President Obama did promise change. Next year, the U.S. is expected to formally phase-out incandescent light bulbs in favor of CFL or LED light bulbs. But not everybody is welcoming the switch to greener lighting. According to USA Today, around 13 percent of Americans are unleashing their inner hoarders and stocking up on enough 100-watt incandescents to last them past the bulbs' January phase-out. And you might want to, also. Here's why.
Even though some retailers are ahead of schedule on the switch to greener lighting, soon everyone will be forced to make the switch. Popular 100-watt incandescent bulbs will be phased out of the national market in January, with the 75-watt version phased out in 2013, and the 60-watt and 40-watt in 2014.
But some people aren't taking the switch in stride. They're stockpiling enough 100-watt bulbs to light up their twilight years, according to USA Today:
Says Susan Drake of Marietta, Ohio, "I have stocked up on enough incandescent bulbs to last for the next 50 years."
So why are so many average Americans bringing out their inner hoarders? They're not against saving money. They're not protesting green living.
To put it short: They're CFL haters. And they claim they prefer to use incandescent bulbs for a few different reasons:
- The light from CFLs can be dimmer than incandescents.
- Incandescent light is warmer.
- Some CFLs don't come on at full strength right away.
- CFLs don't work as efficiently with dimmer switches.
- CFLs are harder to properly dispose of, thanks to their tiny mercury content.
So if you haven't yet switched to CFL bulbs, you should at least test out the new bulbs in your house—especially if you have dimmer switches.
If you find that you're a CFL-hater too, you might want to head out and stock up with the hoarders.
(Images: Flickr member HeyDanielle licensed for use under Creative Commons, Flickr member busy.pochi licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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Nope. I've already banished all incandescents from my home with the exception of the bulb in the fridge. Currently I'm using a mix of halogen bulbs where I want dimming, and cfls everywhere else. I'll switch to LEDs once the bulbs I have die, and they become more affordable.
interesting since i think i have enough CFLs to last me a lifetime. got a sweet deal on them at target and ended up with 30-40 bulbs and made a few bucks in the process...
1 - they have instant on CFLs now
2. they have CFLs that work with dimmers better now.
3. just like with incadecent you can get different warmths of bulbs in CFLs too
i think the main complainers are the ones that tried a CFL bulb one time, years ago, and decided they didn't like it. They have made a lot of improvements over time with them.
They will need to find a way to make them a bit cheaper since incandescents were so cheap.
I actually blew a bulb last night in my home office and looked up thinking, wow this one have made it until now, then i put a CFL from the stockpile in it's place
Heck yeah. I hate CFL bulbs. I hate the noise they make, I hate their light, I hate that you have to drive them (in your gas burning car) across town to dispose of them when they fail way before their listed time. I hate that if you break one, you have to clear the room, turn off your HVAC system, open the windows, and don a protective mask to safely clean it up. I hate reading by them because I can sometimes pick up on that small flicker frequency. I hate how much energy it takes to manufacture & ship them over the incandescents I was buying from the US. I hate how much more energy it takes to safely dispose of them and reclaim the mercury.
I will buy as many incandescent bulbs as I can store.
I'm a CFL hater. They're not ready for primetime. They're ugly, the immediate on ones are stupid expensive, and you KNOW people are going to dispose of them improperly because they're lazy and we'll have en environmental crisis. Breaking one is a whole other story, good god. My entire crappy apartment is recessed lighting, and there aren't that many outlets (they're huge instead to accomodate large incandescent floods) so I need bright flood lights to actually light the place. Sadly, my OSH stopped stocking anything BUT CFL's early last year, so I'm still trying to find a place to stock up.
Are halogens still going to be allowed?
I have absolutely no idea what these complaints about CFLs are. I got a box for free at an Earth Day fair years ago when they first came out and I've never had a flickery or too-cold CFL. Regular fluorescent, yes, but not CFL. Also, as to the amount of time they take to turn on, are you really that impatient? A split second doesn't cut it for you?
As to the mercury complaint, studies have shown that if you get your power from a coal-powered plant, you're releasing more mercury providing energy for your incandescent than is inside your tiny CFL.
I've been doing the opposite. Every time an incandescent goes out I buy a 4-pack of CFLs and replace both the burned-out bulb and 3 other incandescents which I can find still lighting the way. Since I've moved 5 times in the last 5 years I still haven't caught up, but we just bought a house, so it's only a matter of time before I win and the incandescents lose.
I've made the change since 6 years ago and no regrets. They working perfectly and had lasting three years at least. Counting also that a standard spiral type with 23 watts make very well what a 100 watts incandescent type can't do. And without roast my lamp fixtures!
Well, a thing I've learned after wasting my money with cheap CFLs was that if you want a good color correction and long lasting lamps, buy only Philips, Osram or GE. Any other brand doesn't worked as I've expected. Philips had invented this lamp, mines are working very good.
I only buy CFLs - begrudgingly, though. I was on the green bandwagon, supporting CFLs until I started to use them in main rooms. They're dimmer, and totally less warm. My bedroom felt like a hospital waiting room.
Our property manager just replaced all of the light fixtures, and switched out every bulb in the place with incandescent bulbs, so for now I get to use those until they die. I only buy CFLs for myself, but I'll be damned if I switch them out willingly before the incandescent bulbs die.
Hospital room. Ew.
I will be hoarding.
I've tried to use CFLs a number of times, but I just cannot stand them. I can see them flicker, and I end up with a nasty headache if I have to spend too much time around any florescent. At work, I can get up and talk a walk outside when I feel one coming on, but I'll be damned if I have to get out of my own home because I'm forced to light it with something that gives me a headache.
The light from CFLs also seems very unnatural, and I have yet to have one last anywhere close to the advertised burn time. I've had some incandescents last for over 2 years, but the longest I've had a CFL last was about 3 months, and that was a $10 Sylvania rated at 7 years.
