Another CFL-hater here. I think we should send this thread to the government and rally for the cause! Start a petition! A sit-in! Maybe even a hunger strike...on second thought, not that. Seriously, I hate those bulbs. And yes, I'm stockpiling incandescent bulbs, too.

Oh good grief. PLEASE check your facts. That Bridges story is an overblown urban legend.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp

That being said, I still hate hate hate the cursed things. (They cause my tinnitus to flare up among other things.) Yet I have them all over the house because they do save energy and out here, they're dirt cheap on the rebate programs.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Snopes link in clickable format

Actually, in 2012 the 100 watt bulbs will not be available. 2014 is when all regular incandescents will not be available. I doubt this current Congress would overturn the law. I bet lobbyists for the CFL manufacturers and sellers worked to add this part to the energy bill. Even if the CFL's save energy I do not want them forced down my throat with no alternative.

Oh booger. I have 100w incandescent bulbs in my dimmable pendant lights. One of the few places I have them and won't give them up. Guess it's stockpiling for me and soon.

Having seen the government's attempt to switch us to the metric system fail, and then watching the failure of New Coke, I'm going to recklessly not stockpile incandescents.

My opinion of this ever happening is the same as graywings. The failure of metric system is the first thing that popped into my mind.........guess it shows my age!

I'll wait it out and buy what's available online once 2014 rolls around. Just as you can still buy toilets that don't meet the regulations of 'gallons per flush', I'm sure incandescent bulbs will still be around......just not in your local stores.

I don't like the CFL's at all. DH insists the electric bill is cheaper but it still looks the same to me. I think it's all in his head. My MIL was over the other day and asked why the ham looked so white, needless to say it's the cfl's. Even I look pale under the lights!

Won't be stockpiling them. Incandescent bulbs give me a migraine and so the cheap CFLs. I have some warm white CFLs and I love them but I love my warm white LED lights the best. I am slowly changing out all my home lights into the warm warm LEDs and just a few halogen pendants.

I will be stocking chandelier bulbs, no uggo CFLs in my chandeliers!

Threedgrad,
Do you have an address for the information concerning CFL's and Lupus symptoms? I have an immune system disease very similar to Lupus. Haven't been feeling all that well lately. CFL's????

My opinion of this ever happening is the same as graywings. The failure of metric system is the first thing that popped into my mind.........guess it shows my age!

I initially felt the same way until I realized that Wally World was filling the shelves with more CFL's than incandescents. That's when my stockpiling began. I'm not totally opposed to fluorescents. I love them as undercabinet lights and with the right color rendition they're perfect for sidelights in a bathroom. That's actually the key ... the color rendition/Kelvin number. And making/selling bulbs with that info is going to become mandatory as we move into a more "green" lifestyle.

I have a few LED lights and I like them. They're expensive a little bit though.

The chandy lights look like Daleks. I'm not sure this would look real classy in an ornate chandelier.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Who Lightbulb

According to my engineer DH: Incandescent bulbs DO have a shelf life - as do all bulbs. Some stored bulbs will work well, some will work well for a shorter lifespan, some won't work at all - it's a crapshoot.

An incandescent bulb is a glass globe containing a filament (light emitter). These filaments connect to 2 thin wire conductors which extend outside the globe and are subject to environmental elements. It's not a perfect seal and can be compromised by gas infiltration and corrosion.

The preceding message brought to you by someone with actual science knowledge - and that's not me!

Homepro, are you using LED bulbs? Would like to hear more... Thx.

Actually, the metric system is going strong - everywhere but the U.S.

It is amazing the mis-information people pick up on the internet. Not liking CFL's is one thing; spreading absurd rumours and untruths is quite another. Please, check that snopes.com link before passing along the story of the "toxic lightbulb."

For those of you who are worried about having incandescent bulbs in the future, the best way to prolong the life of one is to leave it on. Forever. The turning off and on is what wears out the filament... some museums have bulbs that have been burning for decades because they've never been turned off.

However, every watt you spend that is not from renewable energy is another brick in the wall of continued energy dependency for your children and grandchildren. Is that really what you want?

The topic of how everyone hates CFLs has come up before. I have them in every possible fixture in my house, and for many of them, I cannot tell the difference in the light they emit and that an incandescent emits. In fact, in my dining room light, which is 3 sockets, 1 of them is CFL and the others are incandescent and even side-by-side I can't tell the difference. I do have some elsewhere that look a too harsh/white, but these are "utility" kind of rooms and it doesn't bother me.

I'll second olga_d's post, and pbrisjar's and kswl's. Also, I'd be curious to know the actual sources of the health information referred to in the OP as "British media" and "one group".

