# Light Bulb ban is on Hold! Whew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/light-bulb-ban-is-on-hold-whew/606600 "2011-12-18T00:47:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/light-bulb-ban-is-on-hold-whew/606600/61 "2011-12-20T00:46:19Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > Not at all impossible. We keep the thermostat set at about about 62F in the winter. But the room we use the most has 2 computers, 2 people and incandescent lights. That room stays 5-10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. So I’m heating a whole big house a lot less, and one room I’m lighting (and heating) more. The switch from CRT to LCD monitors made a big difference in how warm that room stays. Changing lightbulbs may mean I have to buy a room heater. > > As for the summer, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s light outside until after 9pm. There just aren’t that many hours that I need to use lights in the summer. That’s not what anyone is saying. It’s obvious that your heating bill might increase a measurable amount if you switch from incandescent to CFLs, just not more than the savings in energy usage by the CFLs themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/light-bulb-ban-is-on-hold-whew/606600/62 "2011-12-20T01:03:33Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > Not at all impossible. We keep the thermostat set at about about 62F in the winter. But the room we use the most has 2 computers, 2 people and incandescent lights. That room stays 5-10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. So I’m heating a whole big house a lot less, and one room I’m lighting (and heating) more. The switch from CRT to LCD monitors made a big difference in how warm that room stays. Changing lightbulbs may mean I have to buy a room heater. A room heater will be a lot more efficient than counting on the waste heat from CRT monitors or incandescent bulbs. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/light-bulb-ban-is-on-hold-whew/606600/63 "2011-12-20T01:10:13Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > When LED-based bulbs reach commercial viability, how would you feel about banning CFLs? Hardly necessary. LED bulbs are better than CFL’s in so many ways, so as soon as the price becomes competitive, people will just buy them instead. The marketplace will take care of ‘banning’ them. Just like iceboxes were ‘banned’ by refrigerators, typewriters by computer word processors, etc. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/light-bulb-ban-is-on-hold-whew/606600/64 "2011-12-20T01:23:40Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > A room heater will be a lot more efficient than counting on the waste heat from CRT monitors or incandescent bulbs. The efficiency of electricity to heat would be exactly the same. Now a space heater may be able to direct the heat towards the person better. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/light-bulb-ban-is-on-hold-whew/606600/65 "2011-12-20T02:26:47Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > We have an outdoor cat house that is heated with incandescent bulbs. What will I do if they’re banned? As I mentioned in one of the other CFL threads, I plan to replace the incandescent bulb that keeps my washer from freezing with a halogen. They still put out quite a bit of heat. As for position, most of my light fixtures have the bulbs horizontal. I do have a base down work light with a CFL. All the bulbs in it have gotten broken before long. Please don’t report me to the EPA. Note, I have a bunch of white LED"s I plan to make a new work light with. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/light-bulb-ban-is-on-hold-whew/606600/66 "2011-12-20T02:35:40Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > Note, I have a bunch of white LED"s I plan to make a new work light with. LEDs make great worklights. white light and no heat, so you can have light and not get burnt. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/light-bulb-ban-is-on-hold-whew/606600/67 "2011-12-20T02:45:23Z")
Speaking of heat-emitting light bulbs, many municipalities replacing outdoor bulbs such as those in stop lights with energy-efficient LEDs have run into unintended consequences. Namely, the old hot bulbs used to melt off snow and ice accumulations from the fixtures. The new LED bulbs let the snow accumulate and obscure the light. [New York Times article.](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/us/02lights.html?src=twt&twt=nytimes) ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/light-bulb-ban-is-on-hold-whew/606600/68 "2011-12-20T13:09:26Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Speaking of heat-emitting light bulbs, many municipalities replacing outdoor bulbs such as those in stop lights with energy-efficient LEDs have run into unintended consequences. Namely, the old hot bulbs used to melt off snow and ice accumulations from the fixtures. The new LED bulbs let the snow accumulate and obscure the light. [New York Times article.](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/us/02lights.html?src=twt&twt=nytimes) That is interesting, The current use of LED’s is almost exclusively a directly from retrofitting of use of IC and florescent tubes, traffic lights are one such example, as are LED lights made to replace the warehouse style lighting. But LED’s really are a different technology that really needs to be redesigned around it, not shoehorned into something that it is replacing. The simple answer would be something like to include a temperature sensitive heater or a brightness sensor connected to a heater. But since LED’s can be highly directional, perhaps a redesign of the entire traffic light is needed. Some materials that don’t let snow and ice stick, perhaps angled downwards like a ice cream cone. I don’t know, but it’s time to start thinking about it and coming up with new designs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/light-bulb-ban-is-on-hold-whew/606600.md?page=3)