4 ms·

Planned obsolescence would be changing the base on the lamp every few years so that people would have to buy new fixtures when they can't buy replacement bulbs

by bcoates 10y ago

Planned obsolescence would be changing the base on the lamp every few years so that people would have to buy new fixtures when they can't buy replacement bulbs anymore. Author is not using that term correctly. The actually interesting story is about the market failure where customers have no choice but to prefer the thing they can measure (bulb life vs cost) over the more important thing they can't measure (electricity cost over life of bulb).

whoopdedo 10y ago
> Planned obsolescence would be changing the base on the lamp every few years so that people would have to buy new fixtures when they can't buy replacement bulbs anymore. Have you bought a light fixture recently? That sounds like the new state of affairs. Aided by government regulations that require new lamps not be able to accept older "inefficient" bulbs, there's been an explosion in the variety of sockets. I've converted every lamp in my apartment to LED except for one, because it uses a GU24 base that is very difficult to find in anything other than CFL.
- superuser2 10y ago
  Which government? I have not seen this in the US, and I purchased quite a few lamps in the last couple of years. If it happens here I'll be extremely sad. CFLs and LEDs have an extremely strong negative effect on mood for me. Fortunately I can still buy halogens, which aren't quite as cozy but suffice.
  - Obi_Juan_Kenobi 10y ago
    Sounds like you react to bad LEDs. Good ones have stable power supplies that don't ripple, and phosphor coatings that produce fairly even frequency distributions. LEDs for room lighting are still relatively immature, but they're getting there quite quickly.
ced 10y ago
Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence in industrial design and economics is a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time. - Wikipedia Seems fitting to me.

by bcoates 10y ago

whoopdedo 10y ago

> Planned obsolescence would be changing the base on the lamp every few years so that people would have to buy new fixtures when they can't buy replacement bulbs anymore. Have you bought a light fixture recently? That sounds like the new state of affairs. Aided by government regulations that require new lamps not be able to accept older "inefficient" bulbs, there's been an explosion in the variety of sockets. I've converted every lamp in my apartment to LED except for one, because it uses a GU24 base that is very difficult to find in anything other than CFL.

superuser2 10y ago
Which government? I have not seen this in the US, and I purchased quite a few lamps in the last couple of years. If it happens here I'll be extremely sad. CFLs and LEDs have an extremely strong negative effect on mood for me. Fortunately I can still buy halogens, which aren't quite as cozy but suffice.
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 10y ago
  Sounds like you react to bad LEDs. Good ones have stable power supplies that don't ripple, and phosphor coatings that produce fairly even frequency distributions. LEDs for room lighting are still relatively immature, but they're getting there quite quickly.

ced 10y ago

Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence in industrial design and economics is a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time. - Wikipedia Seems fitting to me.