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Incandescent light bulbs date back to Victorian times, when Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison created their earliest ancestors. Around 150 years later, from 2009 to 2012, EU legislation banned production of most types of incandescent in favour of more energy-efficient light forms. For this reason, most incandescent products available today are either low-wattage or specialist bulbs, though lighting retailers can still legitimately sell existing stocks. A special ‘rough service’ lamp with reinforced construction may also be sold for industrial use.
A diverse range of incandescent bulbs are still available from Lyco:
Since the phase-out of many types of incandescent bulb, energy-saving halogen technology has largely replaced the older style of bulb. Halogen lighting of any type produces a slightly cooler light than incandescent – usually in the region of 3000K against the incandescent 2700K.
Both types of light have a typical CRI 100 score and are exceptional for colour rendering, though halogen is a little more balanced when rendering short wavelength colours such as violets and blues.
Original halogen technology is only fractionally more energy-efficient than incandescent, whilst energy-saving halogen is normally 20-30% more energy-efficient. It achieves this by use of krypton or xenon gases rather than argon, or by use of an IR reflective coating on the quartz halogen envelope. Both designs enable the filament to burn brighter whilst using the same power.
Incandescent light bulbs are usually 80-90% less energy-efficient than LED or CFL equivalents. This is because an incandescent bulb produces its light purely through thermal radiation, wasting the vast majority of its used power in producing invisible IR heat.
One of the great attractions of incandescent lighting is that it produces a warm, cosy light that helps us relax in home or hospitality environments. Unlike a halogen bulb, LED and CFL light sources are obtainable with this exact warm quality of light, though their colour rendering ability and overall hue is more variable.