Energy Efficient Light Bulbs

Dunwunderin

Hi,

Have recently gone green and fitted energy saving bulbs throughout my house with 2 exceptions:

Kitchen Downlighter GU10 50 watt 220 V and 40 watt 220 V cooker hood bulbs(screw fit).

I need to keep same light output and unit dimensions.

Anybody any ideas of suitable replacements and likely cost?

ManicMum

HI

same here. was just going to put same post! I have 50w GU10 bulbs. Have looked online but totally confused by various types and prices.

Some say LED. Any benefits to those?

thanks

rhiwfield

Not sure about dimensions but we had 2 light fittings each with 4x50w gu10s, so 400w when switched on :eek:

We replaced with TESCO 8w cfls which were slightly longer and slightly dimmer. They were £5 rrp but half price when we got them.

For the cooker hood we had 2 x 40w screw ins and replaced with cfl screw ins, similar light and size

Jon_Tiffany

Lidls currently have an offer with some LED bulbs that are using the new SMD (Surface Mounted Diodes). They are rated at 3w but there is no details regarding how many lumens they put out. Colour temp is 3000k so they should a nice white rather than having a blue tint.

I have some SMD GU10s in my kitchen, they are rated at 9w (more SMDs than LIDLs) and output about the same amount of light as a 50w halogen. I would suggest buying some from lidl, check what their refund policy is and take some home to try. Make sure you dont damage the boxes so you can take them back if you dont like them.

Note that a typical GU10 50w bulb costs around £10 a year to run, thats per bulb.

cliffski

I cannot recommend LED light bulbs highly enough. Granted, they cost a LOT, but they are excellent. Unlike CFL bulbs, they turn on and off instantly, and there is none of this fading in nonsense.
Plus, obviously they are cool to touch (which always seems weird) and they use tribvial amounts of power.

And they last for 25 years.

Well worth getting, if you can afford the initial investment.

beedydad

Good to here that some are beginning to find out about LED's for both domestic and business use. We sell them and the pricing has certainly come down a great deal.

Plus the range of types of LED's that can be supplied is increasing all the time.

Also, you are able to have a "colour" range that can more suit a persons lighting requirements, let alone they are becoming much brighter ie the lumen levels.

Savings on energy are at least 90% against a normal halogen 50w and do certainly have a much longer lifespan - typically 25,000+ hours. Difficult to state 25 years!! as it does depend on lighting useage.

Ban CFL's - my personal view, and a growing view is that CFL's have been a short term answer to the carbon reduction requirments - thats great BUT they are deemed hazardous waste at life end!!

Reason being that they have both mercury phospherou,setc within there build and you cannot just throw them away!!!

Just check out in your local area what you are supposed to do with a dead CFL or any gas filed light???

Great isn't it - we seem to solve one area by creating a partial energy saving solution only to then create a massive waste problem - and it will be massive!

Simple answer now is do not buy any CFL when a decent recyclable and long lasting solution is now to hand.

Mids_Costcutter

Aren't the semiconductors in LEDs usually made from hazardous materials such as arsenic compounds, albeit not in the quantities contained in CFLs? I think they also need to be handled properly when they reach they end of their life and not just landfilled or incinerated?

But surely overall there must be an environmental benefit in using either CFL or LED lighting over incandescent bulbs?

RAS

This lot do some GU10 energy efficient lamps http://www.clasohlson.co.uk/product/category.aspx?category=light+bulbs:energy+saving+bulbs&id=88601373&_path=251882;85177594;88601372;88601373

Not neccesarily LED.

Ben84

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

But surely overall there must be an environmental benefit in using either CFL or LED lighting over incandescent bulbs?

They're much better than the old incandescent bulbs, and they do also reduce mercury pollution. A lot of the mercury in the environment comes from burning coal (which contains it as a contaminant) in power plants. Despite containing no mercury themselves, because their use requires much more coal to be burnt at the power plant, the total mercury emissions of an incandescent bulb are much higher than a CFL - even when you assume the CFL is disposed of incorrectly and the mercury it contains released in to the environment at the end of its life instead of being recycled. There are of course also other environmental issues with incandescent bulbs using more electric, such as more CO2 and more sulphur emissions.

Anyway, swapping your incandescent bulbs to CFL is a good thing for mercury pollution and all the other pollutants emitted by power plants.

As for LED bulbs, at £30 each the cost is too much to justify for me. The cost of swapping just the bulbs in my sitting room alone would insulate the whole loft! If we're going to spend money for environmental reasons we should still be looking for a good deal.

penrhyn

Buy some 35 watt GU10, and forget about the cooker hood, just consider how long you have these lights on for during the day.
You will save more money by filling the kettle with just enough water for your needs, and only using enough water to cover your vegetables when cooking, the same applies to the bath.

cliffski

If your loft isn't insulated, you need to do that immediately. But I guess the point is, if you are thinking of replacing halogen or incandecsent bulbs, skip CFL and go direct to LED.