Since the July 2012 standards kicked in, are new versions of energy saving (34W 4' or 60W 8') lamps being produced?  All of those posted here, such as the Philips F40T12/CWS Plus or GE F40CX* lamps have been full power.  It would be a good time for manufacturers to discontinue these lamps.  For one, they won't be cheaper now that the old halophosphate formulations will no longer pass even with the reduced wattage.  Second, with the rapid conversion to T8 in the commercial sector over the past decade, many of the remaining T12 installations are residential.  Homes will frequently have either older or cheaper ballasts that were never intended to operate energy saving lamps.

Its BS with the phosphor actually

You had a simple 40W halophosphate lamsp that makes 2500 Lm

Now you have to use a triphosphor 40w lamp that makes 3100 Lm. It takes the same 40W, and you were fine with 2500 Lm - So now you use the same power AND a lamp that takes more environment impact to produce

Or you have to use deluxe halophosphate lamp that makes less Lm and will be dimmer than the low CRI old lamp



So imho its bad time to stop the production of any type of lamp

GE and Sylvania still make energy saving T12s in the new phosphor types.

i will take the extra light and better color rendering over some slight energy savings.
no measureable savings in a dozen shoplights over my bench and in the garage.
i need the light not energy savings.

@Ash, I agree.  There may be savings if T12s were still the standard in new installations, because you could reduce the number of lamps.  As it is, increasing efficiency with different phosphors is not going to save energy since few will reduce the number of lamps or fixtures accordingly.  The only way it could possibly save is by preventing the distribution of cheap halophosphate lamps that might be used if available. 

What's also silly is that in the U.S. an exemption was made for T8s on account of the recent increase in rare earth phosphor prices, but this was waiver does not apply to T12s.  As a result, the efficiency requirements for T12s are higher than those for T8s.

i will take the extra light and better color rendering over some slight energy savings.
no measureable savings in a dozen shoplights over my bench and in the garage.
i need the light not energy savings.

Amen on that!!  I will stick with my old reliable magnetic ballasts and old school tubes.  I turn the lights on when I need them and turn them off when I do not.  That is the best energy savings.

@pjc : reducing the number of lamps is not always that easy as the lighting system was probably designed for a certain amount of tubes, and reducing that number without replanning the system may result in inefficient light distribution (areas that are overlit alternating with areas that are underlit, for example).

@Pjc "The only way it could possibly save is by preventing the distribution of cheap halophosphate lamps that might be used if available. "

Why would that matter ? They still take the same 40W as any other lamp that would go in the fixture

Why would that matter ? They still take the same 40W as any other lamp that would go in the fixture

When the more efficient lamp drop less voltage, it consume less power on most ballasts. That is the usual way for energy saving replacements...
But then of course arise the question about ballast compatibility: Not all ballasts behave in the way the energy saving lamp is designed for, mainly in 120V areas.

I mean 40w cheap halophosphate (like the /765 we have a lot around here) takes same power as 40w high efficiency full power lamp - not the 34w replacements

New energy saving lamps may be in production, but our orders at work for 34-watt 4' and 95-watt HO 8' tubes are now being substituted with deluxe halophosphate full-power tubes. So if energy saving tubes are in production, it looks like the "suggested replacement" for old tubes are new full-power deluxe cool white tubes. I'm not complaining, though, because I'm glad to see that we are now going back to full power tubes in our T12 fixtures at work!

Ash: F34T12 lamps, distroys the american HPF rapidstart fixtures very fast, probably because of the ballast configuration (Autotransformers, rather than chokes, lead-lag, etc...), or because of the 120V 60hz US mains voltage. And as switchstart/preheat ballasts are very rare in the US and Canada compared to the rest of the world, they can't retrofit the european style T8 lamps with their ballasts, because of their very high starting voltage which is higher than the OCV of their rapidstart (Indeed, the american T8s have argon like the T12, rather than krypton like the european T8s), so they have to return to full power F40T12, to prevent distruction of their ballasts. However, there are for sure, no reason to increase the efficiency of the existing F40T12, as this will only lead to lamp that produces more light with the same electrical consumption.
So the only option, is to move from rapidstart to preheat, so that european T8 could be retrofitted (Anyway, rapidstarts have very high losses, because unlike preheat, rapidstart heats the cathodes all time the lamp is working, while preheat heats only before the lamp strikes, and the rest of the operation is exactly like slimlines [Instant-Start: Cathodes heated by the discharge itself]).

dor : Only older HPF rapid-start ballasts rated for 40 watt only are destroyed by the F34T12 lamps. Newer ballasts are designed for these lamps as well as the full power lamps.

I'm actually glad to see the halophosphate krypton-filled lamps go away - I have tried to like them, but end up always getting rid of them as they make people look green and they striate unless the room is quite warm. I'm all for bright, long-lasting full-wattage lamps with good colour. I'd like to keep my T12 fixtures going for another few decades! However, I also stocked up on replacement lamps some time ago so I haven't tried any of the newer formulations.

Now, if they would only start selling F15T8 SPX41's...

arcblue,

I just looked in GE's online catalogue and there is F15T8 in SPX30, SPX35 and SPX65. However, there is no SPX41, just the SP41. If it was available, however, it would probably be expensive. I have the F15T8 SP35 lamps in indirect lighting in my living room. I asked at the electrical counter (GE dealer) about the SPX35, and they were about 22 $ each ! That is when I went in Canadian Tire and bought SP35 for about 8 $ each. I agree with you, the SPX41 would be a great addition to their F15T8 lamps, provided it could be had for a reasonable price.