energy saving lightbulbs

moonrakerz

Impomdasp wrote: »

I heard someone giving money-saving advice on the radio recently (no, not Martin:rotfl: ) and he said don't use them for areas which are switched on regularly for just a few seconds/minutes(such as hallways etc) as they cost even more than normal bulbs( ) in the early stages powering-up so would be a waste of money. Also. lots of switching on/off shortens the life of the bulb so not much gain there either.

I'm not sure I understand it myself:o but that's what was said and why I didn't buy any for some of our fittings,

Bit of an "urban myth". True in one sense, but the start up surge is very short and can be ignored for all practical purposes. Conventional bulbs are much more likely fail if switched on and off rapidly due to "thermal shock" on the filament.

nomoneytoday

They looked at the energy use at warm up for bulbs on Mythbusters.

The worst performing bulb only took something like 15 seconds to compensate for the extra energy use when turned on

RabbitMad

moonrakerz wrote: »

Energy saving light bulb 20W (same light as 100W conventional)

20W X 8000 = 160000W = 160kWh @ 10p =£16
plus cost of bulb £1.00: TOTAL COST = £17

Conventional 100W light bulb

100W X 8000 = 800000W = 800kWh @ 10p =£80
plus cost of 8 bulbs @ 20p each = £1.60: TOTAL COST = £81.60.

I only use 60w normally, and I have some 11w low energy ones that cost £1. I was going to replace them as and when they went , but these numbers made me think. If I swap now I've got my money back in only 204 hours.