John Philip Bachner of the National Lighting Bureau wrote a fantastic article (Good-bye T12. Hello Opportunity) about why T12 fluorescent tubes are being phased out in the U.S. I couldn’t have written it any better, so I wanted to include his opening paragraph here. It’s a great read – click through the link to view the rest of the article!
Imagine that the year is 1938. You buy a brand-new Chevy, the technological marvel of
its era. Now imagine it’s 2011 and you’re still driving the same car for your daily
commute. Far-fetched? Not if you substitute T12 fluorescent lighting – first marketed in
1938 – for the ’38 Chevy. True: We‟ve seen an astonishing array of new lighting and
automotive technology since 1938. Also true: No one we know of drives a 73-year-old
car for daily commuting, but some 500 million T12 fluorescent tubes are still being
illuminated in U.S. buildings every day… read more