Incandescent Light Bulbs Discount Advice

When shopping for discount light bulbs, the lowest priced bulbs will often be traditional incandescent light bulbs. While arguably compact fluorescent lights might provide long term savings due to increased efficiency, which saves both on the need to replace and on the energy bill, these come at a higher initial cost. What it comes down to is, what will you be using the lights for, how long do they need to last, and how concerned are you with the environment. As we give advice for purchasing discount incandescent light bulbs, we’ll assume you’ve already determined incandescent lightbulbs to be your best solution.

When purchasing replacement incandescent lightbulbs for use in home light fixtures, many people assume the shipping costs offset any savings that might be obtained from purchasing online. While this is a valid point, it is not always true. For example, at sites such as Amazon.com, when you’re purchasing another product it might be possible to purchase discount incandescence light bulbs at the same time without increasing shipping costs. Considering we all know our incandescent light bulbs eventually need to be replaced, keeping extra stock on hand is wise, and adding incandescent lightbulbs to other online orders is a great way to save.

If you’re really keen on savings, search eBay to see if any auctions for bulk incandescent light bulbs are being offered. These do come up from time to time, due largely from retailers liquidating, and we’ve even had opportunities to pick up incandescent at only a few cents per bulb using this method.

The remainder of this article will focus on the actual incandescent lightbulb technology rather than on finding discounts.

Future of Incandescent Light Bulbs

Incandescent light bulbs are widely considered to be a dying technology even though they account for 640 million of the 650 million light bulbs sold each year. This is due to heavy, environmentally focused campaigns to increase light efficiency. The typical incandescent lightbulb has been around longer than the birth of us all. Now unless new technology can assist in providing it with more efficient design, its days may be numbered.

Beginning with Australia, there is already an announced planned ban on these lamps in some countries, while still others have banned it already, and by 2012, the US will follow. The obvious reason is simply that they are far from efficient. To produce the light in the home, the incandescent lightbulb also produces 90% heat. The other meager 10% is the actual light. They are however still of low cost and widely available.

Design of Incandescent Light Bulbs

To construct incandescent lightbulbs, glass is blown into a mold to form the familiar bulb. Then, once cooled, the glass bulb is coated with a material to give it its characteristic white appearance. Next, a tungsten wire is coiled and clamped or welded to the power leads already embedded in another small glass structure. Once this glass structure is inserted into the bulb, the two glass pieces are fused together. A vacuum is drawn on the bulb through a tube and then sealed. Last of all, a base is attached and the lightbulb is finished.

New Hybrid Designs

What to do – Engineers love to solve problems; it’s their profession to do so. A Northern California company Deposition Sciences of Santa Rosa is developing a new incandescent lightbulb that saves 30 watts on a 100 watt lamp. A mirrored coating reflects heat back onto the filament, and according to Norman Boling, vice president and Bob Gray, a fellow scientist at the company, the process “spray paints” a “metal film all over those little glass bulbs.” Gray says, prices of the new light, though now expensive, will fall once hybrids hit the market. Another hybrid incandescent is now manufactured by Philips Lighting: the new Halogena Energy Savers Light bulb. It is 30% more effective than older bulbs and lasts 3 times as long. These lamps are carried by Amazon and Home Depot. Cost is $5. There are others at work on hybrids, so there is still hope that the incandescent light bulb might be around a little longer.