Interesting, today I learned they did ban manufacturing of them. Can't say I mourn the loss of them, given their costs to society and the environment. If an irrational consumer choice harms everyone then regulation seems appropriate.

Hardly an irrational consumer choice. I miss them so much. At first I though CFLs were a really good idea (less energy used, yaaaay) but after using them i realize they can't compare to incandescent bulbs. The brightness and light quality just suck compared to incandescent bulbs. And yes, I've tried every light bulb under the sun. My bedroom is so dark. I even added an extra lamp to my living room and it is still darker than when I was using incandescent.

I tried using CFLs, I really did. I really wanted to like them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-out_of_incandescent_light...

You can still buy incandescents. 100 watt bulbs are phased out currently (though still available), but only those. 100 watt bulbs are incredibly wasteful, I never used them due to the fact that they convert most of their energy to heat and I live in a warm area, so they not only wasted power in irradiated heat, but power from climate control. They also are a fire risk (we had a fire in my house when I was a kid from a lamp with a 100 watt bulb falling over).

I have 60 watt incandescents in my local stores (they're not phased out until 2020), though I don't buy them since CFLs work for me. If you just need illumination, you can buy a 35 watt CFL bulb with as much lumen output as a 120 watt incandescent, though I usually get lower wattage ones and spend a little more to get ones with a color temp I like. If you guy them at a hardware store they have a lot more selection and you can choose your color temperature. Assuming you like warm color temps like incandescents, LED bulbs are still a little pricey, but you can get LEDs in the 3000-4000k range that can output more lumens than a 100 watt incandescent at a 10th the power draw. They last long enough to eventually make up their up front cost in energy savings.

Last time I went to the store they weren't there.

And once again "as much lumen output as a 120 watt incandescent" just isn't the case in reality. I've tried every lightbulb at every color temp and nothing works for me. Say that as much as you want but the light output sucks. I spent probably $60 on lightbulbs trying to find one to light my bedroom and the only thing that would help is buying about 2 more lamps. The same lamp worked fine to light my bedroom with an incandescent bulb year ago.

I had done (what I thought at the time was) the good thing and switched over. Now that I am sick of it and I want to go back it is very difficult to find them in the stores and if I bought online I'd pay an arm and a leg.

Since I illuminate an aquarium with plants in it I kind of obsess on various types of lamps, their lumen output, and color temp. I checked my notes - I had a 40 watt CFL as an experiment in lighting a tank (I don't think they make 35 watt ones). The output was not that impressive, and it had a very warm almost pink color to it. After looking into it, it had a hardware problem, so I returned it and got a replacement. The output was mind bogglingly bright, and had the expected color temp. (still too warm for my liking). So perhaps you just got a bad one?

If you want the equivalent lumens, just find a build that outputs 1600 lumens. The lumens from a properly functioning 32 watt CFL are 2112, so they put out more light than a 100 watt incandescent, but if somehow that wasn't bright enough, they make 40, 42 and other higher wattage ones that are even brighter. My local Lowes has a huge range, as does WalMart in their lighting area. Think about lighting in terms of desired lumens and desired color temperature (good bulbs list both on their box - crap ones don't) and you'll be able to find something that works for what you want that's more efficient than incandescents.

Dunno why you don't believe me but I spent plenty of money on CFLs already and plenty of time researching them and i am still not happy. I have a whole cabinet full of lightbulbs as a result. More than I'll probably ever be able to use. I do and did understand lumens and color temp but the actual results suck in practice. Yes I currently have three 32 watt CFLs in three different rooms.

It's not irrational, my eyes get incredibly dry and burn after several days of CFL light. CFLs leak ton of UV [1]. It got to a point where I couldn't use a computer or read a book for longer than about an hour, even with copious use of eye drops. Fortunately I figured out the culprit.

This is one of examples why totalitarian decisions like banning incandescent bulbs are always bad. Banning something only makes sense when it impacts third parties.

LEDs are way too expensive to be economical now.

[1] http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/120-a387/