I'm in a nasty frame of mind right now, and this is what my 'tism brain decided to laser focus on for several hours. I'm mad that my light bulbs cost 10x more than they used to, and don't last any longer, and my power bill is higher than ever.
Yeah yeah, I know, it's probably just capitalism shitting it up on purpose for profit. And bulb science is probably solid, I guess. I'm just pissed off that I just barely managed to scrape through this pay period with $2.78 left in the bank before I default on my mortgage.
Anyway, any lightbulb science comrades got any info?
This is a really interesting article on lightbulbs, which have a pretty conspiratorial past: https://interestingengineering.com/science/everlasting-lightbulbs-exist-ed
Did you know that a secret meeting was held in Geneva in 1924 between lightbulb manufacturers that lead to the formation of the 'Pheobus Cartel'?
"The main objective of this cartel was to agree to control the supply of light bulbs. Each understood that if any one of them managed to develop a long-lasting light bulb, the need for replacement bulbs would likely dry up.
Bulbs were lasting too long. Not ideal from their point of view.
So, to combat this, all members of the cartel agreed to reduce the lifespan of bulbs on purpose. Initially, this was set to no more than 1,000 hours!"
The longest-lasting lightbulb was first turned on it 1901 and is still shining.
EDIT: Seems this is a myth, see replies for more information!
Here is a really interesting video on lightbulbs which goes into how the light bulb cartel standard was more of a min-maxing of lifespan vs energy cost vs brightness than it was planned obsolescence.
Thank you for the correction!
That's a cop-out. Why else would the companies agree to a fine for every bulb that exceeded a certain lifespan?