Last US incandescent light bulb factory closes

[supersuds]

It was a sad day last week when GE closed the last American factory still making incandescent bulbs. $30/hr jobs are not easy to come by.

I've tried hard to get adjusted to CFLs, but when I change back to incandescents for comparison...there's no comparison. Good to see Brian Williams agrees!

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[volvoguy87]

CFLs and others are not a universal replacement!

I wrote my MFA thesis in historic preservation and entitled it "Learning Energy Efficient and Sustainable Building Design & Use From Historic Buildings." I used a wealth of information I learned here at AW.org in writing it and I've learned to look at things with a different perspective thanks to the folks at AW. Light bulbs were a part of my thesis.

Saving energy is a good goal to have, but you must be very careful when you strive for it. In applications such as: cold locations, motion sensor operated lights, and short-term use lighting, CFLs are far inferior to incandescent bulbs due to warm up time. A CFL has to warm up for a certain length of time before its light output reaches its optimal level and color. If the light is needed for only a short time, a traditional incandescent bulb will outperform the CFL because they reach full output immediately every time.

As a note on cold applications, most CFL bulbs are not rated to even start below 5 degrees. Here in Illinois, the temp falls WAY below zero, so those CFLs are useless outside and in our unused buildings. (Although the buildings are unused, we still have to turn on the lights every few weeks and inspect the buildings.) I also used to work in a rum cake bakery that features a big walk-in freezer, set to about 10 degrees. The owner, wanting to save energy, put a 100 watt equivalent CFL in the freezer's light. With the old incandescent bulb, we would turn on the light for a few minutes as needed and shut it off when we weren't in there. With the CFL, we had to turn it on in the morning, wait 45 minutes for it to fully warm up, and then leave it on all day long. The CFL ended up costing him MORE money to run!

LEDs are interesting, but I find their light to be harsh and not well suited for illumination. I can read something lit with an incandescent bulb, but I can't read something lit with a blue-white light, like an LED or a cheap CFL.

Dave

 

[toggleswitch]

I have already made a list of what size (wattage) incandescent goes where and will fill up ONE large plastic storage container with them, since the lamps/bulbs are now something like $0.25 to $0.50 each.

Sad to see such a simple, self-regulating technology go away. And the light it produced was more similar to natural sunlight than these CFLs will ever be! We won't even get into the mercury hazard!

To me those incandescent bulbs made in metric lands were just different enough is size of the base to be a PITA getting them in and out of standard USA Edison-base screw-in sockets. Often they would go in and break on the way out!

Why do I have the feeling that 40w "specialty" appliance bulbs (for refrigerator and oven use) sales will skyrocket? [this post was last edited: 10/1/2010-11:01]

 

[whirlcool]

Thaqnks for the reminder. We need to go out and stock up, especially for our 3 way reading lamps! That is if the shelves haven't been cleared yet by others.

I wonder if we'll get any strange looks buying 20 bulbs or so at one time?

 

[whirlcool]

Thaqnks for the reminder. We need to go out and stock up, especially for our 3 way reading lamps! That is if the shelves haven't been cleared yet by others.

I wonder if we'll get any strange looks buying 20 bulbs or so at one time?

 

[iheartmaytag]

I think the sad part of the story is

This is the last U.S. plant making Incandesant bulbs. I am sure there are many in China ready to pick up the pace.

 

[toggleswitch]

Uncle Fester.

Strange looks

Just tell them that they function better than an hot-water bottle for your aching hemorrhoids once gently warmed-up in the proper lamp socket.

Since this is in the public forum I will hold back from including a fabulous link about attempts to illuminate rectums with 100w bulbs! LOL

 

[gefilterflo]

I am sure there are many in China ready to pick up the pace.

I think GE will make the rest of their light bulbs in Mexico; that's where most of my GE incandescent light bulbs seem to come from. The automotive ones are usually made in Hungary.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Still they will be made outside the U.S. and taking jobs with them. So Sad

 

[joeekaitis]

There is no CFL that works in a Lava Lite. Most models use a 40-watt "ceiling fan" bulb.

Tree-huggin' eco-fascist commie morons.

 

[petek]

Except for the job loss part I actually like CFL's and our whole house is fitted with them. Initially it took some trial and error with different brands because some are downright awful and slow to warm up. Others like the Philips etc come on full bright almost instantly and cast a good light. Plus it's a huge electricity savings. For example our de rigeur Home Depot dining room chandelier with the 6 lights used 360 watts now it uses barely 75 watts. I don't feel as guilty leaving lights on in the house anymore.

 

[suburbanmd]

Like petek said...

I like CFL's, and I leave them on. So I suspect their benefit for me is convenience rather than energy savings.

