I've only been in public spaces (bars, stores, restaurants) that use Edison bulbs, where there is ambient noise. If hung in a quiet space, anywhere residental, would the bulbs make a noticeable humming noise?

You can get them from amazon too, just do a search for Edison bulb: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=edison+bulb

i have heard that these bulbs are quite expensive in terms of energy conservation; can any one here confirm or deny this?

Buzzing usually comes from the dimmer, not the bulb. Even then, it's pretty rare. As long as your dimmer is out of earshot, you won't have any problems.

a trend that shows 'now' signs of stopping...do you mean 'no'?

I saw some at Home Depot.

Apartment Therapy reported "Because of their old fashioned construction, they are NOT efficient and you should know that up front. They can put out 25 watts of light while using 60 watts of electricity, but used sparingly that shouldn't be a big deal. " http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/at-email-edison-bulbs-story-an-42784

In other words, you could burn 6 of the L-Prize-winning LED lightbulbs and produce 14 times as much light for the same energy price as one dim Edison bulb.

When you use them as primary lighting, you electricity budget will take a hit. If you use it as an accent/decorative light, it shouldn't be bad at all. But with congress phasing out incandescent bulbs soon, we better stock up.

This has been discussed many, many times already here on AT and at the old Unplugged. The US congress isn't phasing out incandescent bulbs; they have just increased standards for efficiency. If an incandescent bulb can meet the new standards, then they're fine. And there are lots of exceptions to these new standards, including for low-wattage bulbs (like most Edison bulbs.)

Does anybody know where one can get higher wattage bulbs? The filaments I find only have about 60W and don't give a lot of light.

I have five of these jobs [http://www.antiquelampsupply.com/product/4006_edison-base-vintage-style-light-bulb-with-quad-loop-filament] in my chandelier in my small dining room and they do not make a noticeable hum (my hearing is normal, I was tested recently as it happens, heh). And I live with two people with crazy sharp ears and they have not commented on it either.

These bulbs are so old school, and it's cool! Before I used lots of bulbs but since I need to go green and save energy, I changed into using LED lights. I learned that bulbs consumed lots of energy.

CarlsonGalleries.com

I have many hung in my 300 sq ft. apartment and they don't make any noise that I can detect.

I can certainly confirm that they're expensive when it comes to energy conservation. I have six of them in a chandelier and they make my meter spin faster than my fridge.