do that. The are almost impossible for me to read with. I did most of my reading during the day with natural light, until I had my halogen pole lights repaired and I use then now. I can read with those. It is strange to me that the light is shot upward but I can still read by them sitting under one.

We've given both the twisty bulbs and the LED's a try.

The twisty's? We've had the problem that they burn out much faster than incandescents. Good brands, expensive, and they don't last even 1/2 the time they promise on the package. While incandescents are cheaper to buy, and I've had them last 10-15 years, sometimes longer. The CFL's--we're lucky to get 1-2 years out of them. For the difference in purchase price, I don't think you're saving much overall.

LED's--are much worse. From the time you put them in, they continuously get dimmer and dimmer. At BEST we've gotten a year out of one of those (it was a bulb in the light by my bed, used maybe 20-30 minutes every evening). But we've had several that lasted UNDER 25 HOURS and burned out. DH was speaking with one of the engineers where he works (utility company), and he said he had the same problem. He smashed them all and sent them back to the company.

I would NOT replace all my lights with LED's without doing a test run with one fixture first--if you have the same problem we've had, it's going to be really expensive to switch LED's then to switch to something else in a month or two.

DH and I have had such a problem with LED's that we're suspicious that perhaps that's why a few years back, you saw LOTs of LED Christmas lights, but now they're getting fewer and farther between. We're guessing those aren't lasting either.

I have had very good luck with LED bulbs using 2 watt 3 watt 5 watt and 6 watt bulbs in my house. They have been in use for over a year and still working.

Nothing but great luck with LEDs here.
We had ALL our bulbs replaced about 18 months ago and work exactly the same today as they did when installed and we burn most of them CONTINUOUSLY, we have them on dimmers and simply turn them down to super low then just move the dimmer up when we need more light.
This way our whole house stays a perfect very low warm glow at night, so if you need to go to the kitchen or really about anywhere in the house it is always very dimly lit.

My headlamp I use for camping or fishing is LED and has been for many many years.
Our outside light is LED.
Even our Christmas tree lights are LED and we have never had a single problem with any of them.
Under our kitchen cabinets we have LED strips which put out insane amounts of light.

At full blast they all put out 75watts yet only burn I think its 13W of energy, on low they burn less than 1W of electricity.
I can not even imagine going back to incandescent.

Are they as bright as a 75 watt incandescent? The florescent are not. The outdoors ones are great but not the indoor.

The only experience I have had with LEDs has been with a book lite and one bulb was just a spot light. You had to continuously move your book/words to that light. A book lite with several bulbs may have worked for me, but found one of the reg book lites.

every bit as bright, they work great

I will try one of them, thanks. I went to Lowes and bought two more boxes of 24 60 watt incandescent light bulbs. Lighting is tricky for me. I have cataracts so seeing a bulb anywhere bothers me. That makes it difficult for reading in the evenings. I have regular lighting in my living area that consists of 3 pole lights that work great for pretty lighting. All project light upward, one is a halogen pole light which projects up ward but still makes a good reading light.

mma-
If you have cataracts and seeing a light bulb causes problems, it's time to have the cataracts operated on. I did that a couple of years ago and I see better than I have in decades. It's a simple surgery with a very low risk of complications.

Kudzu, I am a high risk for the surgery and my surgeon said there is an 85% chance that it will be okay. He also said I am the one who should decide when. My optometrist will dilate my eyes once a year for now to be sure they are not hardening. I will have to do something with my other eye before I take my next driver's test.

I have been looking for good lighting ever since I bought this new home 8 years ago. Finally I found a light bulb I can use in my pole lights that I can read with even though the light is reflected up. They are GE soft white, 3 way-long life 50/100/150 = 700/1600/2300 lumens with a 2.3 year life. Not florescent. Wonderful!!!!!

And here's something new I just learned about the awful CFL bulbs.

DH just had his dermatological appt. His dr (who has very good credentials, is an instructor at one of the country's top med schools) told him we all need to be wearing sunscreen AT ALL TIMES, INSIDE as well as out. Why? CFL's give off UV rays. Isn't that all we need? I'm sticking with incandescents just as long as I possibly can--luckily, my husband is a little OCD, and fears running out of things--he's been stockpiling incandescents for years.

