Gaslight

[chiller]

When we switched from incandescent bulbs to halogen/led/wevs, did all the manufacturers get together and decide to just pick random numbers for wattage equivalence? I picture them all around a big table saying things like "Eau! Most lamp fittings will take a 60w bulb, so let's make bulbs that produce the equivalent of an old 55w bulb and like

Comments

[doetja]

Hm, it's not impossible that we're being nudged towards reducing our energy use -- somebody has to, and it sure as hell ain't gonna be "Them". So your picture is actually quite plausible!

[chiller]

Yes but you're already using a 42w bulb instead of a 60w bulb. Why not make the effective output 60w instead of 55? It's weird.

[gothick_matt]

Yes. And also to measure in at least three different ways. "Hey, I wonder if this 27-watt-equivalent light is brighter than this 350 Lumen one or this one that's measured in candlepower-feet? Tell you what, I'll buy them all. Oh, they're the same brightness, except that this one starts off dark and gets brighter, this one flickers at 50Hz, and this one's colour temperature is 'sickly green'. *Sigh*"

[chiller]

I hate modern lightbulbs.

[doetja]

Then you might be cheered by a new technique that brings the energy efficiency of incandescent lightbulbs up to par with fluorescents and LEDs, with the potential to improve on them quite dramatically. And it's done with common materials and fabrication technologies. This could mean the return of incandescents! (a few years down the line though, I guess)

[gothick_matt]

Yes, I saw that, too. Here's hoping... Though at this time of year I'm tempted to drop back to old-school tungsten, frankly. "Poor efficiency light bulb" is basically another way of saying "additional highly-efficient heating for your draughty Georgian flat in winter", after all.

[hirez]

Argh.

A while ago, I found a shop in Wells that was importing high wattage incandescents from some other part of the EU. I felt very slightly Gibsonian as I bought a box of the things.

Meanwhile, bright LED lights give me a blasted migraine if I look at them wrong and cheap ones from Lidl are a bit dim. Other tech (wonky halogens) seems only mildly reliable.

But bloody Edison screw fittings? Gertcha! We are English and have bayonet sockets thank you very much. Take your unreliable US-inspired filthy connectors and bugger off back to Ikea with them.

( I tend to buy daylight bulbs if I'm given the option, which usually means stockpiling from i-want-my-lightbulbs-delivered.co.uk )