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Incandescent light bulbs are officially banned in the U.S. (www.digitaljournal.com)
submitted 3 years ago by [M, B] to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Incandescent light bulbs are officially banned in the U.S.::America’s ban on incandescent light bulbs, 16 years in the making, is finally a reality. Well, mostly.

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[–] 39 points 3 years ago (1 child)

Yes they can. Also your fridge and oven will still have incandescent bulbs because more efficient lights aren't great at operating in extreme temperatures.

manufacturers can still build and stores can continue selling:

Appliance lamps, including fridge and oven lights
Black lights
Bug lamps
Colored lamps
Infrared lamps
Left-handed thread lamps
Plant lights
Floodlights
Reflector lamps
Showcase lamps
Traffic signals
Some other specialty lights, including marine lamps and some odd-sized bulbs
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  • [–] 11 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    We have an LED light bar in our deep freezer and also our mini fridge. LEDs seem to work absolutely fine in the cold actually.

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  • [–] 19 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

    Yeah, LEDs are pretty ideal in the cold as long as they're properly sealed from humidity. They don't heat up your fridge extra every time you open the door. Oven lights definitely wouldn't work unless you want a nice plastic glaze on top of the cake you're baking.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    You are correct about everything but I feel I should point out that the amount of heat produced by an incandescent bulb in your fridge is miniscule compared to the heat energy of the warm air that enters your fridge as soon as you open the door. Cold air sinks due to its density and so when you open the door it all falls out and your fridge must work it's ass off to cool all the new air back down to the set temperature. The heat added by an incandescent bulb for a few seconds is basically irrelevant.

    This is also why chest freezers are so tremendously efficient. When you open the lid, the cold air stays inside. Very little mixing occurs with the rest of the environment.

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  • [–] -1 points 3 years ago

    Yeah, it's not a lot of heat, but it starts making a bigger difference once you've got the fridge packed full of stuff (less air loss, also makes it take longer to find stuff, so the light stays on longer). I've had items at the back near the bulb get extra freezer burned because of the constant heating/cooling. That was quite an old fridge/freezer though, so not the most efficient to start with, and the temperature control could have been better.

    I do love chest freezers. They're way more efficient and I find a lot easier to organize too. There's some fridge/freezer combos that have a freezer drawer, but I've yet to find one that's fully enclosed so all the cold air stays in. Most I've seen have wire baskets or something for the drawer... Having space for a separate chest freezer is not a luxury everyone has.

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