Do you like low energy bulbs?

[inishindie]

Hi

Ireland are having another law introduced soon.

We have the highest energy consumption per household for lighting in the EU, has just announced plans to ban the sale of incandescent light-bulbs by the year 2009. This makes it the first European nation to outlaw the old energy hogging bulbs.

It's a pity that a law has to be introduced to implement such a thing. I get a bit frustrated with the chep ones on the market. The glow is very stark and they are still warming up when I have left a room!


Cheers

http://inishindie.blogspot.com/

[Martin]

The newest generation of energy savers aren't too bad at all - the important thing to look for is "colour temperature" - many of the early ones gave out a horribly "blue" light that made everyone look ghastly - they usually hide the colour temperature in a string of four numbers on the side - "6500" is horribly blue, "5000" not much better - the ones you want are "3000" or "2700" which give a light very similar to "ordinary" bulbs.
As to them not attaining full brightness immediately - how civilised! - if you switch one on in pitch darkness, it won't sear your eyeballs

[hamster]

Thanks, Martin, I never knew that.

I hated them when we first got them, and my parents are still lumbered with some of the very first ones that take ages to warm up. We have some new ones in our house, though, and I don't really notice the difference except, as you said, they're much kinder on the eyes when you switch them on in the middle of the night.

[mrsflibble]

according to some infor the husband came home with, you can damamge them by turning them on and off. how much of a difference it makes we don't know but we have swapped the energy saver from our bedroom into the hallway so it gets turned off and on less.

[Martin]

it's the same thing with most domestic electrical goods - when you switch on, it's "cold" and takes a large surge of current to get it up and running - that's why bulbs usually blow on startup! Back in the 60's when tvs were nowhere near as reliable as they are now, it was quite common to be advised to switch on early in the evening, and leave it running until bedtime - it was cheaper than getting it repaired (again)

[red]

the bulbs are getting better and better... the problem is they last so long we still have some from years ago, that are pretty horrid. but being the tight... I mean, eco friendly person I am, we are still using them. Trick is to put the better ones where you care.. like your living room, and the horrid ones can be on the landing...

[eccentric_emma]

i have found that some of the newer ones are lasting less than the older ones. has anybody else had this problem? i definitely prefer the fact that they are easier on the eyes and in fact, in some rooms where the fittings wont take energy bulbs, we use lamps with energy bulbs in instead, because normal ones are just too bright.

thanks for the info on colour temperature though Martin, that will help me when im trying to get people to "convert" to decent bulbs!

[Annpan]

I prefer energy saving ones too, the incandesant ones have such a stark light, they are not kind on the eyes.

My sister - who does alot of sewing, knitting, etc - hates energy saving ones, she can't focus under the energy saving light, and gets headaches.

I think it's a matter of getting used to the tones that they emit.

[Thurston Garden]

I was just complaining to OH no less than 10 minutes ago about how I hated the low energy lamps in our living room. They are old IKEA ones - more than 5 years old.

Thanks for the warmth numbers Martin - must go and have a look for some better ones.

[Urban Ayisha]

what about using a lampshade to shade the glare? i'm sure you could make some lovely ones from recycled stuff?

[snapdragon]

nod nod

I have some old ones with orange,yellow or cream coloured shades, they do fine - I too like the way they start low and build up.

I changed all mine to energy savers many years ago after we'd had a very difficult year and some extra large electricity bills - am sure some of them are the same bulbs

(flip me! that was at least fourteen years ago!)


(oh yes! bytheway - the energy bills did reduce considerably too)

[Thurston Garden]

I wanted to make country scene ones like you often see in Yorkshire pubs - there's various cottages etc stuck onto the shades with the wee windows cut out. Sadly, I was overruled!

Not helped as they are these hellish looking lamps, remnants from our former, urban, consumerist, keep up with the Joneses lifestyle. Might donate them to my brother for his new hoose

[Millymollymandy]

We have just put a new one in our living room and yippee, suddenly I have almost instant light and can finally see to read. Yes the new ones are a definite improvement on the old ones. I banned the OH from putting them on landings and stairwells before because I couldn't hang around for a minute waiting for them to come on when I wanted to run up or down the stairs, but with these new ones we can use them when the old non-eco ones blow.

[Shirley]

The newest generation of energy savers aren't too bad at all - the important thing to look for is "colour temperature" - many of the early ones gave out a horribly "blue" light that made everyone look ghastly - they usually hide the colour temperature in a string of four numbers on the side - "6500" is horribly blue, "5000" not much better - the ones you want are "3000" or "2700" which give a light very similar to "ordinary" bulbs.
As to them not attaining full brightness immediately - how civilised! - if you switch one on in pitch darkness, it won't sear your eyeballs

I've got a biobulb - it's incredibly bright. It is at 6500 kelvin colour temperature.

It's flicker free (got to admit that I spend way too much time on flickr.com now as I typed flickr first lol) and apparently radiates the full spectrum.

www.ecozone.co.uk has more details.

[Shirley]

I like low energy bulbs anyway - they save money and energy and I rather like the dim start up - it's a bit like my brain in the morning. I flick the switch and it takes a little while to get going ;)