New Lights / Old Lights

Wandering through Lowe's the other day, I stumbled across some close-out LEDs - a box of four for 98 cents. Not cheap, unpleasant ones either - GE brand, warm color / temp, equivalent to 60W incandescent. I knew I had a couple of rogue CF bulbs floating around, so I bought a couple of packs.

Ended up replacing two CF hallway lights, which I had installed when I moved in (circa 2009), replacing the incandescent bulbs the previous owner had been using. Pretty sure they've not needed replacing; testament to the better reliability of newer tech lighting. Now both are LED bulbs.

Also replaced a bedroom table lamp, as well as the front porch lamp, both CF. I've gotten used to the warm-up of the CF bulbs (in a kind of kerosene lantern, coming up to temp sort of way) but truth be told it's nice to have the lights on full strength from the start, especially the front porch light (on a timer, but more of an issue when Elo needed to go out at random times, and during this time of year when the waning daylight forces me to reprogram the timer)

I also wandered out to purchase some LED bulbs for other fixtures - two three way floor lamps which had been fluorescent (the CF 3-way bulbs never really worked well) - the replacement LED bulbs (30-70-100W equivalent) are perfect - almost identical to incandescent in light level and color.  Sidebar: Does anyone prefer the brighter, bluer "daylight" bulbs? Not I. I like the warm yellow glow of incandescent lamps. 

I have two more CF bulbs to replace; both almost never used (overhead deck light, and back door light) - so I'll get to those when I can.

And I've stuck with older technology in one place - my yoga room, which has overhead track lighting and halogen PAR20 spotlight bulbs. I picked up some supposedly dim-able LEDs to try, but they were harsh and could not be dimmed that far down. I really love just a touch of light in that room when I practice in the morning darkness - the halogens dim down to practically candlelight. I'm not in there all that much (just to practice, and occasionally poking around the bookshelves or closet for something), and dimmed down, the bulbs do not consume much power, so I don't feel super bad about that. My one concession of style and comfort over economy and environment.

It's sort of interesting to have lived through (in one decade, in one residence) a complete transition of lighting tech (CF to LED). And it makes me wonder if there are stats out there about the reduced number of fires and overloads related to new lighting tech - does not take too many incandescent bulbs to overload a circuit, but a house full of LED lights could be handled by a single 15A circuit. And a hot (temperature) incandescent bulb was always a fire risk (clothing, window treatments, etc.) in a way that LEDs are not.