I just bought 8 of the GE bulbs I posted above. The fluorescent do not put out enough light to read by, so guess I am safe for a few years. I read that if the bulb companies will make an incandescent bulb that meets the government standard they will allow them to be sold. Hopefully the ones I spoke about will meet the requirements.

They've been claiming that 13 watt CFL puts out equivalent level of light to a 60 watt incandescent. As far as I'm concerned - they lie.

I've been using several CFLs in lamps, etc. and don't mind them.

Except that the first one that I bought, installed into a table lamp, with former shade altered some in order to be put into place didn't last long. About a month after I bought it, when I swatted a fly on the lampshade ...

... end of the CFL bulb (and the usefulness of the extra cost).

Does a CFL bulb, following its demise, become hazardous waste?

Is hazardous waste expensive to dispose of, in your area?

ole joyful

I found they did not put out enough light to read by. The incandescent I posted about do. I have CFL on my deck and only use them at night for safety. They are only 15 watt and they put out so much light I replaced one with a burnt out reg flood light. I don't under stand why the flood lights work so much better out side than than the reg ones. Inside they are worthless.

I just heard a local utility company pushing CFL's--their claim? Using 5 or 6 CFL's will save you $60 per year. BUT incandescents cost pennies to buy, CFL's cost between $5-6 dollars each. SO your energy savings are washed out by the cost of buying the bulbs. Add to that, the fact that in my experience, incandescents last me many years (5-10--many even longer than that) and I don't care what they say about CFL lifespan--I'm lucky to get a year out of them. So by the time you figure the more frequent repacement cost, and the cost to dispose of the hazardous waste of CFL's--you're coming out way way in the hole with them

Thanks for mentioning the recycle. I have one thrown away, I did not even give it a thought. There are always people who throw them in the trash knowing it.....but throw them away because they don't care.

Do you have to pay to recycle them? I take my batteries to a battery shop and they dispose of them for me.

This post was edited by EmmaR on Sat, Jul 27, 13 at 12:48

We are big believers in CLF's and have had excellent results throughout the house. I just went to Home Depot to get replacement bulbs for over the bathroom vanity, and talked to the clerk.

If your bulbs are bright enough, get a larger value. And look at the Kelvin rating as well, for greater brightness. If a 60-watt equivalent bulb doesn't work for you, get a 100W equivalent. I can't believe all the people who complain about dim bulbs without trying alternatives.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kelvin scale

Not sure what you mean by that. A clerk in the store explained that CLFs are not as hot and you can used a larger one like a 100 in place of a 60. If that is what you mean, it doesn't work. They have different sized bases and wouldn't fit. Maybe I am missing something here.

Better look at some fixtures and show me where a 100 w bulb is different from a 60 w bulb.

I bought a hundred watt to fit in a lamp that called for a 60 watt. It did not fit. The lamp was new and I figure they made it so you couldn't do that.

Well, the 100w bulb in a fixture rated for 60w will burn out the fixture or the excess heat will damage the shade and be a fire hazard. Use 100w only in lamps/fixtures approved for that. There are lots of different kinds of specialty light bulbs with different bases. I am talking about the garden-variety incandescent or CFL bulbs.

Honestly I don't know what you bought or were told. Check the Home Depot website and compare incandescent bulbs. The CFLs I get fit into the same fixtures.

I think that it has been my second CFL twisty that was in a table lamp on my desk that shone on that and the computer desk.

It's been going off occasionally lately and for a while when I twisted it in the socket it would light again, but soon it'd only flash for a second or so, then go out again.

So it looks as though it's had the biscuit.

It's been three or four years, I think - but many of my incandescents lasted for quite a while and they cost a great deal less.

I think that I've heard that the CFLs work best when they're on for a long time, but not so well when they're turned off and on quite a lot.

If one were to leave them on for many hours on end prior to the next need ... when not using them, not much saving of power there.

Haven't tried LED yet.

ole joyful