60W bulb outlawed tomorrow in Europe

I believe the tax credit is only $500, I don't see how it it can pay the difference between a 13 Seer and a 16 Seer heat pump, which is at least cost a thousand dollars or more.

 

The LEDs are nice, and their price has dropped probably about 20-30% over the last year or two. If you've got a wholesale club (Costco, Sams, BJs are the big 3 here) you can usually get a better deal on them.

I've got them used in areas as flood lights, and am quite happy with them especially those on a dimmer. I *think* some of the ones I got had a 3 year warranty from manufacturer, so that's some piece of mind at least. I'm sure it's a hassle to deal with, as most warranties tend to be, but on a $20+ bulb it may be worth a it.

It will be awhile for me before I totally convert over to the LED bulbs. I've got way too many CFLs in a bucket here, and since I rarely turn on lights anyway they last for quite awhile. In fact, my first bulb failure occurred earlier this year in my bathroom. It was a 6 year old bulb that would be used daily, albeit not for very long time periods. I figure at that failure rate, I've probably got another 10 years worth of CFLs sitting in my bucket.

 

and it's closest competitor A19 13-Watt (60W) LED Light Bulb-ECS A19 V2 WW 120 at The Home Depot is $1 cheaper and gives 50 more lumens for similar wattage (gotta wonder how accurate the wattage labels on the marketing materials are).

There is a cheaper "40W" replacement A19 8.6-Watt (40W) LED Light Bulb-ECS 19 WW 120 at The Home Depot at $10 but it doesn't get as good of a lumens/watts ratio so you are better off getting one of the $25 bulbs over two of the $10 ones if they'll be used in the same space. I could see using the cheaper bulb in a tight space like a closet where any bulb might be enough.

I don't see the advantage of the "75W" replacement. Almost every place I put a bulb there are 2, 3, or 4 sockets grouped in a fixture or on the same light switch (kitchen recessed lighting).

When they are over the mirror in the bathroom or behind/inside a frosted glass in a bedroom I prefer to use more lower wattage bulbs evening out the light vs fewer higher wattage bulbs with more noticeable bright spots. It also gives redundancy for failed bulbs.

For example in the room I'm typing now I have a frosted globe on the ceiling with two sockets inside. Two 10W CFLs in it. If I used a Single 13W CFL instead it'd be less energy but the light wouldn't be as even in the room (each bulb is facing 180 degrees opposite), there would be a single bright spot (more glare on the monitor). If I could replace those 10W CFLs with lesser wattage LEDs and still get the same lumens I'd be all over it when the price gets low enough for me to afford it.

Another example is the living room. I have floor lamps at each end of the couch. I have 9W CFLs in those as higher wattage bulbs put too much glare on the flat screen TV (LCD with CFL backlight). I wouldn't mind more directional bulbs in that case as it's the omnidirectional light that makes the glare on the TV 10 feet away. I'd probably be willing to go for less lumens in those sockets just to reduce the glare on the TV.

Over the sinks in the bathrooms I have 10W and 13W CFLs (I'd use more 10W bulbs but I inherited a ton of 13W bulbs when I bought the house). In one room I have two of the four bulbs unscrewed as I don't need that much light in a bathroom. I can't imagine ever needing a higher wattage bulb there.

Now my 70+ year old father wants brighter and brighter lights. He's at the starting stages of cataracts and even without that night vision goes bad for the elderly. I get that. For him every lumen counts.

I just don't get the 30 something yuppie or 40 something soccer mom that thinks they need to make their house look like it has searchlight beacons coming out of every possible opening. I don't get why 100W to 250W bulbs are so popular for use on a table lamp, overhead lamp, etcetera (all indoor uses for normal room sizes, not floodlights for large rooms or outdoor use).

Soft White Double Life 100-Watt A19 General Purpose Incandescent Light Bulb (6-Pack)-100A/W/2L-6PK at The Home Depot

Reveal 50-100-150-Watt 3-Way A21 General Purpose Incandescent Light Bulb-50/150/RVL-TP2X6 at The Home Depot

Soft White 50-200-250-Watt 3-Way A21 General Purpose Incandescent Light Bulb-50/250-1/HD-TP12 at The Home Depot

nearly 4000 lumens in the space of a bulb where I'd be looking for 850 lumens, easily 4x the lumens of what I'd call a normal bulb.

fwiw when I switched to CFLs I was taking out 40W and 60W incandescents to put in 9W and 15W CFLs. I even had a couple of 25W incandescents in the mix way back when.

