The Centennial Bulb

Have you ever wondered about the longest burning light bulb? I have. Fire Station #6 in Livermore, California is home to the longest confirmed burning light bulb, they even have a Guinness World Record. 

Since being installed in 1901 the bulb has burned for over 1 million hours, passing this milestone in 2015. It is worth noting the light hasn't been on continuously, as there was a small break in operation when a new fire station was built and the bulb had to be moved. That being said, the fire station has kept extensive records of the bulb and it's move; when the time came for the bulb to move to the new station it was given an official escort and was placed in a specially built protective box. 

While it is heartwarming to see the devotion of the Livermore fire station and community in preserving a singular light bulb (which can be seen from a live webcam here), this ramble isn't really about the bulb, it goes much deeper than that. 

The Live Webcam

A few years ago, being the odd little duck that I am, I wondered what the longest lasting light bulb was and conducted a google search. I was a bit surprised to see how much info was available and how well documented the centennial light was. Part of me wondered why most light bulbs didn't last that long, what was so special? Well, there are a few good reasons in this case: it has been (for the most part) continuously burning which lessens the strain on the filament, it was manufactured by hand in a smaller company with more robust materials, and the bulb has been operated at low wattage as a nightlight, again lessening the strain. However, there was another, more indirect reason for the bulb's long life, one that would take me a few years to uncover. 

I realize the previous sentence was dramatic, I haven't actually been researching a singular light bulb for years. The truth is, I kinda forgot about it. I forgot, until Veritasium released a YouTube video titled, "This is why we can't have nice things." It caught my attention, not only because of the title, but because the video opens talking about the centennial bulb.

Many argue we, "just don't build things to last anymore." I would argue that to some extent this is true, prior to December 1924 the average lifespan of a light bulb was 2500 hours. After 1924 the average lifespan went to around 1000 hours. What happened? 

It would seem natural for a light bulb company to make their product last longer, and in the early days they did. 

The problem was they were making their light bulbs a little too good. So good that sales were going down. When the light bulbs were lasting in excess of 2000 hours, consumers didn't need to buy as many.

On December 24, 1924 representatives from the top light bulb manufacturers in the world gathered in Geneva Switzerland to form a cartel. The Phoebus cartel. (Phoebus being the god of light.) The companies in attendance included: Phillips, Osram, and GE, all companies that are large players to this day. The group claimed to increase the, "effectiveness of electric lighting and increasing light use to the advantage of the consumer." Whatever that means. 

They did make improvements, like standardizing the screw socket. Big deal. The real meat and potatoes was their light bulb life sucking committee known as the "1,000 hours life committee."

This is where things get a little funny, at least to me. The cartel reportedly put a lot of effort into making their light bulbs worse. A Bloomberg article is referenced here, "The cartel poured resources into the project, developing the technical expertise necessary to manufacture lower-quality bulbs in a predictable, consistent fashion." 

While it was all well and good to develop the "technical expertise" of inferiority together, they would have to be able to hold each other accountable to their new 1,000 hour benchmark. Member companies were required to send their bulbs to a Swiss lab where they would be run continuously. If they were between 750 and 1750 hours of life, the companies would be allowed to sell them. If they were above this, the companies would be fined starting at 20 francs per 1000 sold and rising with higher lifespan. 

This plan worked and 10 years later the average lifespan fell from 2500 hours to just 1200 hours, roughly the amount incandescent bulbs last to this day. 

The Phoebus Cartel fell apart around 1940, but its legacy can still be felt today. What started as a cash grab by light bulb companies ended as a proof to industry that mass planned obsolescence works. Planned obsolescence being the fancy term for intentionally building crappy products so that companies can make more money. 

Examples of this can be found everywhere, in fact, you just might be holding one in your hand. 

Apple has had a history of being sneaky with planned obsolescence. In 2003 Casey Neistat got annoyed when his iPod battery died. When he took it to the Apple store they informed him it would cost roughly the same amount for them to replace the battery. He had just wanted to buy a replacement battery and operate on the device himself. Apple told the disgruntled Neistat (in multiple places, over phone and in store) that this was a no can do. The video sparked outrage online and the company responded by making a more reasonable warranty and repair program. Although they still didn't offer the sale of batteries to consumers. Apple claimed later they had the program in the works before the video came out. More recently Apple pushed out updates which slowed down older iPhones, a practice which Apple claimed was so that the older devices could better handle the updates. The public didn't buy this and slapped the company with a class action lawsuit, which they won, and Apple rescinded their software practices.

Printers are also aggravating, with printer manufacturers crafting proprietary ink cartridges that are significantly under filled. Some newer models reject recycled and refilled cartridges which are much more efficient. It seems that each new generation of printer brings about another proprietary cartridge and more waste.

Smartphones and laptops have gotten harder to repair in recent years. Computer companies solder ram in, so that devices can no longer be upgraded as they age, iPhone's have received a glass back which makes reaching the internals much harder (repair shops have to use a laser). Apple has made it difficult for independent repairs by not really providing tooling or parts. 

This is where the right to repair movement comes in. Consumers and repair shops have become disgruntled by the actions companies have taken to prevent repairs and have been pushing for legislation that requires companies to make their devices repairable by the end user. A recent win as a result of right to repair pressure, was Apple reversing course last November and opening a consumer repair program called "self service repair." You can learn more about that here. Although these are great strides, right to repair doesn't address the whole picture as companies can still make crappy products and make money selling the parts.

It is important to keep the pressure on companies. We are fortunate not to live in the 1920s where a cartel can secretly reduce the lifespan of a product by 1000 hours without anyone noticing. Just as the interconnected world has aided in movements such as right to repair and the spread of videos such as "iPod's dirty secret" it also aides another form of obsolescence. 

This form of obsolescence is inside you, it's inside all of us. Psychological obsolescence is when a consumer buys a new product just because it is fashionable or popular. We are often aware of an object's relative age simply by it's appearance. It's why we are immediately able to tell that a boxy iPhone 5 and an early 2000s Ford Taurus (in a shade of green that I consider to be distasteful) are older than and less desirable than their current counterparts. Companies prey on this, it's why the iPhone got it's distinctive notch and keeps alternating between rounded and straight edges. As consumers, they want to make sure we can visibly see our device aging in relation to the latest and greatest. 

We may never be rid of psychological obsolescence, and that's OK, if there wasn't some amount of it new products and ideas would never get anywhere. However, it is important to be mindful with our purchases and waste. 

Coming back around to the light bulb, many have heralded LEDs as the future believing we have finally overcome our old wasteful ways. I would argue for a more cautious outlook. Governments have been coercing the switch for years, it seems that in the US at least, incandescent bulbs are done for. By 2023 there will be a ban in place barring bulbs from being sold or produced that do not achieve 45 lumens per watt. To me this legislation seems short sighted and overreaching, is it the job of the government to dictate the lighting options available to us? Incandescent sales were already on the downturn anyway. What this move may do, however, is encourage the lighting companies to return to their old tricks in order to retrieve their bottom line. The standard marketing cry for LEDs is their 50,000 hour operating life. More recently in efforts to increase sales, some companies (Phillips), have decided to make a 10,000 hour variant, which is cheaper to purchase and will require the consumer to replace their light bulb more frequently. Some companies (also Phillips) have spun off their lighting divisions after seeing the projected drop in sales, they have decided it is best to focus on other things. This may mean substandard products for consumers as the major companies are focusing less, although, the incandescent bulb never really did get much better did it? There's no knowing how the situation will play out, we'll just have to wait and see.

It is important to ask ourselves what companies really want us to do, because if you don't, they have you right where they want you.