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As this is a blog of musings and meanderings, I am feeling motivated to write about light bulbs. Yes, light bulbs.
Light bulbs were once a pretty easy product or commodity to buy and use. We had lamps and fixtures both in the house and a few outside. There was always the odd size bulb in the oven or refrigerator but for the most part, we would buy frosted, soft-white, incandescent bulbs. I would go to the store and buy either singles, doubles, four or six packs of 40, 60, or 100-watt bulbs. Mostly, I would buy 60 and 100-watt bulbs. Occasionally, I we would buy three-way bulbs, but they never lasted long, so over the years, we just put 100 or 60-watt bulbs in those table lamps.
Over the years, our homes have more and more lights. In my current home, we have recessed flood lights and more lamps in each room. Just in our kitchen-family room great room, we have seventeen recessed flood lamps, a floor lamp, a table lamp, three chandeliers, and accent fluorescent lights above the cabinets. Growing up, we only had one or two ceiling light fixtures in the kitchen. The contrast is mind boggling when I think of it. If our basements were finished, there were fluorescent fixtures in the drop ceiling. All this being said, most the light bulbs we bought and used were incandescent, basically the kind that Edison invented way back in 1879. The more lights we had, the more they burned out, and the more bulbs I had to buy and stock in the house.
Incandescent bulbs had a long run. But they needed to go. They burn too hot, consume too much electricity, and really don’t last that long. The light is produced by the glow or a very fragile wire filament. Any variation or surge in electricity and “poof,” they would burn out.
For a while, the industry tried to foist fluorescent bulbs on us, but they were, in short… awful. They were more expensive, did not provide the same kind of soft white as nice frosted incandescent bulbs. They were supposed to last longer. Maybe they did last longer but I replaced them before they burned out. Fluorescent bulbs tended to develop an irritating flicker that rendered them useless to me.
In the past ten years, LED bulbs have come on the scene. They use way less electricity, burn cooler, truly last much longer. At first, their only downside was that they were outrageously expensive. Also, the first LED bulbs were not available in the soft-white light that most people were used to and desired. They all had that artificial fluorescent stark white color that was only acceptable in business settings. Technology marched forward, and soon such bulbs started appearing in about three shades of white one of which was the stark white which became known as daylight and two grades of soft white. The major impediment to shifting from incandescent to LED was the still the purchase price. Even though they would eventually pay for themselves by not needing replacement so often and using less electricity, I could not bring myself to $10, $15, $20 or more for a light bulb.
I was curious and wanted to give these new bulbs a try. There were a few fixtures in our house where the bulbs were always burning out three or four times a year. One of these locations was in our closet. We certainly needed good lighting there to help our aging eyes distinguish between black and navy blue. I bought some LED lights for these fixtures and haven’t changed them in over six years.
As technology improved and volumes increased, economies of scale have kicked-in and the LED bulbs have become much cheaper. I find them affordable. I am not alone either. It
Light bulbs were once a pretty easy product or commodity to buy and use. We had lamps and fixtures both in the house and a few outside. There was always the odd size bulb in the oven or refrigerator but for the most part, we would buy frosted, soft-white, incandescent bulbs. I would go to the store and buy either singles, doubles, four or six packs of 40, 60, or 100-watt bulbs. Mostly, I would buy 60 and 100-watt bulbs. Occasionally, I we would buy three-way bulbs, but they never lasted long, so over the years, we just put 100 or 60-watt bulbs in those table lamps.
Over the years, our homes have more and more lights. In my current home, we have recessed flood lights and more lamps in each room. Just in our kitchen-family room great room, we have seventeen recessed flood lamps, a floor lamp, a table lamp, three chandeliers, and accent fluorescent lights above the cabinets. Growing up, we only had one or two ceiling light fixtures in the kitchen. The contrast is mind boggling when I think of it. If our basements were finished, there were fluorescent fixtures in the drop ceiling. All this being said, most the light bulbs we bought and used were incandescent, basically the kind that Edison invented way back in 1879. The more lights we had, the more they burned out, and the more bulbs I had to buy and stock in the house.
Incandescent bulbs had a long run. But they needed to go. They burn too hot, consume too much electricity, and really don’t last that long. The light is produced by the glow or a very fragile wire filament. Any variation or surge in electricity and “poof,” they would burn out.
For a while, the industry tried to foist fluorescent bulbs on us, but they were, in short… awful. They were more expensive, did not provide the same kind of soft white as nice frosted incandescent bulbs. They were supposed to last longer. Maybe they did last longer but I replaced them before they burned out. Fluorescent bulbs tended to develop an irritating flicker that rendered them useless to me.
In the past ten years, LED bulbs have come on the scene. They use way less electricity, burn cooler, truly last much longer. At first, their only downside was that they were outrageously expensive. Also, the first LED bulbs were not available in the soft-white light that most people were used to and desired. They all had that artificial fluorescent stark white color that was only acceptable in business settings. Technology marched forward, and soon such bulbs started appearing in about three shades of white one of which was the stark white which became known as daylight and two grades of soft white. The major impediment to shifting from incandescent to LED was the still the purchase price. Even though they would eventually pay for themselves by not needing replacement so often and using less electricity, I could not bring myself to $10, $15, $20 or more for a light bulb.
I was curious and wanted to give these new bulbs a try. There were a few fixtures in our house where the bulbs were always burning out three or four times a year. One of these locations was in our closet. We certainly needed good lighting there to help our aging eyes distinguish between black and navy blue. I bought some LED lights for these fixtures and haven’t changed them in over six years.
As technology improved and volumes increased, economies of scale have kicked-in and the LED bulbs have become much cheaper. I find them affordable. I am not alone either. It
A problem still remains. Whenever I buy LED bulbs, I inevitably have to go back to the store and return them and buy them again. I certainly pay attention to wattage or in the case of LEDs the wattage equivalent. I am not used to making sure I get soft white and end up with the brighter daylight coloring. Thus, the necessity for a second trip back to the store. There is another option on these bulbs that I have not yet had to pay attention to. The bulbs come in regular or dimmable. I am sure that when I will have to buy soft white dimmable bulbs. It will happen someday and I will probably come home with daylight bulbs first. I will go back to the store, make the exchange, and return home with soft-white but undimmable bulbs necessitating a third trip to the store. Ah the complexities of modern technology.
All in all, I love the LED bulbs. I love that they last longer, use less electricity, and burn cooler. I especially like that I now have three-way bulbs that actually work… on all three settings!
Very detailed introduction to LED bulbs, thank you for sharing the information
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