by Candace Lombardi 23 comments Share
Toshiba chart shows incandescent lightbulb interest has been dimming since the company's production peak of 78 million bulbs in the 1973.
(Credit: Toshiba)
Toshiba announced Wednesday it has produced its last major run of incandescent lightbulbs.
The Japanese electronics manufacturer said the phaseout is part of a strategy to ultimately concentrate on LED (light-emitting diode) lighting products, though it will continue to produce certain specialty incandescent bulbs.
Incandescent lighting has been dwindling in use over the last five years in large part to citizen and government phase-out campaigns that include laws for an eventual ban on the sale of the electricity-guzzling light source. Many countries have already passed laws with deadlines looming.
Australia was the first country to ban the sale of incandescent lightbulbs, which took effect in 2010. In December 2007, the U.S. passed a law phasing out the sale of the 100-watt incandescent bulb beginning in 2012 with a ban to take effect by 2014, as well as several regulations regarding bulb efficiency rates.
Many companies have responded to the changes by reducing production in favor of new lighting technology like LEDs and CFLs (compact fluorescent bulbs). Even newer technologies like electron stimulated luminescence (ESL) lights and incandescent bulbs with ultra-fast short-pulse lasers are also on the horizon.
"Toshiba estimates that switching 60 percent of the world's incandescent lights with LED lights would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 125.5 million tons in 2025, compared to 2000," the company said in a statement.
It marks the end of a technology era. Since 1890, Toshiba--that is the company that eventually became part of Toshiba--has been manufacturing incandescent lighting.
Hakunetsu-sha & Company was Japan's first electric incandescent lighting factory and produced its first bulbs in 1890 at a rate of 10 bulbs per day. The company was renamed the Tokyo Electric Company in 1899, and in 1939 merged with Shibaura Engineering Works to become what is today known as Toshiba.
Comments
by ColeSlaw82 March 18, 2010 2:26 PM PDT
Few modern technologies have lasted so long. I'm glad the incandescant bulb was here, but I'm not sad to see it go.
Like this Reply to this comment by ikramerica--2008 March 18, 2010 2:33 PM PDT
I'm sad to see it replaced with CFLs. They are horrible. Most can't be dimmed, they take time to warm up (making them useless in storage rooms and stairways unless always left on), don't work in cold weather (making them useless in outdoor applications in cold climates), etc. And they are heavily polluting when discarded.
Hopefully LEDs will quickly replace CFLs, and all will be right with the world again.
Like this 2 people like this comment
by mrwater March 18, 2010 3:16 PM PDT
@ikramerica--2008
CFLs are said to contain less mercury than the extra amount of mercury emitted by a coal-fired power plant to power an incandescent bulb. Whatever mercury they contain would be kept contained by proper disposal.
Like this by solitare_pax March 18, 2010 5:30 PM PDT
Agreed - most hardware stores I go to will take CFLs and smoke detectors (which usually have small amounts of radioactive materials in them). And don't forget, until recently, most batteries had mercury in them as well.
Like this by taphilo March 18, 2010 2:40 PM PDT
20 years from now, someone in their basement lab will make one, plug it into a lamp, the smart meter will report it back to the government and in the middle of the night they will storm into the house, charge you with carbon theft - and throw you in jail and fine you thousands of carbon credits for mis-using a public resource . . . it could happen . . .a modern varient on "Farenheift 451"
Like this Reply to this comment 2 people like this comment
by rapier1 March 18, 2010 3:33 PM PDT
Tomorrow Jesus is going to come and walk amoung us and hand out $100 bills and free cocaine. It could happen!
Like this 2 people like this comment
by zyxxy March 19, 2010 5:21 AM PDT
I don't think you'll have to worry about that...
http://www.gas-turbines.com/nt6/index.html
Like this by sslPro March 18, 2010 2:41 PM PDT
Incandescent lights - 100 plus years of inefficiencies - Leds only at my place - Its the 21st century. My question to toshiba engineers - why would you utilize Direct current Leds which require a driver - would you put a chevy transmission in a Rolls Royce. Some of the led lights avaliable are well designed and will function for 100,000 hours - Like the ones in my house, other brands are substandard - Advice from someone in the SSL industry - Become educated before buying Leds or else deal with the consequences.
Like this Reply to this comment 1 person likes this comment
by mrwater March 18, 2010 3:22 PM PDT
It may be helpful for buyers to consider that, at 9 hours a day, a lifetime of 100,000 hours would be more than 30 years.
Like this 1 person likes this comment
by Applerocks1963_ March 18, 2010 9:28 PM PDT
@sslPro. If you're going to go around telling others to get educated, you should at least try to write it with a proper sentence. Questions usually end with question marks and dashes are not the correct way to separate sentences. Comma's, periods, and the correct use of capitol letters are things kids usually learn in grade school.
It doesn't matter how intelligent or profound you may really be, your writing is what people see. An occasional typo is one thing but If you purposly write like your dumb and illiterate then thats all people will remember.
