What to do when Incandescent light bulb are fazed out by CFL

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As Incandescent light bulbs are going to be banned what is everyone else in the community that is sensitive to Compact Fluorescent Lights going to be doing? I don't know if I should stock up on a lifetime of the old light bulbs, the problem is I don't have much room to store old light bulbs. I wish the governments around the world would have thought about the people that can't take these new bulbs, instead of passing policies that are only going to be making people like Al Gore richer.

I have a light dimmer switch so the light intensity can be turned down a lot. I think it helps.

Have you tried LED lightbulbs? They're quite expensive but they last for a very long time...I find one of the "soft white" kinds to be less painful than the CFL bulbs.

I am not sure that florescent light bulbs can be dimmed without damaging them, unless that newer tech has some kind of dimming technology added.



I have seen some but the prices are too high, one costs 10x more then 1 CFL.

Is it the light or the buzzing sound? The light has never bothered me, but the sound by my head is torture. know LED bulbs don't make that sound, and last longer than compact fluorescent. I think The CF bulbs will probably start to go away once the price on LED lights goes down.

I love LED lighting. It's far preferable to any other sort of lighting to me.

You can find LED lightbulbs online for prices that are getting to be affordable. They're going down in price pretty fast.

I expect LEDs are going to be making a big impact on the market at some point soon.

I go crazy with fluorescent light (which most LED white light is too). I'm using halogen bulbs pretty much everywhere.

As for phasing out or prohibiting them: I'd rather buy my lightbulbs at the Home Depot, but if the legal market is shut down I'll be happy to have my lightning needs met by specialists in undocumented imports and distribution. Look at how well phasing out narcotics went for the past hundreds years.

Both, I notice a slight flicker that no one else in my family seems to notice, similar to how old CRT computer monitors used to have but others didn't notice and the buzzing.

I didn't know about phasing out.

I don't actually know the differences between different types of lights. All I know is that I like the ones that emit white light and consume less electricity. I hear some of those energy-saving tubes have Hg in them and if broken are very hazardous. I've seen a picture of someone affected by one. It looked horrifying. Also those energy-saving tubes' boxes always say they can't be used with a dimmer. Maybe latest ones might be different. I don't know what LED ones are. I might look into them.

I found some 40 watt equivalent (8 watt) LEDs at my local Lowes for $10 each and use them in my bedroom. I've had them about a year so far, and I'd like to replace a bulb or two a month through the house with them. They should last about 11 years or so under my useage, but if you use them less they can last 20+. Another good thing with them vs CFLs is that they are less hazardous if they break. I tried CFLs with a dimmer, but it made the noise much worse. I haven't tried the LEDs with a dimmer yet, but I've seen them used with one in the store display.

LED lights are not the same as fluorescent lights -- to the best of my knowledge, halogen bulbs have more in common with CFL bulbs than LEDs have in common with CFL bulbs, at least in terms of the technology.

LED might be more expencive on purchase, but they make up for that in extended lifecycles; i have never seen one break down before.

i know that i will be using LED when i need to replace my current lights, preferably yellow-tinted ones, as i dont really like bright whites.
for now; i use a hallogen ceiling-strip thingy (a rail with 5 hallogen lights on them), of which i disabled half: only the 2nd and 4th light are actually connected, the other three still have 'bulbs' in them, but i use those for spare; i can instantly see how much spares i got, and i always know where they are

Nope. Halogen lamps are incandescent--the halogen addition doesn't have anything to do with making light, it just allows the filament to operate at a higher temperature and thus with a nicer color spectrum and better efficiency. With LEDs there are a couple different possible principles of operation. The ones used for general lighting normally use phosphors to make the white light, which is how fluorescent lamps make white light, too. Fluorescent and LED use different mechanisms to make blue or ultraviolet light to start with, but they use roughly the same mechanism to turn that light into white light.

Seems "the best of my knowledge" wasn't very good -- thanks for the info!

I bought a lifetime supply of the old bulbs on e-bay, and I only live in a one bedroom flat,
Those CFL bulbs have something like 70 times higher than the max permitted dirty electricity of a desktop computer according to a German documentary I saw.

I don't think it's a sensory thing for me, like being bothered by fluorescent light, it's perfectly ok in a hospital or school or grocery store, but I think it has no place in the home. It makes everything look terrible. It's too bright and the wrong kind of bright at that. Then on top of everything else, the light bulbs look ridiculous in ceiling fan fixtures that have open globes on them. I normally use these light bulbs I got from Wal Mart in them that are pointy shaped and have sparkley glass so it doesn't look like you're looking at the sun. I can't get those anymore I guess, so I've been using regular ones that I stocked up on before they stopped selling them. Maybe I'll be able to find the kind I like again, because they could be considered specialty bulbs or decorative bulbs, or maybe my husband can find some at the supply house.

I hate the twisty light bulbs and do not care for fluorescent light at all!