There gonna stop making all T12 lamps?!

yep just like the incandescent lamp and soon we will see the MV lamp go.

I heard sometime this year they were going to stop making t12 lamps and nema wants mercury vapor lamps banned by 2016.

I think production of T12 lamps stops this June, but I'm not positive.

Ack! I hope Canada isn't banning T12s too.

Is that also for T12 lamps 24" and under? Strange how they still make T17 lamps but they're banning T12. T12 lamps are so comon I don't see why they need to be banned.

I guess cause they're not as efficient as T8 and T5.

It's not like NEMA pays our electric bill. If the american consumer wants to upgrade their lighting, them them do it themselves. There's no need to turn the US into a dictatorship.

I believe only F40, F96 slimline and F96/HO are affected according to here.

Personally I don't mind using T8s if you run them on this.

Can't find anything for Canada though.

I got this: "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" (Grrrrrrrr) I'll have to tell both of my granfathers that they better stock up on F40T12s because once the lamps are gone, I'll sadly have to be changing out some ballasts.

Hmm try this

Oh and I think F40T10 are untouched by this and can run on most F40T12 ballasts.

I thought those were only in the UK. I've never seen a T10 lamp before.

Once you click here you will now have seen a T10 lamp.

Calm down Guys... T12 is not being banned totally, it's only the halo phosphate lamps under 80CRI
The F34 high cri alto lamps are brighter then most halo phosphate T12s , and the mercury starvation issue is fixed ! However I think F40 lamps over 80CRI are not being banned

A_lights is right, it's not an across-the-board ban. You should be able to buy the GE SPX41's at Lowe's to replace cool whites (they have high lumens and 80 CRI) and an interesting solution to warm whites is to use a GE wide-spectrum plant & aquarium. Specialty lamps like that won't be banned. SPX50/D50 (5000K) are over 90 CRI so they also won't get banned. I'm not sure what will be left in the 6500K range, but again, you should be able to buy aquarium lamps. The downside is all these T12's are more expensive than their halophosphate counterparts.

If you want to save energy, sure, convert to T8, but that's only really economical for larger installations. Since F40T12's last over 10 years in residential use typically, just buy a few pairs of lamps now & you're good for 30 more years.

BTW, if you use instant-start T8 ballasts, you will have to rewire your fixtures. Using T10's in a T12 fixture may be problematic on a rapid-start ballast as they don't sit as close to the grounded reflector = possible starting problems.

Yeah vaporeyes did a great explanation

T10 lamps work fine on the full power older RS ballasts , not sure about the .76A ones or less as they don't work as well if conditions aren't right

I wonder if Canada is banning them too, since we still have incandescents and mercury vapour yardlights for sale here but other stuff like magnetic T12 ballasts is also banned up here.

I guess most newer ballasts should run the T10s since most of mine list them on the label.

Summary from NEMA:
Effective Date of new DOE standards: July 14 , 2012
Current exemptions continue [For example, lamps with CRI >= 87, cold temp. (CT), UV, etc.]
Impact for Lamps <= 4500K and > 4,500K and <= 7,000K
* T12 4-ft. & 2-ft U-lamps with medium bi-pin bases
- Majority of F40 and F34T12 lamps and all FB40 and FB34T12 U-lamps fail.
- 4-ft. requires 3560 lumens @ 40W and 3030 lumens @ 34W to pass @ 89 LPW.
- 2-ft. U-lamps require 3360 @ 40W and 2856 @ 34W to pass @ 84 LPW.
- CWX/DX/DSGN50/C50 are exempt due to CRI.
* T12 8-ft. Slimline with single pin bases
- All 75W F96T12 lamps fail.
- All 60W F96T12/ES fail except for the 800/SPX Series & some 700/SP long life Series.
- CWX/DX/DSGN50/C50 are exempt due to CRI.
* T12 8-ft. 800mA HO with RDC bases
- All 110W F96T12 HO lamps fail. Requires enhanced coatings with 10,120 lumens to pass.
- All 95W F96T12/ES/HO fail except for enhanced 800 Series. Requires 8740 lumens to pass.
- CWX/DX/DSGN50/C50 are exempt due to CRI; CW/CT & D/CT are exempt.
* T8 4-ft. & 2-ft. U-lamps with medium bi-pin bases
- All 4-ft. T8 basic 700/SP Series lamps @ 2800 lumens fail. Requires 2850 lumens to pass.
- All other 4-ft. pass.
- All 2-ft. 800/SPX Series U-lamps pass. Some 700/SP Series pass.
* T8 8-ft. Slimline with single pin bases
- All pass except some 700/SP Series. Requires 5723 lumens @ 59W to pass.
* T8 8-ft. HO with RDC bases
- All pass except some 700/SP Series. Requires 7912 lumens @ 86W to pass.
* T5 4-ft with miniature bi-pin bases
- All (...) 2012 Standards for General Service Flr Lps NEMA v2 _2_.96439846-e6b0-4188-b823-5a93df679bde.pdf]New 2012 Standards for General Service Fluorescent Lamps (GSFL)[/url]

Ended up changing these out with Advance programmed-start ballasts because the IS ballasts were burning up the lamps too quickly. The delay of the PS ballasts is kind of annoying though. Oh well.

Yeah since these are low ballast factor they will burn through lamps quicker than a normal ballast factor ballast. PS ballasts won't be much better if you used low ballast factor ballasts. the best for lamp life is NBF. in the cold LBF instant start is exile on the lamps though especially when frequently switched. IS isn't a very good method for electronic ballasts but PS ballasts are typically twice the price of IS ballasts.