The planned obsolescence of incandescent light bulbs is largely a myth. While there are plenty of real examples of planned obsolescence, with incandescent light bulbs there are engineering tradeoffs between longevity and efficiency. Basically, the longer lasting a bulb is, the dimmer and less efficient it is. If you've ever seen any of the supposed 100 year old bulbs, you'll notice that they're extremely dim. Before, during, and after the Phoebus cartel incandescent light bulbs were (and still are!) standardized to 1000 hours. Why? Because that happens to be a good trade off between longevity and efficiency. It just doesn't make sense to waste an extra $5 on electricity to make a $1 light bulb last longer.<p>You have always been able to buy long life incandescent light bulbs, and still can to this day. They're called rough service bulbs, made for ovens and closets and areas used infrequently. People just never used them for general purpose lighting because they're dim and power hungry.<p>If you read the report by the British monopolies commission quoted in this article, you'll notice that they came to the same conclusion [1]. Pop science articles and Reddit love to bring out the Phoebus cartel over and over as an example of planned obsolescence, but always completely ignore the factors that go into making a good incandescent light bulb.<p>[1]<a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/235313/0287.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...</a>
In a bit of synchronicity, Dubai has sponsored development of more efficient and longer lived (via underdriving) LED lamps, and exclusivity enforcement means that you are prevented from being able to buy these longer-lived lamps: <a href="https://hackaday.com/2021/01/17/leds-from-dubai-the-royal-lights-you-cant-buy/" rel="nofollow">https://hackaday.com/2021/01/17/leds-from-dubai-the-royal-li...</a>
Veritasium made a video that reviews the history and presents the topic in an engaging way.<p>"This is why we can't have nice things" - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5v8D-alAKE" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5v8D-alAKE</a>
The magical longer life <i>and</i> more efficient incandescent bulb was invented of course: The halogen bulb. It got around the previous physics barrier: That the hotter the filament (and therefore whiter and brighter the light), the more quickly it deteriorated to the point of failure.<p>To me, hot as they ran (fire hazard if used improperly) halogens were the pinnacle of artificial light quality. Of course I've changed all mine to LEDs now. The LEDs give adequate light and are better in every other way. But the light from halogen bulbs was beautiful.
Standardizing a 1000 hr bulb life vs standardizing a 30% commission to host an app, is it really a coincidence or are cartels just better at hiding it now?
Pynchon's "Byron the Bulb", the great example of American Sublime according to Harold Bloom, is a paranoid story about this very affair <a href="https://www.tildedave.com/byron.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.tildedave.com/byron.html</a>
There's a fantastic Throughline podcast episode on the Phoebus Cartel: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/03/27/707188193/the-phoebus-cartel" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/2019/03/27/707188193/the-phoebus-cartel</a>.
I often wonder is their is a Phoebus equivalent in the SmartPhone market.<p>I am unsure how we got to a point where the life span of a $900-$1,200 device is measured in months not years is acceptable but is seems to me it would have to involve some conspiracy especially when the technology they replaced or augmented (traditional phones and laptops) where all measured in years, multiple years.
Hm. Wondering how planned obsolescence (PO) can be fought.<p>The first step of solving a problem is defining it.<p>Maybe if there was a website where enough people self-reported device failures out of spite, wonder if that would help pinpoint PO cases. Incidentally it may solve the fake review issue.<p>An open source bug reporting tool but for IRL failures. BBB comes to mind.<p>Just a random and free idea.
The Omnibus Podcast with Ken Jennings did an episode on this last year.<p><a href="https://www.omnibusproject.com/276" rel="nofollow">https://www.omnibusproject.com/276</a>
not sure how much things have changed. A couple years back i had a few brand new, expensive led bulbs. I expect my light bulbs to last at least a couple of years. There supposedly long life light bulbs began flickering after just a few months.
Strangely Youtube suggested exactly this topic on my feed last week and weird enough it isn't the first time I've seen stuff on HN after it popping on there. Just an observation.
Back in a day I kept receipts for all bulbs and pestered Home Depot with refunds for failed bulbs.<p>Can't affect fraudulent cartels but can apply pressure on merchants not to carry flawed merchandise