Went to my local Home Repo today and they still have a large ass't of fluorescent , HID , halogen  and the specialty/high wattage incandescent along with the customary LEDs . Absolutely 0 HID fixtures though !!

Stock up some these as you can, because that won't last forever.

Once lockdown lightings up here where I am, I'll check mine out too. Right now they are only curbside. The online store says they are in stock with fluorescents still and same with Lowes so it should be ok

I think you need a proof reader 

Time to start ordering bulbs online.
I'm sure restore will have lots of used fluorescent and Hid light bulbs

Time to start ordering bulbs online.
I'm sure restore will have lots of used fluorescent and Hid light bulbs

I can feel your pain. T12 tubes in Lithuania, like the good old quality stuff from Pila and GE or Tungsram got banned in 2004 when the new laws of "nature preservation and energy savings" got passed trough all of Europe. Yes, some stores did continue to sell the t12 tubes right up until 2012. 2012 was the year I saw the last case of Tungsram F40T12 tubes disappeared from the shelves. Unfortunately, by that time I wasn't too much into tube collecting, because I was still a kid. If I would have been older I would have stocked up on them T12 bulbs 5 cases of 25 for each size and color. But I can't complain too much because at this time I have a pretty good selection of T12 tubes. Mostly I got them from lamp graveyards in the deep forbidden basements of schools, offices, etc. and I am now able to use my vintage soviet F40T12 preheat fixtures with appropriate tubes. But I won't last long. My favorite tubes are Cool white ones, I have about 15 spare Tungsram F40T12 tubes in Cool White, but 15 is nothing compared to a life time. And yes I have about 300 Daylight tubes, all NOS, but I can't stand Daylight, its too cold for me.. I have so many of them because Daylight was the standard in all schools, and schools is where I get all of my tubes.. I tried looking online, them t12 tubes do not exist in Europe any longer.. and to buy from ebay.. some ugly ass looking cheap 640 cw tubes from chine with teenie weenie itsy bitsy 1k hour lasting cathodes barely sprinkled with emitter wont last damn half a year in a fixture, but they cost 10 bucks each!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I think I'll try my luck in more schools tube graveyards and stock up on some more tubes from there, because its the last place you can find them to this day. T12 is king, was king and will be king for me. T8 and T5 ain't got shait on them. My rant is over. 

I know the reason Some states  have banned T12
 If  look on T12! Fluorescent case  there about 5 states
  That compleatly banned T12.   U will  have import them
  From other States  that still sells fluorescent.  Philips
   Now importing T12 tubes from India on Old European
   Machinery.  So i suppect these altos will have higher quailty
   tripple coil cathodes.
   

The transition to LED-only has pretty much ended my trips to the lighting department of hardware stores. It actually started a while ago when my state imposed a tax on the purchase of any mercury-containing lamp. I remember explaining to a guy in line about that when he bought a pack of fluorescent tubes. He was irate; I told him to look on craigslist instead as people often give away old stocks of lamps or fixtures with lamps cheaply. I also remember talking to a guy who was upset he couldn't find a 175w mercury lamp for his yard light. I told him to call me and I'd sell him one of my spares for $5 but he never called.

I think the only way to avoid having to use LED is to have a stockpile of NOS lamps, but if a disaster ever happens and the stockpile is destroyed...well, I guess LEDs will be the only option. I use eBay to find smaller lamps, and I fortunately still have a fair amount of spare 4' fluorescent lamps, which seem to last about 20 years so I should hopefully be OK the rest of my life.

It is very sad though that LEDs have become the be-all end-all of all types of lighting. I didn't expect that would happen until the last couple of years when I saw the writing on the wall.

But you know what’s coming next?, they’ll monitor your usage through smart meters, and if you’re lighting loads seems ‘a little high’?, they might come investigate individual households!

I know that’s just a crazy conspiracy theory at the minute  but the way their clamping down on climate change, I wouldn’t say that may not be the case in years to come! 

But you know what’s coming next?, they’ll monitor your usage through smart meters, and if you’re lighting loads seems ‘a little high’?, they might come investigate individual households!

I know that’s just a crazy conspiracy theory at the minute  but the way their clamping down on climate change, I wouldn’t say that may not be the case in years to come! 

Does this mean that someone in the UK would get fined or imprisoned for using ‘inefficient’ light bulbs or be forced to give up their collections of ‘inefficient’ light bulbs and fixtures?

Yes,

of course.
They will ring the doorbell at 5 a.m., then you will be arrested,
put in prison for 20 years and the collection will be recycled ...

Greetings from Hamburg

Olav

Does this mean that someone in the UK would get fined or imprisoned for using ‘inefficient’ light bulbs or be forced to give up their collections of ‘inefficient’ light bulbs and fixtures?

Lol Olav! No, if this was ever implemented, they would probably just cut your supply off until you conformed! 
Like I say, that’s just a crazy conspiracy theory, but look what happened throughout 2020 with Covid restrictions, partying in the UK was gate crashed by ‘Covid police’, and host’s were fined £10,000 for organising them!

Depending on how communistic they want to take climate change, what’s stopping them from monitoring what lighting people are using in the next 30 years??

Depending on how communistic they want to take climate change, what’s stopping them from monitoring what lighting people are using in the next 30 years??

Makes me glad I'm not likely to be around. By the way, can we steer the discussion away from political talk, please 

Lol yeah, figure of speech, but you can see it can’t you?, it’s like smart meters and the Covid vaccine, their not compulsory at the minute, but the more people refuse them, the more the establishment will move to make them mandatory!

'twas ever thus 

Although I don't mind smart meters, since we've had them the little display box that measures consumption in real time has helped us keep our bills down a bit. And I don't see any reason not to have the Covid vaccine. But that's me, YMMV as they say (whoever 'they' are, they've got a lot to answer for if you ask me  )

Does this mean that someone in the UK would get fined or imprisoned for using ‘inefficient’ light bulbs or be forced to give up their collections of ‘inefficient’ light bulbs and fixtures?

I don't see it, they wouldn't have the manpower to enforce it, even if they wanted to.

Anyway, back on topic please, people. The question is have they stopped making fluorescent lights, not what is highly unlikely to happen if you still have any in 30 years time.

Back on topic, despite California having some of the strictest efficiency standards and outlawing just about everything non-LED, my Home Depot as of currently still sells F32T8 / F40T12 strips such as my Matalux by Cooper, along with T5, T8, and T12 tubes, primarily of the standard median wattages as well as color temperatures such as daylight, cool white, and kitchen & bath along with the assorted replacement ballasts. However I’m not sure how long they will remain available as it depends among retailers, so I’d stock up if you can.