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by jsilence 2309 days ago
Yes there is a lightbulb conspiracy among producers that deliberately and jointly shortened the life span of their products in order to ramp up sales.
3 comments

There's some truth to the fact that lightbulbs don't last as long as they used to; but there's a lot to unpick here.

First: This bulb was not turned on, and a light-bulb in storage does not degrade, there's no oxidisation happening inside the bulb itself.

Second: heavy filaments consume more power to emit light, and a heavy filament is the requirement to have a long-lived bulb

Third: Even with a heavy filament, bulbs will dim in their light output with years of use. The longest running light bulb in the world (101 powered on years if I'm not mistaken) is less bright than a candle, although originally it was about as bright as a 40w bulb.

More information on that bulb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light

> and a light-bulb in storage does not degrade

Depends on the quality of the seal and how well it was evacuated. Older bulbs tend to be higher quality, thicker glass, much more material around the seal (the spot where the wires cross through from inside the bulb to outside).

Also I imagine these bulbs from the 50s were more expensive than today's bulbs, no?
Are you thinking of the Phoebus Cartel?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel

I suppose it's accurate to call it a conspiracy since they literally conspired to divvy up markets and set predetermined bulb lifetimes.

For those downvoting me, here is the link to the trailer of the documentary of this 'planned obsolescence' conspiracy of the producers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KSC84K4rcY