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It appears incandescent bulbs have not been banned, but low-efficiency designs have been. [1] I still see incandescent GE Reveal bulbs at the store all the time. [2]

> light bulbs using incandescent lighting technology were not banned by the government. More accurately, save for a few exceptions, any lamp failing to meet the energy standards set by EISA in 2007 could no longer be manufactured.

[1] https://insights.regencylighting.com/was-there-actually-an-i...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VCLT6G/

These low-efficiency designs are low-efficiency because they have a lower temperature. The old ones were around 2400 K while these newer ones are more blue at 3000+ K. This is what I want to avoid for night lighting.

> I wonder if banning incandescent bulbs will be seen as a horrible health problem caused by an ill informed government.

Most health problems are. Obeisity, diabetes certainly. Probably many others can be traced to government guidelines on "healthy" diet.

This is a very careless thing to say. Most health problems are probably due to accident, contagion, sedentary lifestyle, and old age.

> US has banned incandescent light bulbs for the standard bulb sizes

Um, what? They're still all over the place... the supermarket next to my apartment carries incandescent bulbs, as does the city's Home Depot.

You can still get them, labeled as "rugged service" or for other special purpose. They are about 10x the former price. I bought about 100 60-watt bulbs before the ban was imposed.

I just bought bulbs from Home Depot yesterday. Specifically, the chandelier style base. Home Depot had a package of 4 incandescent bulbs for <$5USD[0]. They sold a set of 3 LED bulbs with the same base for just under $7USD[1]. To the average consumer, the LEDs are way too expensive.

I'm not sure I'd agree that incandescent bulbs are 10x the former price. However, you may be thinking of the Edison style bulbs that are trendy now. One of these bulbs does cost as much as the multi-packs[2]. They also have these in LED style for even higher prices.

[0]:https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sylvania-25-Watt-Double-Life-B10... [1]:https://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart-40-Watt-Equivalent-B11-... [2]:https://www.homedepot.com/p/Globe-Electric-60-Watt-Incandesc...

The LEDs you linked are also about twice as bright at 1/5th the power consumption.

Say you have one light bulb running three hours per day (living room, kitchen or office in the evening seems realistic). It uses 20 W more than the LED and using $0.15 per kWh (average rate in California) this gives

20 W* 3h * $0.15/(1000 Wh) * 365 = $3.29 every year

If you regularly use two incandescent bulbs the "more expensive package" paid for itself within a year and gives you brighter light at the same time.

But that involves math. The average consumer isn't looking at that. They just look at the prices in front of them.

I really think the price/wattage comparison thing needs to be the entire packaging design. I overheard a sales person helping a shopper choosing a generator size by adding up the wattage of all of the devices needed including lights. I turned into the conversation to politely suggest using LEDs for lighting because of the lower wattage requirements. Both the sales person and the shopper were shocked at the difference.

Thanks for the info. "Rugged service" or "long life" seem to be the magic words for finding them.

> Plus, LEDs don't have anything like a blackbody spectrum like a heated filaments

What is the physiological mechanism you suspect makes this matter?

I don't see any real way an LED which is metameric with sunlight would be able to make a difference (except possibly for people with some form of color blindness - who could possibly have different metamer "groups")

UK: 'industrial' ruggedised filament lamps are still available in 40w and 60w ratings in UK. Halogen lamps are available as well and look to have a warm spectrum.

So a 2000K bulb or a 2700K LED bulb is not much better than a warmer one? Or they are, but worse than incandescent?

How are halogen bulbs?