Banning incandescent lamps?

I was stationed at Ft Greely, in the early '70s. It was closed several years ago, and is being 'remodeled' for a new use. I spent a night at Ft Wainwright, on the way to Ft Greely. The Fairbanks Airport was the closest commercial flight.

Fairbanks is really up there! I visited a few years ago and trekked up to Denali from Anchorage. There was one section where we got no FM reception whatsoever. I was running pretty low on gas on the way back, which was a bit nerve wracking with two six year olds in the car. I think we drove about 140 miles between gas stations.

Or you could always try driving the Dempster Highway, starts about 20 miles east of Dawson City, goes to Inuvik, NWT in summer and to Tuktoyaktuk in winter. From Klondike Corner (start of the Dempster) gas station to Eagle Plains, which is the next gas station, is 231 miles. Not the longest in the world by any means, but certainly an interesting highway and one every Canadian (at least) should drive. The Inuvik - Tuktoyaktuk section on 8 - 10 feet of Mackenzie River ice and Beaufort Sea ice is also INTERESTING! Yep, I've done it, the Dempster about 5 times and the Tuk section a couple of times - why? have a son and 2 grandchildren up there in Inuvik. Mike in BC

Use an industrial cabinet heater, many times the cost of a light bulb (say $20) but you'll only have to buy it once, they are self regulating to maintain a set temperature and remove the need to change it to a higher output when the temperature really drops.

And I'll chime in about the circular ones. Bought 4, dual ring bulb type, 2 died in 6 months, 2 in 8. Replaced bulbs in all (100 effing Canadian dollars from Home Depot!), all died in a week, obviously the ballasts went South. Bring me those halogen 150-watters! /mark

I just had my first dead out of the box CFL yesterday - bought a 30 watt Sylvania curly Q type CFL for a lamp, it lit for about 1 second, went dim and out - base gets hot and no light - bought another one of slightly lower wattage, it's working fine - Used to be Sylvania was a good brand - wonder what happened to quality control -

The electrical and lighing supply houses will gladly sell you the same crap that The Borg will - If the price sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The two brands I tell people to avoid like the Plague are 'Lights of America' and 'Dabmar' - they do have a few good models with decent internals, but try to pick them out in a hurry...

Even the reputable lines like GE, Lithonia, Progress Lighting, Elite, Juno, Kichler, RAB, Simkar and Mc-Graw Edison (to rattle off just a few) make some junk with Chinese ballasts and Indonesian parts, but they are usually good about labeling them with a euphemism like "Value Line" or "Builder Model" to tip off the buyers.

Tract home developers love the "Builder Model" fixtures because they're cheap first and foremost, don't look hideous, the Fluorescent or HID models meet the "Energy Efficiency Guidelines", and they will last at least long enough for the house to pass inspection and clear escrow - and that's all the builders worry about.

For tract houses, it's up to the resident to pick out the fixture designs they like and put them up after they've bought the house and decided how they're decorating it. But the builder has to put up something to cover that empty box on the ceiling, they can't pass Final and sell the place without a permanent fixture installed.

For custom homes, the owner was involved in the decision process and picked out the fixtures they wanted ahead of time, and are willing to pay the extra for a good fixture the first time.

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