A friend insisted I would absolutely not be able to pick out CFL bulbs from incandescents in a blind test, and to this day tries to test me almost every time I visit. I have never even once missed a CFL or mistaken an incandescent for a CFL. Not even once. Even when he tried to trick me by putting once CFL in the middle of a tall, cylindrical floor lamp that used 3 bulbs. I picked out that middle bulb as a CFL and the two around it as incandescent immediately.
Well, as a result of this, I will switch to oil lamps powered by baby seal oil.
I use CFL's at home, but at work [furniture showroom] we're heavy on the incandescents. We haven't talked about how we're going to move forward with lighting changes, but I do know we're going to hold out until the last possible minute to keep our pretty-yet-inefficient lighting. We’ve tried on several occasions to switch to fluorescents, but they just don’t cut it for our needs. They’re incapable of decently showing off products, or homes for that matter, without heavy modification.
I mostly have CFLs, but I am now a hater. Why? Because of the hassle and worry when my children threw a toy in their room and broke a CFL in the ceiling fan light fixture. Reading the procedures to clean up the mess made me realize how dangerous CFLs can be. Luckily the room was fairly clean, but wow, I no longer think we should have lightbulbs with mercury in them anywhere children might accidentally break them.
The CFLs absolutely don't last as long as claimed. Sort of a rip off I think.
My bargain priced CFLs have been through at least 3 different apartments, so they have lasted at least 6 years. And to the people complaining about dimness, you do realize that you can just use higher watt bulbs, right? You could even put in 100+ watt ones and have your own grow-op.
Hoard? No. I'm concerned about what to do with candleabra base things. Where we are right now the fans have dimmer, candleabra base fixtures.
I think you should still be permitted to get them for antiques, but that's wishful thinking. Like gas lamp conversions they're going to be left behind.
Can someone recommend CFL brand? We have a CFL in the kitchen at the equivalent of 100 watts of an incandescent but it's A LOT dimmer. It's the only light and I may have to return to an incandescent just so I can see when I'm cooking.
That's all fine, but we can't find anywhere local that recycles the CFL's.
CFL hater. I will be hoarding Reveal bulbs.
I hate using CFL's in areas like the bathroom because they burn out SO much faster if used in a fixture that's on just a few minutes at a time. More than annoying it's expensive!
Also, I've had to replace all the bulbs in my home long before their so called lifespan. Not a fan! Oh yes, and they're so "eco friendly" that they emit toxins when they burn out...what the heck happened to common sense?
@bcarter82
Can't go wring with GE. Is it just a lot more dim for the first few minutes or constantly, because a 100 watts is 100 watts... after the CFL warms up it should be just as bright.
I am pretty amazed at people's posts on here. Just like with incandescents you can get different warmths of bulbs. Some are more fluorescent looking, and others are warmer. I have replaced most of the flood lights in our office with CFL floods and the light looks exactly the same time, they just take a few minutes to warm up.
I also have yet to ever have a CFL go out on me. I have them in all kinds of conditions. Lamps we have on every night. Lights that are only on for a short time, and one that is outside through hot and cold (currently 5 degrees out...)
I also call BS on the person claiming they can pick out CFLs every time, especially if it was one CFL in an arrangement of multiple bulbs, that is ridiculous.
Get a good bulb and they won't flicker. Hell mine are cheap, and they don't flicker. I had one out of about 15 flicker and i took it back and exchanged it.
I find the CFL's just don't seem as bright. And my experience is that they just don't last as long as advertised - a real negative with the high initial cost. The cheaper CFL's don't seem to last even as long as regular bulb. I too have a chandelier fixture which would be very unsightly with the CFL's (even with all the printing sanded off the base!) so I will be hoarding the clear bulbs for that fixture. My question, sort of related, is this: if I have a lamp rated for a 60 watt bulb, can I use a 23 watt CFL bulb, which would be the equivalent of a 100 watt bulb, in that lamp?
I'll stock up on a few.
#1. My little girl's EZ Bake oven will not cook cupcakes with an LED or CFL bulb. PERIOD.
#2. I use them for inexpensive heat in places like my basement or in with my water pump (it's outside in a shed) to keep pipes from freezing.
CFL bulbs are the 8-track tape of lighting. They are bound to be eclipsed by better technology, but those technologies aren't quite ready yet.
Most of my lighting is miniature halogen track lighting that won't be subject to the rules anyway -- but I'll buy enough incandescents to last a few years in my remaining fixtures. By then, I think we'll have LED lightbulbs as good as the LED recessed lights already on the market, and I'll switch to those.
Incidentally, to those who are concerned about candelabra bulbs, those aren't covered by the new law -- it only applies to bulbs of approximately 40W or more.
I will absolutely be hoarding. I can't stand CFLs for all the reasons already listed and there is no way I'm switching. CFL lighting gives me a migraine which I only discovered after a bulb burned out in my kitchen and I discovered it was a CFL. I replaced it with an incandescent and poof-- no more headaches.
This phase-out is completely ridiculous and the only upside is that they've given us enough time to buy out a lifetimes supply ahead of time.
It took me a couple of tries, but I have now found a cheap CFL with warm color temp and am not looking back.
For the people who questioned the complaints about lack of 'instant on'... they come on, but take a while to warm up to bright. 3 minutes of waiting for my vanity lights to warm up so I can put on makeup and get out the door seems like an eternity.
I'm not hoarding, I still have a couple unopened boxes I haven't used in years.
Most of my CFLs are for lights that aren't on all the time (hallway/closets/laundry room). The bathrooms are on halogens (I hated those, get a suntan, incandescent light bars) and I'm planning to switch over my recessed lights to LED bulbs soon.