2014 is a long time away. Who knows what kind of lighting technology we'll have by then.

..besides, isn't the world supposed to end in 2013 anyway? ;)

bungalow_house--Actually, the world is supposed to end in 2012. So you're right, there's no point in stockpiling light bulbs or anything else.

Here is a link that might be useful: just one article

Interesting. Didn't realize they weren't going to have the incandescent bulbs anymore. I hate the look of the CFLs. We have them all over the place except for the chandy in the foyer. DH also insists they're awesome because of electric bill is cheaper. I disagree. The worse is the entrance lights at the front door. I already can't stand the lights themselves but the CFLs make it look even worse.

What's in store for chandeliers?

Never thought of stocking light bulbs.....but now that it's mentioned, not a bad idea!! However, I am in the boat of willing to see what comes about in the future. I am hoping the the CFL's will improve over time (especially if we are FORCED to switch).

What's in store for chandeliers?

Good question! Those CFLs would look just "lovely" in a chandy, no? (No!) ;-)

I don't think chandelier CFLs look so bad. CFLs are now dimmable and come in much warmer colors as well. We have pretty much replaced all our bulbs with CFLs with no big issues.

According to Energy Star, if every American home replaced just one incandescent bulb with a standard CFL, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, save more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars. (link below)

I'm with Kswl: ...every watt you spend that is not from renewable energy is another brick in the wall of continued energy dependency for your children and grandchildren. Is that really what you want?

-Lena

Here is a link that might be useful: 10 New CFLs to Fit Your Life and Lamps

Lena, I honestly had no idea they had CFL chandy bulbs! You're right - those don't look too bad. I was envisioning these:
{{!gwi}}

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree about the chandelier bulbs being okay-looking.

They're horrible, IMO. The base is HUGE, the lettering on the bulb is exposed, the lighting is both harsh and too dim, and when off, you can see the spiral inside. Plus, they're too wide for clip on shades to fit, so they can't even be obscured by a shade. I did almost ruin one of my clip on shades by stretching it out, but you could still see the stupid base of the bulb.

I think there are (and will be more) ways to be kind to our environment as well as be energy-efficient without forcing me to have to use these awful bulbs that look terrible, cast horrible lighting, and are a pain in the neck to replace safely.

Here is one in one of my mini-chandeliers in my kitchen:

I'm curious as to how these LED bulbs would look.

That's the other beef I have; you don't know until you try them, and they're EXPENSIVE.

I'd love to try this bulb out to see if it's better than CFL, but at more than $17 each, that gets a bit steep. You can't really tell from just one bulb, and in the case of my mini-chandeliers in my kitchen, I'd need *6* bulbs.

More than $100 for bulbs that may or may not look good and light the room adequately? I have a problem with that.

I also found some xenon candelabra bulbs, but those were $57 each!

Here is a link that might be useful: LED candelabra bulbs

I'm just speculating, but I imagine that when electricity finally supplanted gas as the main source of light in chandeliers there were many who opined how terrible the "new" bulbs looked in comparison to the gas flames. In fact, the incandescent bulbs for chandeliers were made to look like candle or gas flames---even though they are obviously something quite different. People will get used to the CFL bulbs because the sweep of time and progress will make them inevitable. I'm sure the bridle and saddle-makers complained about the new horseless carriages just as vehemently as some are complaining about new bulbs.

Well, for me personally it's not comparing the new to the old. Rather it's the lighting in the new bulbs. I'm not just comparing them to older bulbs, I *hate* the lighting they put out. (If the lighting was good, I could get past the look of the bulbs. Paint the base black, etc.) But the lighting is horrible. I actually wouldn't mind at all paying a lot of money for an energy efficient bulb that actually produced desireable lighting.

LEDs or xenons may hold promise, but so far I have not found a CFL that I can live with in a chandelier.

I also think it's possible that CFLs may not be the only game in town in the future as technology improves. Remember beta? Or heck, even DVDs now being replaced with BluRay.

Till then, yes, I will be stockpiling my chandy bulbs! :)

I'll go ahead and stockpile at the end. I have a bunch of exposed bulb fixtures....can you imagine how ugly they'd look on my bedroom chandeliers? YUCK I don't even care about light quality so much as I do looks. I don't drive an SUV which wastes more energy than my freaking light bulbs :oP I've done enough!

And I'm all for energy dependance :oP It pays for my light bulbs :o)

Yes Auntjen, the ice-cream CFLs are fUgly! And I agree that those bulbs don't work for RenoFan either.
But electric light fixtures never could hold a candle (ahem) to a REAL Chandelier, n'est-ce pas?

