"Energy Efficient Light Bulbs" my butt cheeks !! silly things

[Butcher]

I too have energy savers everywhere but our bathroom (enclosed fitting) and our kitchen (GU10 fitting halogen). I should maybe investigate the GU10 fluorescents but I think they're a bit bigger than halogen GU10s? I'm not sure they'd fit.

There's LED GU10s which are the same size as a normal halogen bulb, don't think they have as much light output though, but they're very low power (1-3W).

Incidentally, if you're going for LED lights, I'd recommend luxeon type LEDs (rather than those bulbs with 50 normal white LEDs) - I've got a torch with one and they seem to give a much better light spectrum (warmer, without that odd blue cast standard white LEDs have).

[Kilty]

BBC NEWS | UK | Low-energy bulb disposal warning

Never knew that.

Interesting, never knew that. I shall warn the parents - should a mini quake ever happen, resulting in the many, many saver bulbs falling from the ceiling and lamps in my house, and then simultaenously breaking in their unventilated rooms, then they could be in grave danger!

Although I think there is a far more likely chance that they will trip over and injure themselves in the dark, given the incredibly poor amount of light the bulbs give :/

[Kezzer]

We use some now and I think they're good. Sure enough they take a while to heat up and get brighter but I find my energy efficient ones are brighter than regular ones. If it saves money and the environment in the long run then I think it's fine. They produce enough light when first turned on for me to do something and they brighten up after a while. I find mine stay warm even after they've been turned off for a while so they come on just as bright a while later.

[JIM_BOB7813]

I've never used one. I don't like the light given off by flourescent bulbs, personally - and going by the views in this thread I won't be trying them.

[Steve]

Never had any CFL problems myself, generally try to be better than the cheapest - the old generation CFLs have quite a long startup time.

[Buzzsaw]

We've just (finally!) started changing over, just a few bulbs so far. The biggest holdup is that most of the main rooms (hall, kitchen, living room) have dimmers. And the EE bulbs for dimmers just were not worth it for a long time.
In my room, however, I've been using 11W halogen spotlights for years. And last year I added some LED strips (from IKEA) to my shelves- very good. the only problem with my setup, it all runs off mains via transformers. What that does for the efficiency I have been unable to work out.

[Ciber]

I always buy the cheap low energy bulbs that look like four shart straight tubes together. They come on quickly and the light is fine. I'm just glad to be spending a little less on electric and it assuages my guilt a tiny bit over the power my PC uses.

[manwithnoname]

BBC NEWS | UK | Low-energy bulb disposal warning

Never knew that.

Also the long strip lights contain mercury - which is apparently why we should not be too concerned!? well this was the message some guy on bbc news24 was giving - it when along the lines of the long strip lights, with the same mercury in, have been used for over 50 years - so no problem...?

[PhilChave]

Hello,

As I understand it, energy saving bulbs are likely going to be compulsory some time in the next couple of years. And of course, because all petty government regulation must now be backed up with huge penalties, anyone caught not using one will probably have to be fined around 10K, and the money supposedly used to fund green energy research.

During a recent powercut, I was surprised to see how warm the candles kept the rooms they were in. And this led me to wonder how much heat is added to a room from ordinary ceiling and wall light bulbs.
In some poorer households, you read, where folks are wrapped in blankets because they can't afford to put the heating on, I do wonder just how much heat comes into a room from the lights they are using.
Just say for arguments sake, it is 5 degrees over the course of an evening. The benefits are, you get light and heat from the ordinary bulb.

Putting in 'cool' energy saving bulbs, takes away the second advantage. Now there really is a dilemma, because the house/rooms are much colder and you may get to the situation where the heating really has to go on, or you're going to be ill, or worse.
The smallest electric fire is say 1kw. A bright (and hot) light bulb 100W.

Now you are using 10x more power than you were when you had the little heat that came from your lighting.
I only bring this up because in households where this matters, they will be the ones that suffer most. Also, for the rest of us, the boiler, fire, heaters, will stay on that little bit longer to make up the difference. Consequence, more power used, not less.
(I realize we're talking autumn to spring here, not all year)
Comments?
regards
Phil

[Fraz]

Hello,

As I understand it, energy saving bulbs are likely going to be compulsory some time in the next couple of years. And of course, because all petty government regulation must now be backed up with huge penalties, anyone caught not using one will probably have to be fined around 10K, and the money supposedly used to fund green energy research.

During a recent powercut, I was surprised to see how warm the candles kept the rooms they were in. And this led me to wonder how much heat is added to a room from ordinary ceiling and wall light bulbs.
In some poorer households, you read, where folks are wrapped in blankets because they can't afford to put the heating on, I do wonder just how much heat comes into a room from the lights they are using.
Just say for arguments sake, it is 5 degrees over the course of an evening. The benefits are, you get light and heat from the ordinary bulb.

