Indeed I feel the same about combustion engines too. They won't really go away per se, but they will definitely be dethroned in the coming times.

We shall see how the bulb phenomenon plays out I guess. I'm hoping to buy or build my own fixture and use a MV lamp. Should start collecting those


I'm an old soul trapped in a young person's body, the world is changing too fast for me 

Fortunately, finding a vintage MV luminaire and even lamp is still easy. Even on Kijiji they sometimes show up. A few years ago, Princess Auto used to sell the 175w MV yard lights but they stopped selling them but they still sell the lamps for it. 

Well... I'm 27, that's close enough 

Yeah, but you're a guy     

Yeah, but you're a guy     

I guess nobody's perfect... 

I've heard there's some sort of surgery that can turn me into a dudette! 

...no?

Well then let's keep things the way they are.

Oh yeah, it's possible, most things are these days, but I haven't found a way to take 40 years off my age yet 

Oh yeah, it's possible, most things are these days, but I haven't found a way to take 40 years off my age yet 

If only time travel were possible

Then I pay a visit to 30-40 years in the past to save some lighting.

To be honest this is both good news and bad news. I’m a lighting enthusiast, but I also think that the environment should be protected at all costs and inconveniences.
It’s bad news for people that still rely on older mercury vapor lighting, and for lighting enthusiasts who collect and use these lamps.

It’s also good news that countries are taking more steps toward phasing out products that are manufactured using toxic materials that can be damaging to general health and to the surrounding environment. I like the reliability and beautiful glow of mercury vapor lighting as much as anyone else here, but I think they’re right that it’s time for a change. Mercury is seriously toxic, and mercury pollution is definitely an important issue to address. Mercury vapor lighting has also been succeeded by more efficient lighting technologies (not saying it has to be LED, but it can be) that also help to conserve electricity and therefore natural resources needed to generate that electricity, lowering pollution and CO2 emissions that lead climate change.

The past should be preserved (as it is by people here collecting HID lamps!) but change isn’t always bad. Hanging on to only mercury vapor lighting and not using newer technologies is like using CRT displays only and refusing OLED or LCD. I’m not attacking or trying to upset anyone here with different opinions, just stating mine.

As I said, I just support anything that can combat environmental damage, pollution, and climate change. I also strongly support protecting the health of anyone that could be poisoned by mercury, as stated in the convention agreement on this thread.

@ HPS_250 - I respect your opinion, but don't forget that LED uses a lot of toxic materials in its manufacture and disposal. And mercury in MV lamps is self-contained, unless you go around breaking them open; as long as they're taken to a disposal facility where they can be dealt with properly, there's no danger. I've heard of people calling out the hazmat team when they break a CFL, which is just plain ridiculous.

Here, we plan on using incandescents until we can no longer get supplies, then it will be back to candles and oil lamps, unless they try and ban those as well 

LPS lamps, of course, don't contain any toxic materials at all worth speaking about, the sodium is easily dealt with by breaking lamps in a bucket and dousing with water from a hose 

@ HPS_250 - I respect your opinion, but don't forget that LED uses a lot of toxic materials in its manufacture and disposal. And mercury in MV lamps is self-contained, unless you go around breaking them open; as long as they're taken to a disposal facility where they can be dealt with properly, there's no danger. I've heard of people calling out the hazmat team when they break a CFL, which is just plain ridiculous.

Here, we plan on using incandescents until we can no longer get supplies, then it will be back to candles and oil lamps, unless they try and ban those as well 

LPS lamps, of course, don't contain any toxic materials at all worth speaking about, the sodium is easily dealt with by breaking lamps in a bucket and dousing with water from a hose 

I won’t forget that, unfortunately LED lamps do contain some toxic materials as well. I haven’t broken a mercury-containing lamp before, but I do think that if mercury can be eliminated from the manufacture of lamps, it should be.

Of course incandescent and LPS lamps don’t contain toxic materials, which is great! I understand that incandescent lamps were phased out since they are inefficient and produce a lot of heat, but I still do not understand why LPS lamps can’t be kept in production and service. I don’t know of any dangers associated with them, and as you said, they don’t contain mercury. I would fully support keeping LPS lamps in production, since they’re very safe and efficient, not to mention the beautiful orange glow!   

I would fully support keeping LPS lamps in production, since they’re very safe and efficient, not to mention the beautiful orange glow!   

Sadly though, with the closure of the last remaining factory at Hamilton, that will never be 

Sadly though, with the closure of the last remaining factory at Hamilton, that will never be 

It’s so surreal how this happened!, growing up with the LPS lamp, you would never have imagined that production would actually end, even when the HPS lamp slowly started to take over here in the mid 90s for street lighting, if someone would have told me they would stop making SOX in 2019, I I would have laughed at them!
And although I do like our LED street lighting today, I often find myself either looking out of the bedroom window at night, or driving too and from work on dark winter nights, and I can’t believe their all gone!

And in such a small space of time too!

Sadly though, with the closure of the last remaining factory at Hamilton, that will never be 

Unfortunately that’s true… 
LPS could have been a dominant lighting technology to avoid toxic materials and decrease energy consumption, but it never became that. It can still be preserved by people here though, no matter how much of the world’s lighting becomes LED!

@HPS_250, I respect this opinion. Mercury lamps are hazardous, but only when the inner envelope breaks. I’m all for LEDs as streetlights as long as they properly dispose of old fixtures and lamps and that the LEDs aren’t glarebombs. LEDs do use harsh chemicals and emit blue light, hopefully they try to get rid of those as the technology progresses.

Unfortunately that’s true… 
LPS could have been a dominant lighting technology to avoid toxic materials and decrease energy consumption, but it never became that. It can still be preserved by people here though, no matter how much of the world’s lighting becomes LED!

Indeed, and we do have enough spares to keep our two lanterns that are in daily use supplied 

Honestly , most mercury vapor lamps contain very little mercury . Granted , some of the older , original lamps (A-H1 for example) DO contain a decent amount of mercury which is sealed in the arc tube. as long as the arc tube is intact , the mercury is safely contained inside . And as long as they are disposed of properly as sox35 said , they're completely harmless .

 Besides , mercury lamps have been used and disposed of for close to 80 years now. If they were really gonna destroy us all , it would have happen a long time ago !!!