GU24 to E26 light socket adapter -- any risks?
If I buy a GU24 to E26 adapter and install a 30- or 60-watt incandescent in it:
  
  
  Is there a risk of fire because the fixture can't handle the heat produced by a 14+ watt light bulb?
  Is there still a risk if I remove the glass fixture and just screw the light bulb into the adapter?
  Would a 14+ watt light bulb potentially cause overheating in the actual electrical wires/their plastic sleeves?
  



Absolutely a fire risk. Generally things are designed to handle a bit extra, so a 15W bublb probably wouldn't be a problem. But 30W = > 2X - don't do it.
Yes. The rating is based on "everything". You can't guess which parts exactly determine the problem without a lot of engineering calculations.
The wires themselves? No. The wires are typically rated for 15A or 20A - i.e., 1,875W or more. The problem in this situation is the socket and connections.


As I understand it, the GU24 (or similar) has been mandated in some jurisdictions specifically to avoid people (like you!) using it for incandescent bulbs. If they installed E26 fixtures then it would be trivially simple to install a bulb that generated too much heat for the fixture and waste energy.

Take a look at the newest LED bulbs. They are available in quite a variety of CRI and are a far cry from the first CFLs and even the first white LEDs. If you save 25W x 1,000 hrs/year (&lt; 3 hours a day) that's 25 kWh ~ a few dollars a year, more than enough to pay for a high-quality bulb. Plus in the summer you will save double because you won't pay to remove the heat generated by incandescent bulbs.

Seriously, there is a lot of good stuff out there. Many big orange or blue stores have decent lighting departments with samples of a lot of different bulbs so that you can actually see the difference. If that doesn't satisfy you, go to a real lighting store - i.e., one that sells to the trade (but most will sell to the public too) where the only thing they sell is lighting. Hanging an incandescent bulb may have been the best answer in the early days of CFLs, but there are much better choices now with quality LEDs.