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Throw away your filament light bulbs
PhilRogers
Posts: 1 Newbie
in Energy
If you're still using the old-style, filament incandescent light bulbs, you're just burning money.
Last week, I bought some of the new 11W (equivalent to the old 60W) Energy Saving light bulbs from Lidl at an incredible 29p each. Even at their usual price of 49p they're worth buying.
Don't wait until your old bulbs blow before changing them. They will cost you more in electricity than it now costs to buy the energy saving bulbs. Once you have the new bulbs in, they'll use only about 20% (one fifth) of the electricity that the old ones used.
If you don't like the new bulbs because they are slow at coming up to full brightness, then it's time you tried the new ones. They come on very quickly.
They are also available in "warm" colours, and many can now be operated through dimmer switches, so there's no real excuse not to switch.
The government is stopping the sale of filament bulbs, but they should go further and offer incentives to trade in working filament bulbs for new energy saving ones.
By the way, I have recently seen even newer energy saving bulbs that use high-brightness LEDs instead of the compact fluorescents, and they use even less electricity. The ones which produce the same light output as an old 60W bulb consume only 2W. That's a thirtieth of the electricity!
Last week, I bought some of the new 11W (equivalent to the old 60W) Energy Saving light bulbs from Lidl at an incredible 29p each. Even at their usual price of 49p they're worth buying.
Don't wait until your old bulbs blow before changing them. They will cost you more in electricity than it now costs to buy the energy saving bulbs. Once you have the new bulbs in, they'll use only about 20% (one fifth) of the electricity that the old ones used.
If you don't like the new bulbs because they are slow at coming up to full brightness, then it's time you tried the new ones. They come on very quickly.
They are also available in "warm" colours, and many can now be operated through dimmer switches, so there's no real excuse not to switch.
The government is stopping the sale of filament bulbs, but they should go further and offer incentives to trade in working filament bulbs for new energy saving ones.
By the way, I have recently seen even newer energy saving bulbs that use high-brightness LEDs instead of the compact fluorescents, and they use even less electricity. The ones which produce the same light output as an old 60W bulb consume only 2W. That's a thirtieth of the electricity!
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Comments
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great idea there, heres another:
if its yellow, let it mellow, if its brown, flush it down.
save water: dont bathe.Target Savings by end 2009: 20,000
current savings: 20,500 (target hit yippee!)
Debts: 8000 (student loan so doesnt count)
new target savings by Feb 2010: 30,0000 -
PhilRogers wrote: »so there's no real excuse not to switch.
Yes there is. I've spent months and lots of £s having tests to find out why I keep getting headaches. Turns out it's low energy light bulbs causing the problem. The tests are ongoing and at the moment it's either the increased exposure to UV that is the problem or the difference in rates of flicker between the low energy light bulbs and a TV/Computer screen.
I am not alone with this problem according to the opticians. She has seen dozens of other patients suffering the same symptoms.
The low energy light bulbs have gone, my daily power consumption has increased by only pennies and my headaches are no more = result.
The Government should look into banning CFLs for the health hazard that they are
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I am not alone with this problem according to the opticians. She has seen dozens of other patients suffering the same symptoms.
My optician said my headaches were caused by having a (new) red car - my wife's were caused by changing from Fairy to Persil soap powder.
We both needed new glasses and contact lenses, but by buying 4 pairs each we got 5% off one pair - great deal !:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:0 -
PhilRogers wrote: »If you're still using the old-style, filament incandescent light bulbs, you're just burning money.
Last week, I bought some of the new 11W (equivalent to the old 60W) Energy Saving light bulbs from Lidl at an incredible 29p each. Even at their usual price of 49p they're worth buying.
Don't wait until your old bulbs blow before changing them. They will cost you more in electricity than it now costs to buy the energy saving bulbs. Once you have the new bulbs in, they'll use only about 20% (one fifth) of the electricity that the old ones used.
If you don't like the new bulbs because they are slow at coming up to full brightness, then it's time you tried the new ones. They come on very quickly.
They are also available in "warm" colours, and many can now be operated through dimmer switches, so there's no real excuse not to switch.
The government is stopping the sale of filament bulbs, but they should go further and offer incentives to trade in working filament bulbs for new energy saving ones.
By the way, I have recently seen even newer energy saving bulbs that use high-brightness LEDs instead of the compact fluorescents, and they use even less electricity. The ones which produce the same light output as an old 60W bulb consume only 2W. That's a thirtieth of the electricity!
A lot of people do not like the light given out by the energy saving light bulbs.
LED bulbs cost a fortune - in the order of £20 each.0 -
Yes, they're still expensive (but last for 25 years, so actually save money even compared to compact fluorescent lights - in theory - after you've allowed for spending less on electricity!).LED bulbs cost a fortune - in the order of £20 each.
But, like most things, they'll be coming down fast in price and, as I've got three or four CFLs in hand, I don't plan to buy any more.
NB Though I suppose we should really stop feeding the troll.0 -
A timely article on the BBC site today about why these bulbs aren't the perfect answer after all.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8406923.stm0 -
A timely article on the BBC site today about why these bulbs aren't the perfect answer after all.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8406923.stm
was just about to post that!0 -
Yes there is. I've spent months and lots of £s having tests to find out why I keep getting headaches. Turns out it's low energy light bulbs causing the problem. The tests are ongoing and at the moment it's either the increased exposure to UV that is the problem or the difference in rates of flicker between the low energy light bulbs and a TV/Computer screen.
I am not alone with this problem according to the opticians. She has seen dozens of other patients suffering the same symptoms.
The low energy light bulbs have gone, my daily power consumption has increased by only pennies and my headaches are no more = result.
The Government should look into banning CFLs for the health hazard that they are
You have a problem with the flicker rate.
I've had that problem in offices and university labs where they have old style computer monitors and fluorescent energy efficient bulbs. I don't get the problem with an LCD screen and energy efficient bulbs.
In such cases I had to use a screen shield so the screen was dark unless I could get an LCD monitor, or refuse to work at all.
I didn't need to go to an optician to diagnose the problem because I worked out if I didn't work in such lighting with a computer monitor then I was fine. I later on found lots of people mainly women have the problem.I'm not cynical I'm realistic
(If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)0 -
The majority of the energy used in an incandescent light bulb is transferred into heat, so it is not wasted in the winter if you are heating your house, especially if you only have electric heating.
Delay replacing your filament bulbs until it starts getting warmer.0 -
But that heat is wasted unless you have all your bulbs on the floor, not hanging from the ceiling.....nathanbarley69 wrote: »The majority of the energy used in an incandescent light bulb is transferred into heat, so it is not wasted in the winter if you are heating your house, especially if you only have electric heating.0
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