 

[xraytech]

I already have a decent supply on hand, about 8 (4ct) boxes each of 40w, 75w, and 100w incandescent bulbs.
I will have to start stocking up on more of them for future use.
my preferance being the GE soft white bulbs.

I just wonder if we will have a hard tim getting the specialty bulbs like the candolier bulbs for chandeliers, since I have quite a few fixtures that need those.

I do use a CFL bulb in one place, that being in the pole light at the end of our walk, I use it because sometimes a little rain would drip in causing an incandescent bulb to explode, but the CFL doesnt explode.

 

[rapunzel]

The way electricity prices are going

many of us will be spending our time in the dark anyway. Back to the good old days of candles perhaps? Of course there is always the choice of going to bed at sundown and staying there till sun up. Imagine if the entire world went to bed early - the energy we could save would be phenomenal.

 

[gefilterflo]

Still they will be made outside the U.S.

That's extremely unfortunate. I have a lamp with a Made in USA Westinghouse light bulb in it, and it's outlived two older Sunbeam CFLs from about 2002 which were Made in China, of course. At least the new GE washers will be made here in Kentucky, but it's small consolation, IMHO.

 

[mattl]

Chandeliers can be issues. I have a 15 lite in the dining room, all 40 watt bulbs and a 16 lite in the foyer with 60 watt bulbs. It would be very expensive to put CFLs in them even if I wanted. The candelabra based CFLs are quite dim and have no where near the same quality of light a standard bulb does in the application. They certainly would not make the crystal on the chandelier sparkle. Plus, I dim the lights to what ever mood I'm in. In addition to the 15 light fixture, with shades, I have 2 75 watt halogen spots pointing down on the table, really makes the china and silver pop. None of that is possible with CFLs.

But as I type this I have a pile of 6 75 and 100 watt bulbs I pulled out of various fixtures in the basement and replaced with CFLs sitting next to my monitor on the table. I've also put in about a dozen upstairs too. So, a mix is fine for me...

 

[sudsmaster]

Toggs,

While incandescent lights are more like natural light in that they have a 100% CRI (Color Rendition Index), they are nowhere near daylight in terms of color temperature. They are quite yellow when compared to sunlight.

Daylight fluorescent bulbs, on the other hand, most closely approximate the color of natural sunlight, although they don't equal incandescents in their faithful rendition of colors (usually they max out at 90%, and most are below that).

GE's Reveal light bulbs were an attempt to correct the yellowish color with a blue tint to the bulb glass. GE had a similar bulb back in the 70's that had a darker blue tint but did pretty much the same thing. Naturally, some energy was lost as heat as the light filtered past the light blue glass tint.

The "warm white" tone of most CFL's is an attempt to mimic the yellowish light of a standard incandescent light bulb. Generally I don't care for it much except in low light situations like bedrooms, living rooms, etc. Seems to me most CFL mfg's tend to go a bit overboard in the warm department and make the lights much too yellow. I much prefer the whiter daylight CFL's. The light seems brighter to me and seems to enhance contrast better than most warm whites. I prefer the daylight bulbs for kitchen, bath, office, and workspace lighting, even over standard incandescent lighting. Halogen incandescents are whiter than than standard ones, but pricey energy hogs, and the CFL's are all around a much more economical and entirely pleasing substitute.
[this post was last edited: 10/2/2010-20:45]

Color rendering index - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[circlew]

I only have one CFL in the house I'm living in; it's in the hall at the top of the stairs. If they were all like this, I doubt they'd sell many, as it puts out a horible ghoulish color light - perfect for a spook house. It's an off brand I bought at Home Depot, in a 4 pack. They were only a couple dollars due to a discount provided by a utility co., so no big loss. I gave the other 3 away to some friends who have poor taste, so don't care how the light makes their things look.

I don't like warm white (2700K) whether CFL or tubes. I much prefer the daylight (5000K) or even 6500K.

 

[58limited]

I have a mixture: I have CFLs in hard to reach fixtures because they last longer than incandescents. I also have them in my front porch fixtures - I had a problem with bulbs burning out frequently in one of the fixtures, even 130V bulbs that are supposed to last longer than 120V bulbs. I could not find a wiring problem and I was sick of climbing a ladder and changing bulbs every few weeks. The CFLs have lasted well over a year and a half and are on day and night.

Most other light fixtures have regular bulbs. The lamps have regular white bulbs, my crystal chandeliers use the clear faceted bulbs, and the ceiling fan and crystal art deco lights have clear 40W or 60W bulbs.

Up until a few years ago, my local hardware store sold 130V bulbs for $2.00/ 4 pack. These bulbs are heavier duty and when used in standard 115V or 120V applications last a long time. 130V bulbs are often sold as 20,000 hour bulbs for several dollars a piece. I still have several boxes left.