Alright, so I do not live under a rock, and, yes I do watch the news often, however, I now feel like I am not doing something that I am supposed to be doing. I totally missed the memo on the discontinuance of 100 watt incadescent light bulbs as of January 1, 2012. Last night I went to four stores, yes four, and the brightest available indoor incadescent flood light was 65 watts. Finally, when I got to Lowes Home Improvement, I decided to google 100 watt incadescent light bulbs only to find that they were no longer being manufactured in the United States!! This may not be a deal breaker to some of you, and I do understand that we should all be doing our part to become a little more green so that we can assure the well-being of this beautiful planet we live on — but.I.simply.cannot.live.with.65.watt.bulbs.period!!
So, not being prepared for this news, I called someone to the department for help selecting an appropriate “energy saving” bulb. I had attempted recently to move to the more energy efficient bulbs, so I bought one and placed it in the laundry room. I seriously go into the laundry room five minutes before I anticipate being in there so that the bulb can reach its full brightness – it takes time to warm before lighting. I just don’t have time for this. So standing in Lowes, knowing that I have had these past problems with the energy efficient bulbs, and not being able to remember which type of bulb is the “slow to light” type I am going through the available options. Well m’am, we have the LED lights, $47.98 for one bulb, that’s a no; halogen is an option, but they may take a short period to warm. With K running all over the store, hiding behind washing machines, playing with the grills and lawnmowers, I HAD TO MAKE A DECISION!!! I grabed the halogen, told K that we were leaving and with a bright cheer from her we were checking out. Got home, and to my excitement found that although the bulb cost $11.98 it did come on immediately at full strength when I flipped the light switch on, yes success, exhale and thank God because I love light, the brightest light available. When I got home, I realized that just as I was not totally aware of this change, many others probably weren’t fully aware of the discontinuance schedule of incadescent bulbs nor the options available, so I researched and here goes…
100 watt incadescent light bulbs discontinued on January 1, 2012, with 75 watt incadescent bulbs following in 2013, and finally the discontinuance of 60 watt and 40 watt bulbs in 2014.
Optional Replacement 1: Consumers can downgrade lighting to 75 watt incadescent bulbs for lighting, however, this will reduce the ambient lighting in the room. Although not for me, this option is a viable option for some and saves you the hassle of having to make the change to more energy efficient bulbs until totally necessary.
Optional Replacement 2: Halogen lighting offers a nearly seamless transition from incadescent lighting to energy efficient lighting, saving approximately 28 watts of power, but offering the same ambient lighting as the 100 watt incadescent bulb.
Optional Replacement 3: LED lighting saves approximately 78% of energy on a 90 watt equivalent bulb. LED lighting does not currently offer a 100 watt equivalent bulb, but look out for these if you are interested in utilizing these bulbs in your transition plan. Remember that the LED bulbs do cost significantly more (from $12.00 to $79.00 in my area) than incadescent bulbs, although manufacturers boast that these bulbs last 20 times longer that current incadescent bulbs.
Optional Replacement 4: CFL bulbs are a very energy efficient lighting option, offering a savings of 77 watts of power by replacing a 100 watt incadescent bulb with a 23 watt CFL bulb. These bulbs are 77 percent more energy efficient than incadescent bulbs and last up to 94 percent longer. Also noted, these bulbs sometimes do not fit in fixtures properly because of their structural spiral formation which is sometimes bigger than the regular incadescent bulb. From personal use, I have found that these bulbs take time to warm up causing a delayed start, which can be irritating if you are like myself and always in a hurry to get into a room to get done what needs to be done and move on quickly – us working mom’s only have so much time!!
Optional Replacement 5: CFL bulbs now offer an alternative hybrid bulb, an “instant-on” CFL. Due to the major disadvantage of the CFL bulb not immediatly reaching it’s full lighting potential, this hybrid CFL bulb has a halogen bulb wrapped inside a fluorescent bulb, when the bulb is turned on the halogen bulb immediately lights and the fluorescent bulb warms. Once the CFL bulb has reached its optimal brightness potential, the halogen bulb switches off. This hybrid CFL instant on bulb uses 75 percent less energy and lasts 90 percent longer.
Good luck finding your favorite of the bunch!!