CFL bulbs will certainly improve over time. And maybe we can start thinking creatively about the other forms a light source might take:

-Lena

Snopes is not reliably right and is in fact quite biased in many instances.

Does not exactly exclude incandescent bulbs, just requires more efficient bulbs:

-Lena

Here is a link that might be useful: Q: I hear CFLs will be required by 2012. Is that true?

I think we shouldn't get so worked up over this. I'm sure LEDs will be one of the standard bulbs in the future, and CFLs are improving all the time. I keep trying to replace all the bulbs in my house with CFLs, so I guess I'm going against the flow of this post. Even if you (as an individual person) don't save much on your electric bill, I feel as a member of the human race I should do my part in energy conservatation. (Just my $.02) :)

Amysrq,
Actually I am replacing all my fixtures with LED fixtures. I am using the flush mount fixtures linked below for my kitchen.

These Philips Downlight Powercore will go in the bedrooms and in the rest of the house. I am also considering the Cree LEDs for the bathrooms. I personally don't like recessed lights.
For the Pendants in the Kitchen, bruck lighting and tech lighting both have LED options that I am contemplating. These are expensive but I tried out the LED lights for the kitchen by buying one fixture about two years ago and they have worked wonderfully. The light is soft and diffuse without triggering my migraines. I do have halogen lights in my ceiling fans and will convert those to LEDs next year. I am researching MR16 replacements now. Slowly but surely I will change out all the fixtures in the house.
Homepro01

Here is a link that might be useful: Enbryten LED Lights for Kitchen

Remember, "form follows function." There is nothing inherently beautiful about a person, or a building, or a dress. It is that which does its job competently and elegantly, that looks both useful and beautiful to us. Given a mindset that is full of hope for a better future, even CFLs can look beautiful :)

We invested in high quality dimmers on almost every light switch in our house and we use them! We have always been very diligent about switching off lights in rooms not being used, never using lights during the daytime, and not over lighting anywhere. We do not have outside lights on unless we are entering or leaving the house after dark.

Many of my neighbors' homes are lit like stores at Christmas and their outside lights are left on all night, destroying the darkness and no doubt driving away the nocturnal wildlife. They may have CFL's, though I doubt it, but in any case I guarantee my incandescent lit home has a significantly lower energy bill for lighting (and for total energy usage) than any of theirs!
I am disgusted that a law could eventually force me to discard my expensive dimmers when I have always acted responsibly without needing such a law to govern my energy usage!
In my opinion it's not the size of your gas guzzler that matters, it's how much gas you actually guzzle!

Homepro, I have the CREEs in my kitchen and I am really happy with them. I agree, recessed lighting is not my fave, but in the kitchen, it is acceptable. What I really want is a good LED lamp (lightbulb) for my ordinary fixtures. Or a CFL with the neodymium glass in the Reveal bulbs. I am waiting...

I had a Tech monorail in the last house and am waiting for the LED MR16s to shed more light. So far, they seem to offer accent lighting only, but maybe I am wrong. I want to put two pendants over the table and I was under the impression that they would not provide enough light to read by. Tell me I am wrong...please!

Which LED fixture did you use in the kitchen?

Are you using the Powercore as overhead lighting? I need more in the middle space.

Interesting thing I read this year is that Phillips has no R&D money in CFLs. They are all about LED.

Amy,
The philips downlights I am using is linked below. I will be using them like recessed but without the hole in the ceiling effect. The kitchen will have 10 of these lights in them. The Powercore is being used as overhead lighting with three supplemental pendants in the island.

I have seen the Tech Lighting LED in a home of a friend and at 35watts, you can read with them. Many of the heads that I was looking at from Tech Lighting and Bruck were either 35watt MR16 or 50Watts. THe monopoints should provide enough lighting to read by.

I can't wait until they are installed in late February.

Here is a link that might be useful: PowerCore Downlight

reno, have you tried the Halogena bulbs in your chandi? I light them because they give off clear white light and make a beautiful design on the ceiling. Of course when I put little shades on I don't know what will happen to the pretty ceiling. LOL I have the little Hallogena's in all my chandi's and wall sconces that call for a candelabra bulb. Except for the foyer where I have Reveal bulbs because those take a 100 watt bulb.

About the environmental impact. I recall reading that all CFL's are made in China. So they need to be shipped quite a long way, that is a lot of energy just bringing them here. Many people will not dispose of them properly, leaking Mercury into our landfills and beyond. Which is worse, using more electricity in standard bulbs or Mercury poisoning? Also, the CFL's are supposed to last up to 5 years, I think. However, they don't last nearly as long if they are turned on and off frequently. Considering they cost about 4 times as much as a standard bulb, are they worth it? I personally don't mind the light they emit. I just wonder if it isn't a bandwagon attempt at going green, that isn't really all that green. Christy

Most CFL's are made in China. It is a testament to their energy efficiency that they still represent an energy savings when they have to be shipped such a long way.

