I find very little wrong with incandescent bulbs. Their light is a good relaxing color, they're very inexpensive, and they're not deadly to the environment when discarded. Their fixtures evolved to fit their function that had no problem with running hot. I think pushing (legislating) the public to replace them with expensive, ugly, piggly-wiggly mercury filled CFLs is filled with unintended consequenses. I purchased a bunch of them and began replacing the incandescents as they wore out. My family began complaining of the glarish quality of light and increased headaches. They also wore out almost as fast as the incandescents (apparently they don't like being turned on and off repeatedly); and as previously discussed I don't think their embedded electronic ballasts were up to the temperatures they endured in enclosed environments. Sometimes when they burn out, they break at the junction of the bulb and base, exposing their mecury interiors. Now I have to find special hazardous waste locations to take their carcasses. We are migrating back to incandescents; and I strongly oppose any misguided environmentalist who attempts to sidestep the free market to mandate CFL use. Fluorescent lights work well and sell well in fluorescent light fixtures. You won't see an attempt to squeeze an incandescent bulb into a fluroescent tube. Why try to squeeze a fluorescent tube into a bulb; it cannot be fit without compromises that make it uncompetitive in many ways.
In spades, the same argument holds for LED lighting. Look at the differences! Incandescents emit light in a 360 deg sphere, LEDs emit in a relatively narrow beam. Incandescents by nature run hot, don't require electronics, and run well on battery or 115VAC. LEDs put out cold light, and run on 3 to 5 volts DC. LEDs require a substantial amount of electronics to maintain their efficiency at 115VAC; and the electronics and the LED absolutly cannot tolerate heat build up without loss of life. Bulbs were developed for incandescents because that shape best utilized their packaging requirements and light output. LED lights best fit in their own best packaging. The only way you're going to get the public to buy LED bulbs is to force it down their throats by legislatively outlawing incandescents. This is not the free market country our founding fathers gave us.
Why not concentrate on developing LED light sources (fixtures) that utilize the advantages of LEDs. If they're viable, the public will migrate to them to save money, feel green, and bath in the luxury of adjustable mood lighting, or starlight ceilings, or backlit mirrors, modern track lights, etc. Tiffany will showcase their LED ceiling fixture, and you'll be able to continue to buy incandescent bulbs for your antique Tiffany fixture until the market for incandescent bulbs dry up on its own accord.
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