Non-LED bulbs: why incandescents are making a comeback

Incandescent bulbs: the return of old-fashioned light, driven by eye strain

The bulb Europe has spent years phasing out is exactly the one half of Spain is going back to looking for. Not out of nostalgia. Because of their eyes. As LED became the mandatory standard for energy savings, a growing share of the public began to associate its light — especially from the cheapest versions — with visual fatigue, headaches and a gritty sensation that eye drops won't fix. Against that, the savings argument carries less weight than the rulebook says it should.

Cheap LED and the eyes that can't stand it

The recurring symptoms are varied and, to a large extent, vague: stinging, swollen eyelids, dryness, headaches and the occasional case of nasal congestion with no apparent cause. None of these amounts to a diagnosis on its own. Among the hypotheses circulating is blepharitis, an inflammation of the eyelid margin that shares several of these symptoms. The problem is that, in most cases, check-ups find nothing conclusive and the patient is left with drops that solve nothing. Suspicion then falls on the environment: screens and light fixtures.

What replaces LED: incandescent, halogen and filament

There are three alternatives on the table. The classic incandescent, the old-fashioned kind, still found in neighbourhood bazaars and on major platforms at clearance prices — some people have found them at €1 apiece. The halogen, which works as a middle ground: it lasts quite a while, uses somewhat less energy than filament bulbs and is easy to find in large stores. And the filament bulb, championed for winter on the grounds that almost all its energy turns into heat. The price breakdown per unit and the specific stores where each one is available, however, won't fit here.

The date nobody confirms: the end of white LEDs

About the regulatory timeline, an unconfirmed version is doing the rounds: that the European Union would stop selling white LEDs in roughly a year, or once stock runs out, and that only the opaque and yellowish versions would survive. It should be treated for what it is — a counter rumour from a wholesaler, not an officially published date.

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The underlying question remains open: whether the problem is LED itself or just bad LED, and whether going back to incandescent is a real solution or a stopgap that the next set of regulations will sweep away. For now, the shelf is emptying and the shopping cart is filling up.