Daniel de Young plans to hide them in his closet.
Michel Gammon offers to smuggle them in from Quebec.
Others say they'll surrender their stash when it's pried from their cold, dead hands.
While the Ontario government's plan to ban incandescent light bulbs in favour of more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs by 2012 has garnered praise from environmentalists, it's inspired others to start hoarding.
Fans of the warm glow of incandescent bulbs say they can't stand the harsh glare of compact fluorescents.
"I will begin to stock up in earnest two years before the ban is in place, to ensure that my plan is not hamstrung by potential shortages," Mr. de Young, 21, wrote in an e-mail interview.
He reckons that if he uses just one-fourteenth of his apartment's closet space for clothes, he can cram in 200 boxes of incandescents, or 800 bulbs.
Extreme? Perhaps. But he can't imagine a life under fluorescent light.
"The home is no place to subject yourself to the cost-effective, efficient, but cold and depressing lighting of the big box department store," wrote Mr. de Young, a recent business graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont.
The ban would prohibit the sale, not the possession, of energy-wasting incandescents, so hoarding them won't make anyone an outlaw. Transporting them across provincial and international borders will also be legal, leading many to predict a bright future for black market profiteers.
"I wonder when the Hells Angels will move into this new, lucrative business opportunity," says Erik Dravnieks, 49, an Ottawa software designer.
He favours halogens, a more energy-efficient type of incandescent bulb. He plans to stock up if they are banned, too. "We have a nice large storage room in the basement."
A spokeswoman for Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan says the government hasn't yet determined whether halogens will be included in the ban. Sylvia Kovesfalvi says the government's intent is to stop the sale of inefficient lighting when there's an efficient alternative on the market. Compact fluorescent bulbs use roughly one-quarter of the electricity of incandescent bulbs.
If the Hells Angels don't monopolize the illicit light bulb trade, Mr. Gammon might be interested. The 48-year-old IT worker from West Brome, Que., drives his VW station wagon to Cambridge, Ont., about once a month for business.
"I can fold the back seats down, so I have a huge cargo area, and as I travel alone I can probably stash into the front passenger seat as well," Mr. Gammon says.
He's joking ... mostly. People who plan to hoard incandescent bulbs say they care about the environment - they just don't think a ban is the answer.
Mr. de Young says the government would be better off taxing incandescents at a higher rate while expanding giveaways of fluorescent light bulbs. "Placing a tax on an item is far more palatable than banning it, in my mind," he says.For the record, incandescent light bulbs have an indefinite shelf life. They don't expire in storage, though their failure rate may increase slightly over the years, says Nick Cowling, spokesman for Home Depot Canada.
He says fluorescent bulbs already outsell incandescents in Home Depot stores across the country, and the chain hasn't seen an increase in sales of incandescent bulbs since Ontario's plans were announced.
Asked whether the government's ban might prompt hoarding, Ms. Kovesfalvi pauses for a moment.
"We're aware people will have different reactions," she says. "We hope people will do the right thing."
