Who is going to stockpile old fashioned light bulbs.?

Question

In order to save money many people are going to by thousands of old fashion light bulbs before they become extinct. It will make you some money The new bulbs cost about $3 while the old bulbs about $0.50. The new bulbs last, if your lucky, about 4 times longer and may save you a few cents on electricity. Doing the math many are finding that it makes sense to stick with the old bulbs. Are you going to do this or does common sense not make sense to you?

Answer 1

It is not just the purchase cost but the operating cost as well.

If you count in the cost of the electricity into the equation you'll be ahead with the fluorescent (you may have to count n ballast use as well).  CFL bulbs are bad for the ecology. Plus in my area power surges tend to blow them out sooner than standard bulbs.  So I don't get the life time advantage from them.

LEDs are the way to go. They are the most efficient at converting electricity into light.  I have a several of the solar driveway and walk lights that work great - with no power bill.  

Check out the Mythbuster episode on testing lights:

Answer 2

New style bulbs contain many nasty things (some even radioactive) that make them

HAZARDOUS > not IF but WHEN broken. (landfill)

These new bulbs Quality of light & Color of light (funky colored)  is terrible if say you are an artist or photographer and need to see and match colors accurately.

And to step on the glass of a light bulb barefooted is bad, but

imagine how happy you'll be stepping on a corkscrew of glass coated with phosphor and other nasty substances.

I'm not sure that the start - up energy required for the new style bulbs saves much energy at home, compared with just turning lights off when there not needed.

It is in commercial and governmental applications where the lamps are of high wattage, and the newer style bulbs can save a large amount of energy.(notice they leave their lights on all the time!)

I believe Myth Busters ran a comparative test on them.

>check it out<

PS: LED's > Now they will save the average person a great deal of energy, AFTER the initial cost of purchase is taken into account.

There are many cost effective ways to save energy;

Insulate, Conserve, and just turn it off.

Answer 3

Your math makes no sense.  You will save several dollars on electricity over the life of the bulb.  You're just throwing your money away.

Answer 4

Not me, I have been getting rid of them in my house for the past year.  As each bulb burns out, I replace it with a CFL bulb.  I did this in my last house as well and it saved me quite a bit of money over the course of 14 years.