Lightbulb Mania

Ah, the perfect outlet for my OCD. The state of Vermont is subsidizing the purchase of LED lightbulbs, yet another cool way the Green Mountain State is encouraging more eco-friendly choices not to mention saving some money. Our electricity bills are generally speaking pretty reasonable, in no small part because we make an effort to reduce our consumption. We have fluorescent lights wherever it's reasonable, but in many instances, fluorescent lights leave me a little flat. The light is never quite as warm, they take awhile to warm up, and the mercury issue is always on my mind. They make fluorescent flood lightbulbs and they really don't work very well.

When they came out with LED bulbs, I thought they were a great option but so darn expensive. To replace a $5 floodlight was going to cost about $30, which is pretty outrageous for a bulb. They apparently last longer, about 10-12 years, and they reduce your energy consumption, but I just can't get past that initial $30 outlay. No thank you. Even the regular 60W bulbs can cost you about $15.

You can imagine my surprise when I was visiting a friend, SH, when he told me he got the bulbs at Home Depot for $5 a pop. I go to HD all the time and found that this was not the case, but I didn't realize I was going to a HD in NH. He is close to Rutland and since it's Vermont, which as I mentioned is subsidizing the price of the bulbs, they are $5 each. I couldn't believe it. Rutland is a bit too far, so I called the Lebanon HD and they said they had coupons for VT residents that brought the price down to $5, but only for select bulbs. I then called Aubuchon and sure enough, they had bulbs for $5 a pop. How stoked was I?

Under ordinary circumstances, $5 a bulb is not cheap, especially when a normal incandescent bulb is less than a dollar, but it seems to be the wave of the future. There is talk about phasing out incandescent bulbs completely, and I know in certain countries this has already happened. So, as you can imagine, I am in the process of replacing some of the bulbs in our house. I like the LED bulbs better, they give off a warmer light and in most cases they use less electricity than even fluorescent bulbs. Plus, they last for 10 years, how can you beat that. Finally, and this is a superfluous quality, but they look cool. Enough said, show the light bulbs.

For now I am only replacing the incandescent lights, but who knows what the future will hold? Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to samsungtomorrow for the pic.