The last HID lanterns to be replaced are those with CosmoWhite lamps as there are still a lot of them which we did install till 2015.

Has Philips issued a commitment how long these lamps will be available? I would have considered the whole system a niche product that never really took off, thus rather guess that these will not be the last HID lamps they withdraw from production.


To answer also the original question: I also think that 2030 is realistic, mainly due to the availability of retrofits. Some collectors here in Germany indeed welcome them and at present try out the various products. One can really like them after seeing often enough how they save the loved old lanterns, in the process even bringing back the old mercury vapor mood and with it a thousand memories.

All I can say is I am glad I embraced my lighting interest and collected what I could afford to, years ago (though I wish I had started doing it when I was younger). Even more than that, getting together with other collectors & enthusiasts and cruising around looking at the remaining incandescent, mercury, fluorescent and other interesting old lighting was wonderful and memorable and I am very happy I had the opportunity to see and photograph many installations that are no longer there. Driving down a main thoroughfare lit exclusively by clear mercury lamps is a magical experience the younger generations will never experience.

I never expected the LED takeover to be quite this fast. It was bad enough with the start of bulb bans and mercury, incandescent and T12 fluorescents going away, but LED has obliterated all other types of light sources and the conversion is happening as frighteningly fast as climate change. I no longer have an interest to go out and search for old lights, or go to the store to buy lamps. I basically consider myself out of the hobby other than maintaining the fixtures that I have at home, and posting old photos. My goal now is just to keep my home lighting working and avoiding converting ANY HID or fluorescent fixtures to LED (I do use LEDs in battery-powered and low-lumen lights or for special effects).

Aside from that I still like designing with light and am happy to help people improve or maintain their lighting of any type, but I get no joy looking at streetlights turning on, or identifying roadway fixtures or trying to see what kind of LED tubes or corn cobs are retrofitted into a fixture now. I could care less. The LED takeover took away my joy and I'm very glad I didn't decide to work in the lighting industry as it would make me too sad now. Though the state of the planet now and the greed and the stupidity of humans also make me sad. The good news is I am not tempted to walk into the lighting department at Home Depot any more than I want to walk into the plumbing or lumber department.

Gee, did you read my mind? 

Lighting is pretty much what made me want to become an electrician ten years ago. Various factors could explain why I moved on to other stuff later, but maybe I also had the intuition lighting would soon get super boring, who knows!

And now I focus on what I have power over. It's still possible to find NOS (or just plain old used) equipment laying around, so I can design and maintain my own lighting, especially with incandescent lamps. Needless to say I've been using exclusively incandescent Xmas lights for several years now! Those transparent-coloured lamps are just so pretty!

I am wondering that since bans and discontinuation non-LED lighting are pretty aggressive, I am starting to wonder if non-LED light sources and even light sockets will become as rare as hen's teeth in the near future.

Sockets such as the PL 2 and 4 pin maybe, but never ES and BC, also specialists HID ones such as for compact halides, and white SON will be the first to go too, not sure about the E39s and E40s?, maybe the E40s as we don’t as yet have retrofit HID size LED filament lamps like the US does?
As for lamps, I think halides will go here before HPS, as I’ve seen pretty convincing LED spots and down lights that would once have been filled by halide options in the past, but I think HPS days are numbered now, as sodium street lighting is very fast falling out of favour where I am!

I know one thing for sure, whatever happens out in the wild, discharge lighting will never be extinct in our home. 

Nope, nor will incandescent, either   

I know one thing for sure, whatever happens out in the wild, discharge lighting will never be extinct in our home. 

My yard will always be lit by mercury vapor...and I'll still try to save as many discharge lamps and fixtures as I can.