This, imo, is the problem with the American economy. Why doesn't GE or some other company manufacture CFL's in the United States? I would gladly pay MORE for them; unfortunately, not only would most people not pay what they would cost if the workers who make them get a living American wage, they balk at the cost even with cheap labour.

You're right, Christy, that some things "green" appear less so upon close inspection. Until LED lighting is a viable option, CFL's represent the best energy choice for home lighting.

And, btw, China manufactures the bulk of incandescent bulbs, too!

Christy - my understanding is that the amount of mercury in an average CFL is about the same amt as a period(.) in this sentence, but is this a case of the positives outweight the negatives?
Yes - better recycling of them does need to be implemented across the board.
and full cargo of CFL bulbs coming from China may be more energy efficient than one would think.
When you focus on the small amt of mercury in them as a reason to discontinue they're manf...the larger picture is missed.
The power plants that produce energy(coal & nuclear) and their waste, are environmental hazards in themselves(see TN) and if something isn't done now to reduce electrical consumption - more power plants will have to be built and they may very well be in out respective backyards!

I use CFL's - I was against them when they first came out because the light was horrid when compared to incandescents, but I found the "Daylight/Natural & 3-way" CFL's and have been very happy with them - you wouldn't even know it was CFL light.

An added benefit - for 13 watts I get the equivalent of 50 watts and for 42 watts I get the light of 150 watts - it's like having my cake and eating it too.

chijim - what brand(s) of CFLs do you prefer?

graywings - these my two of my favorites by GE. I find I like their color tone the best and they look most like reg incandescent. I pretty much stick w/GE for other CFL's as well.
The were bought at Walmart.

It may seem silly to say but it did happen to me and it can be a "duh" moment....sometimes you have to remove the shade harp to screw in these bulbs.

150 watt equivalent CFL bulb

3-way bulb

I haven't read through all these posts as I'm at work, but what Magna said struck a chord. My global warming group talks about this often, that the only way BIG change will be made, regarding cars/fuel, CFLs, changes in energy, will only be done when it's a legal change to do so.

I have a feeling that the CFL focus is sort of a baby step towards larger lifestyle changes in the future. Look at the digital change occurring in February for another example of a blanket change. At some point energy and fuel will be coming from alternate sources, and depending on your state that could be more of an issue than others, but it will take the govt to say that by this date that the change will be made.

Home building is an example also, that better building practices (better being relative to energy consumption/retention)will eventually have much tougher standards, perhaps the requirement of solar shingles, thicker studs that allow for better insulation, tankless water heaters...etc. I dunno....just things I've read about.

Any how, I am ok with CFL's, I don't have a problem with the white light, but I do use the daylight bulbs where I can, and I do needlpoint, so I appreciate the white light in certain locations.

The chandy issue I resolved by getting a dining room fixture that doesn't feature the bulbs! You can't see them in my fixture, so I can even use the twirly ones!

I know that doesn't work for all, but that works for me!

I also think that the CFL technology will improve a lot in the next few years time! They do have dim-able bulbs now, and also I haven't experienced the 30 second drag time that occurred when you'd put a light on with a CFL a few years ago...that was dreadful.

Also, there is like a pin drop amount of mercury in each CFL. Way less that in a thermometer...but people go sticking thermometers in their mouth all the time! That's just as fragile, and has much more mercury!

I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but you can return burnt out CFL's to Home Depot and Ikea.

Jen I was picturing the same thing for chandeliers!
Reno I love those lights!

Good to know they're made in china...I'll bet you will be able to buy over the net :o) I sure will...there's not enough money in heckfire to make me put those horrible cfl's into these:

Technology has a LONG ways to go before anything else will work.

As a migraine sufferer, I can assert that all fluorescents aggravate my symptoms. The light pulses or flashes and that makes the pain worse. If I have a headache even starting I have to stay away from stores, the library etc.

My husband replaced many of our bulbs with CFLs, and I had to switch them back out in any room where I spend any time. I let them stay in rooms where it is very hard to get up on a ladder to change. If I have a headache I donÂt turn those on.

Me! My hall closet is getting full of them and now I'm stockpiling them in the garage. I hate, hate, hate CFLs. In fact, like a dummy I put one in a room where I have a dimmer switch and bbbzzztttt! I burned out the whole ceiling light fixture. I mean flames were shooting across the ceiling!

Besides, I have birds, and you are NOT supposed to do fluorescent bulbs around birds.