Putting in 'cool' energy saving bulbs, takes away the second advantage. Now there really is a dilemma, because the house/rooms are much colder and you may get to the situation where the heating really has to go on, or you're going to be ill, or worse.
The smallest electric fire is say 1kw. A bright (and hot) light bulb 100W.

Now you are using 10x more power than you were when you had the little heat that came from your lighting.
I only bring this up because in households where this matters, they will be the ones that suffer most. Also, for the rest of us, the boiler, fire, heaters, will stay on that little bit longer to make up the difference. Consequence, more power used, not less.
(I realize we're talking autumn to spring here, not all year)
Comments?
regards
Phil

A strange sense of deja-vu to this thread...

1) Lightbulbs are on ceiling - the worst place to put a heater, as heat rises.
2) If you've only got electrical heating in your home, then yes - it's probably not a bad idea (apart from point 1) to use inefficient incandescent bulbs in your home in winter, but switch to energy saving in summer.
3) If you've got gas heating, then definitely, without a shadow of doubt, use that instead. It's cheaper, uses less resource for the same amount of heat delievered to your home. This is because currently most of our electricity is produced via fossil fuels, and there is a large inefficiency in converting from gas/coal to electric. However, if all our electricity came from some nice nuclear fusion reactor or some such, I would obviously be using electric all the time :-D. Well, depending on price I suppose.

[R3MF]

i will build up a store of incandescent bulbs before they are banned.

[Taz]

This is an interesting thread. I have tried a couple of times over the last few years to switch to EE lightbulbs but have failed miserably due to a number of issues, some of which have already been mentioned:

1. I put 'globe' type EE bulbs in my shower-room and my bathroom. These were around £12 each and both failed within a few weeks. When I tried to remove the bulbs, the glass bit came away from the bayonet cap (the metal bit that plugs into the light socket). It appears that the steam had dissolved the glue that holds the bayonet cap to the glass. I went back to standard 100W filament bulbs.

2. In my hallway I have a glowing, green surround around the light switches. This helps to locate the switches in the dark. EE bulbs failed to work with this setup.

3. I have several dimmer switches in the lounge and bedrooms. Again, EE bulbs have failed to work (or have been incompatible) with this arrangement. There is a kind of dimming capability for EE bulbs these days but this is switch operated and the number of times you press the switch sets the level.

4. The usual 'warming up' time, whilst improved in recent years, is still a bit annoying.

5. The light given off is cold and weak.

[Bluecube]

So which makes are good then?

Have left it a tad late to answer but I couldn't see any response in the thread. I always go for the GE (General Electric) ones as I've found them to be excellent giving off strong light and with a warm up time of a few seconds.

[Fraz]

This is an interesting thread. I have tried a couple of times over the last few years to switch to EE lightbulbs but have failed miserably due to a number of issues, some of which have already been mentioned:

1. I put 'globe' type EE bulbs in my shower-room and my bathroom. These were around £12 each and both failed within a few weeks. When I tried to remove the bulbs, the glass bit came away from the bayonet cap (the metal bit that plugs into the light socket). It appears that the steam had dissolved the glue that holds the bayonet cap to the glass. I went back to standard 100W filament bulbs.

2. In my hallway I have a glowing, green surround around the light switches. This helps to locate the switches in the dark. EE bulbs failed to work with this setup.

3. I have several dimmer switches in the lounge and bedrooms. Again, EE bulbs have failed to work (or have been incompatible) with this arrangement. There is a kind of dimming capability for EE bulbs these days but this is switch operated and the number of times you press the switch sets the level.

4. The usual 'warming up' time, whilst improved in recent years, is still a bit annoying.

5. The light given off is cold and weak.

I think LED lightbulbs when they (properly) arrive will solve all of the above issues, except maybe the light being not quite as nice as incandescent. I imagine they'll sort out that problem too with the appropriate phosphor layers. Recently developed LEDs have are now producing more lumens of light per Watt than fluorescents, so they'll be even more efficient as well

[danroyle]

I'd like to know that, too.

Unless there's some new ones I'm not aware of, they don't .... or at least, they say they don't. I haven't tried it.

they definitely do not work with dimmer switches we have energy saving bulbs all through the house except ethans bedroom as we dim his light once he has fallen asleep

if you want to use them in the bathroom use sealed lights.

as my father in law keeps telling me in all rented property these are compulsary now

[Nickg]

yea they are energy efficient because they emit less light!?

i would buy them but only to feel less conscious about buying normal non EE bulbs. Not because the EE bulbs are a superior product...