Bartosz,

You negatives are easy to overcome -
noise - little relays aren't that noisy! Besides the click you hear tells you that it works!

drive current - is 20mA at 12V too much? All it needs is a transistor and a couple of resistors or something integrated like a ULN2003.

reliability - never assume all things solid state are inherently more reliable than something mechanical! Reliability depends on many factors - especially the type of use encountered. As I mentioned previously - a triac is less likely to survive a short circuit, the relay would win hands down. In safety critical circuits - what is more reliable? A microprocessor or a relay? The relay wins hands down. If you use a microprocessor in such an application you normally have triple redundancy, a relay - just use careful design.

The average light bulb when it fails causes an arc to form inside it. This arc is effectively a short circuit and is limited by an inbuilt fuse in the light bulb. This failure can cause a triac to fail.

In Australia we can buy cheap passive infrared activated lights for about $20 ea. Do these items have triacs in them? Nope - relays!

Most manufacturers will give you reliability information regarding the life of the relay - factor that into your use and the average relay will last 100's of years!

I'm sorry if I'm sounding a bit religious! A relay may be low-tech, but don't dismiss it as a valid solution.