Have you tried shopping for lightbulbs lately?
When our ClockTower was 14 years old in 1900, lightbulbs were handblown and cost half a day’s pay for the average U.S. worker.
Today with a national average pay of about $43,000/year, that’s about $90 to buy a single bulb.
The new halogen$ and LED’$ are pricey compared to the cheap stuff we’ve been burning up till now.
First the sad news.
The old cheap-but-expensive-to-burn lightbulbs of our youth are no more.
We can still get CFL’s. (compact florescent)
But the light they make is ugly.
If you are a dimmer-junkie like I am you’ll want the halogens; lightbulbs with their wire filament inside a smaller glass capsule, like a bulb within a bulb.
Old style lightbulbs burned in a vacuum which is why their “pop!” could be so loud. Without air to support combustion, the glowing wire filament would last for 750 or 800 hours.
Today the filament is burning inside halogen gas; whiter, hotter, more efficient but still dim-able and warm in color when the level is dialed down.
If you are confused about what to buy, drop a note and I’ll try to help you figure it out.
But I’m probably as confused as you are at the moment.
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