The Fine Art of Family Magazine

We know Congress told you to get rid of them by 2012, but the truth is you should hold onto your incandescent light bulbs. They are well on their way to becoming precious antiques (and collectibles!) sooner than you think. Here’s why, plus a fun new way to enjoy these bulbs without affecting your electricity bill.

An Illuminating Past

In 1879, a light bulb burnt for 13 hours. It was Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb (here’s an early sketch that he created in his laboratory notebook), and it revolutionized the way the world lived. Within the last 80 years, Edison’s little light bulb hasn’t changed very much. The differences between the incandescents of the 1930s and those of today are very subtle, says Hal Wallace, curator of the Electricity Collections in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.

A Dim Present

Incandescent light bulbs are just about perfect—save the fact that they convert most of their energy into heat rather than light. But their new competition called compact fluorescents light bulbs (aka, CFLs) are incredibly energy efficient, converting just about all of their power into light. One CFL saves $30 or more in electricity costs over its lifetime. If every American replaced just one incandescent light bulb with a CFL, we would save enough electricity to light more than 3 million homes each year.

It’s no wonder that Congress passed a law two years ago to impose energy efficiency standards on all light bulbs starting in 2012. So far only one incandescent can make the grade, but its efficiency is still far behind that of the CFL. Soon enough, the best place to find incandescents won’t be store shelves, but rather history books.

A Bright Future

Antique light bulbs are hard to come by, Wallace says. In the good ’ole days, energy companies delivered light bulbs to customers’ homes. When they burnt out, the companies picked them up and threw them out. Now, the majority of antique light bulbs are in museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, and the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

eBay has some antique light bulbs for sale (we found one for as low as $0.99!). But if you wait around long enough, that bulb in your living room will be antique—one that you can pass down to your kids’ kids. Don’t want to wait to enjoy your newly discovered heirlooms? Veronica Peterson, blogger at Design^Sprout, recommends turning them into unique hanging bud vases now.

Photography courtesy of U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service, Thomas Edison, National Historical Park, and Veronica Peterson, Design^Sprout

Published on December 22, 2009

Tags: Celebrating, Collections, Design, Everyday Heirlooms 2110, Heirlooms, Home Style