Like this 2 people like this comment
by brewster_13 March 19, 2010 6:05 AM PDT
@Applerocks1963_
So true, when you write like an idiot, most people believe you are one, no matter what you write.
BTW, "write like your dumb and illiterate", that should be the contraction "you're" as in "write like you are dumb" not the possessive "your", as in "that is your bad grammar"...
Like this 2 people like this comment
by dmrouns March 19, 2010 8:07 AM PDT
BTW you do know that Rolls Royce did for a time use a THM400 (Chevy) transmission...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo-Hydramatic
Like this by ddesy March 18, 2010 2:55 PM PDT
As long as LED lights don't have noisy power sources that cause interference like many CCFLs, there isn't much problem.
Like this Reply to this comment by professionaladventurer March 18, 2010 3:53 PM PDT
I use only CFL and LED lights, LED's are way behind brightness/cost wise.
Like this Reply to this comment by jscott418 March 18, 2010 7:26 PM PDT
I have had several issues with CFL, so I am hoping LED's will be better. Longevity and quality of light is the most disappointing of the CFL's.
Like this Reply to this comment by monkeyfun14 March 18, 2010 7:51 PM PDT
The only problem with LED's and CFL's is the light is not a warm light. Its a cold bluish light which can be a bit depressing at times.
Like this Reply to this comment by cvaldes1831 March 18, 2010 9:08 PM PDT
The color temperature issue was a big problem five years ago, especially for CFLs. It's not anymore.
Trust me, I have a sh_tty bluish 100W-equivalent CFL banished to my patio; it's the rejected survivor of one of my CFL experiments several years ago.
You were right 3-5 years ago. Today, there are plenty of consumer-grade CFL products that don't totally suck.
Like this by zyxxy March 19, 2010 5:29 AM PDT
cvaldes1831@ Completely correct. I think the worst problem for the CFL companies is the poor results from the first and second generation bulbs put off a lot of customers. I bought one or two a year until the industry finally figured it out, then I installed about 14 throughout the house. I still have incandescent bulbs in locations like the coat closet, which on on for very short duration. For those, I installed door switches, so if the door is closed, the light is off. You also still need incandescent in harsh environments such as appliance bulbs.
Overall, the quality of light from the latest generation of CFL is very good. Warm white where you want it, up to cool white and daylight where you want that. I will agree that they still do not dim very well.
Like this by RideMan March 18, 2010 9:13 PM PDT
I've actually had to remove most of the CFLs from my house and replace them with incandescents because of the problems I've had...they don't work with electronic switches, they don't work with dimmers, they take too long to produce adequate light, they don't come in the brightnesses I need, etc etc etc. I've got places where I'd love to use LEDs, and there are LEDs out there that look gorgeous...but why is it that the Christmas light LEDs seem to be further advanced than the ones intended for household use? I have Christmas LEDs that are a perfect color and a useful brightness, but I can't find a simple nightlight replacement lamp that actually works to use in my living room sconces...
Like this Reply to this comment 1 person likes this comment
by zyxxy March 19, 2010 5:35 AM PDT
I have CFLs lamps all through my house, but I cannot tolerate the LED Christmas tree lights. The flicker from those drives me up the wall. I was at a party this past Holiday and I could not stay in the living room with the tree for more than three or four minutes at a stretch. It was really inconvenient. I was looking to replace my light strings this year and I am really glad that I didn't.
High quality LED lamps don't have any visible flicker at all.
Like this by gsmiller88 March 18, 2010 9:43 PM PDT
I have replaced pretty much all bulbs in my home with CFL's as I was told A) they're more "green" and B) will save on my monthly electric bill. Well I can't comment on the more green part but my electric bill is exactly the same...Even more considering how expensive CFL's are compared to incandescent bulbs.
Like this Reply to this comment by zyxxy March 19, 2010 5:47 AM PDT
It will only make a difference in you bill if your lighting is a significant part of your bill. If you have an electric oven, electric hot water, and an electric dryer, your lighting costs are in the noise.
My house is all gas for the appliances, other than refrigeration of course, and the switch to CFLs was significant. In particular, I focused on lamps that had long run times, particularly during the winter months. Living room, den, kitchen, bath rooms, and one hall light. The rest remain as incandescent. I just went through and counted. Twenty two bulbs in total. I replaced around 1300 Watts of lighting with around 350 watts of lighting. In the winter, twelve of those twenty two are on about seven or eight hours every day. That is a reduction of about 28KWh per week.
Like this 1 person likes this comment
by dragonsky1 March 18, 2010 11:35 PM PDT
Well, I have nearly all CFLs. There have been plenty on the market for years now that are able to produce accurate lighting and coloring, and they last much longer than incandescent. I put four in my ceiling fan 6 years ago, and three are still lit, with one going out just this week. Not to mention they have saved me some money on my electric bill, though it was never that high to begin with.
Though when LEDs become affordable, I would definitely give them a try
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