Energy saving light bulbs

Justin_GB

Hi,
As I expect most of us here now use energy saving bulbs, 100W of light for the price of 40Watts. I am not sure how true this is but maybe others may shine some light on it, but if you use this type of lamp then once on it is best left on all day, the reason being is that it is the first few seconds of switch on that uses a lot of electricity and to say switch it on or off as you leave a room would defeat the energy saving benefits, is this true ?

Also I hear that the normal house hold light bulbs will be phased out from the end of this year. It will be against the law for a shop to sell the old style 150Watt bulbs as from next month and 100w and below will follow over the next year.

Justin

maypole

We have energy saving bulbs in some rooms, when you go to switch the light on it is so depressing and so dull, they do brighten up to some extent but not like a normal bulb. Ours are the "stick" kind, the ones that look horrible.

ashcarrot

Yeah there is a massive difference, I've replaced most now, though I may have to switch back as its not very bright. However it might be good for bedrooms where you wake up in the dark you dont really want it blinding. and if you've got it on at night its will grow in brightness im sure.
Does anyone know and better ones?

economiser

We only use energy saving bulbs where they we need the lighting for long periods, drawing room, dining room, kitchen etc. I wouldn't want to use them for hallways, landings, bathrooms, pantry etc until they produce an instant start version as these rooms only require intermittent, but instant, lighting and the energy saving would be minimal.

maninthestreet

Justin_GB wrote: »

Hi,
As I expect most of us here now use energy saving bulbs, 100W of light for the price of 40Watts. I am not sure how true this is but maybe others may shine some light on it, but if you use this type of lamp then once on it is best left on all day, the reason being is that it is the first few seconds of switch on that uses a lot of electricity and to say switch it on or off as you leave a room would defeat the energy saving benefits, is this true ?

Also I hear that the normal house hold light bulbs will be phased out from the end of this year. It will be against the law for a shop to sell the old style 150Watt bulbs as from next month and 100w and below will follow over the next year.

Justin

Phasing out of incandescent lightbulbs is sheer lunacy - GE of America have stated that they could, within 2-3 years, develop an incandescent bulb that uses 66% less electrcity than the current incandescent bulbs, but have no incentive to do so because of the rush by governments to ban these bulbs.
Low energy bulbs require more resources to manufacture, contain mercury, and cannot be used in all the situations that incandescent bulbs can be used e.g enclosed luminaires. Their stated advantage of longer lifetime compared to incandescent bulbs is true for continuous use, but this advantage is significantly reduced when on/off cycling is take into account.

WestonDave

Incorrect - major chain stores (B&Q, Tescos etc) will voluntarily stop stocking 150W traditional bulbs from January but it will still be legal to sell them and they will remain available online and at specialist stores. Further sizes will be gradually phased out in the same voluntary way - this guardian article has more details

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour2007/story/0,,2178187,00.html

Most of ours have gone - we now have a mix of flourescents or halogen spots (not that the latter are particularly efficient but they won't be going off stock anytime soon!) and the only remaining incandescent we have is in the PIR controlled security light as nothing else will work in there. I may have to buy in a stock to replace it until maybe an LED replacement is developed.

Hapless_2

ashcarrot wrote: »

Yeah there is a massive difference, I've replaced most now, though I may have to switch back as its not very bright. However it might be good for bedrooms where you wake up in the dark you dont really want it blinding. and if you've got it on at night its will grow in brightness im sure.
Does anyone know and better ones?

We use these, faster light up than yellow ones, cool "blue" daylight light. http://www.bltdirect.com/products.php?cat=443&nm=Energy+Saving+Daylight+Lamps

harryhound

If Martin manages to get the historical information back, this thread is full of everything anyone ever needs to know about low energy bulbs.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=323385

Networkguy

andrew-b wrote: »

I still havent found an affordable energy saving equivalent that is the same size as a SES golfball bulb and those bulbs seem to be very popular in many light fittings that are still being sold today.

IKEA!!!

You would not believe the look on my face when I found them because as you say, they are very very popular these days (I have 30 in total around the house). The Ikea ones look the same, have a nice warm glow (not like some energy saving ones) and run cooler.

Fulham_Mark

We should all be critical of rash claims and supposed miracle cures.

Incandescents are to my understanding electic heaters that happen to give off light and as such only 2% of the energy they use actually produces light (light we can see).

Not sure how energy-saving ones work but I've replaced all the outside lights here with energy saving bulbs are they are massively brighter but use much less watts. The dull period isn't a problem. The fact they last longer is also a factor.

LEDs seem to run on less than 5 for a huge bunch but no-one seems to be able to develop LEDs powerful enough to light rooms effectively.

My gut would be to wait for decent LEDs to come along before making major changes to your lighting systems

I suspect that GE have a vested interest in incandescents or have missed the boat on energy saving ones.

I also believe we've rushed into wind-power dreaming it will solve more than it can. With more research wavepower could be cheaper, less obtrusive, more reliable and consistent way of generating energy - you can predict tides for 1500 years but you can't predict the wind

maninthestreet

"I suspect that GE have a vested interest in incandescents or have missed the boat on energy saving ones."

Nope. They're just a technology company who understand both technologies better than politicians.