Now it seems the 9W CFLs have become 10W and the 15W became 13W. Not nearly the power savings for the smaller CFLs now.

 

THAT made me LOL!! I actually know some people like that.

I tend not to turn any lights on, unless I absolutely can't see. Having cats running around under your feet in the dark makes it more of an obstacle course than in the light, but still an obstacle course.

I thought I was losing my mind with the wattage listings for the CFLs now. Clearly I wasn't!

 

In 2009 and 2010 the tax credit for heat pumps was capped at $1500. Our heat pump was $1600 more than the legal minimum efficiency. In the first 9 months of the year we have cut our power usage by 26% and saved $185 on electricity. That should be about $250 savings per year.

I had my unit installed the last week of 2010 or the last week we were eligible for the $1500 tax credit. At that time, the HVAC company that installed our unit had only installed one other heat pump that was eligible for the tax credit in 2010! Of course he did try to talk me out of upgrading to the 16.5 Seer.

 

My contractor buddy thinks I'm nuts for installing a high efficiency condensing boiler and water heater. Of course, going to any new natural gas system is an improvement over 30+ year old oil.

The caps and credits were reduced for 2011 for most efficiency improvements. They also expire this year. Except for maybe solar, wind, and geothermal.

 

We have some of those same "soccer moms" in my neighborhood too. I think many of them are paranoid and afraid of the dark, thinking there's a peeping tom or rapist waiting in in every bush outside, ready to pounce on them.

 

I wish I could convert from oil to NG. They just don't offer it in my neighborhood, so I'm limited to electric, oil, or propane. Propane was expensive when I had it in my condo, so I don't think I want to go back to it. If I could get NG, I'd swap the water heater and oil furnace over.

 

I'm happy with the LED bulbs I bought, when was it? a month or two ago, I think. A year ago I couldn't find any decent ones, and ended up buying a lamp and a bulb that were just too dim to be of any use to me except as night lights. These, which I bought at Home Depot after reading this thread, are entirely acceptable.

 

Won't be long before 40W tungsten bulbs are banned

 

I hope not. I have replaced 72 bulbs in my house with CFL and LED, but in the oven, in the fridge, in the door of the fridge, in the microwave, etc. are bulbs I am doubtful can be replaced with LED or CFL, the 40 watt appliance bulb will be needed for some time.

 

I wouldn't put CFL in any of those places. However, the fridge you can put an LED without much worry. Freezer, questionable. Definitely wouldn't do it in microwave or oven, though. Last I heard, the extreme heat of an oven would be bad for them. I've had a small, not very bright, LED bulb in my fridge for about 3 years now. Not much light, but enough for me to see.

 

I'm not aware that the coming U.S. ban covers specialty bulbs such as this.

Even if it did, some halogen incandescents should cover that need.

 

They have made stock fridges/freezers with LEDs for quite some time.

LED tech has progressed immensely in the past decade and even more so in the past couple years.

Our new-ish fridge has 100% LED lighting in the fridge and the freezer. It is much brighter than any non-LED fridge I have seen and will never need replacing over the life of the fridge. Even the touchscreen on the front is LED backlit.

Our oven still has an incandescent, but our last oven had the original light bulb after it was replaced 20-something years later (came with the house). Unless you sit and stare at your food being cooked, that light has a very very very low duty cycle. So the lesser life of LEDs in extreme heat would be moot.

 

Those with LED lighting built in are designed to have it as such. It's usually brighter than the cheap little bulb I used to replace the one that came with it. I wasn't too sure how well a bulb replacement would hold up in a freezer, being that it was replacing a standard bulb in a socket. Does the roughly 0 degree F temperature cause problems on LED bulbs in the long run, esp being turned on/off pretty quickly?

 

Prius brake lights have been that way since 2003, surviving quick on/off as well as vibration in temperatures even colder just fine.
.

 

LEDs love cold temperatures and rapid cycling. The only problem that concerns me is condensing humidity from door openings, in bulbs not designed for this application.

Duty cycle is not the issue in the oven, where operating temperatures easily exceed the maximum junction and storage temperatures of LEDs. For LEDs, an oven will need a different arrangement where the lamp is mounted outside the thermal chamber, and light is piped in.