Obsolete Technology..
I’ve been aware for a while of the Gov’t intention to ban the use and manufacture of Incandescent light bulbs for a while now. They want to stop the production and household usage of this 1800s invention and replace it with (at least in the interim) CFL/Flourescent bulbs.
WHAT took them so damn long? I’ve used the CFL lamps for years. From the huge and clunky things that used to need a few minutes to warm up to the modern “old bulb imitation” CFLs. The cost of running them is far lower, the heat emitted/wasted is far less, and the need to replace the things is greatly reduced.
I’ve fitted them to every one of mums rooms, with the exception of the bathroom and my old room that has a dimmer, which they don’t work with. I’ll happily strip and replace the dimmer unit though. They’re maybe a little dimmer, maybe a little less “friendly” in the light spectrum they produce, but I’ll take that over incandescent wasteful 200 year old technology any day.
The flat uses them in all but 2 rooms..the hall which is rarely used, and the bedroom main lamp which is not used for long periods. I do have CFLs for those rooms, but we have very high ceilings, and changing them isn’t too easy. I’ve sat and calculated the cost of running the entire lighting grid in this place for a billing quarter, and it came to a few pounds, if that. I’ve not “estimated” the cost, I’ve done it using a desk lamp plugged into my energy usage meter that I’ve set up with our “per unit” electricity cost.
When we moved in, every lamp in this place (4) had 100watt incandescents in. That’s 400watts of potential cost. The living room/kitchen alone accounted for half that. Now, instead of using 200watts. it uses 30. Almost a tenfold decrease. More in fact, as we rarely run both lights together.
Bring on the CFL revolution. Its about time people got dragged into this century. Lower your energy usage, lower your costs.
There are even lower running costs to be had though..LED based bulbs are even more efficient and even more indestructable than CFLs. I’m a MAJOR lover of LED technology. I have LED torches, LED car bulbs, an LED “USB Desktop lamp”, and a 240v “plug’n'play” LED lightbulb.
I bought the LED bulb to see what I thought of them. It’s a tiny little thing, with a big dome diffuser on it. It puts out enough light to see by - not staggeringly bright, but it WAS the cheapest they did. I bought it to run off a timer to light the guinea pigs cage and the little alcove where the cage sits. It worked perfectly. Gentle on my eyes, and gentle on theirs. No heat, not bothered by temperatures..cold to the touch, even after being on for hours.
It’s come back to the flat with me now, and it’s in my flexi lamp. How efficient is it? Well, it doesn’t show any reading AT ALL on my digital power meter. It is SERIOUSLY low powered. With the way LEDS are improving, I expect CFLs to be an interim solution only.
The next step I’d say is incorporating intelligent light switching into houses to take the lazy human element out of the equation. You can buy sound/movement activated light switches now that turn on for a set time when triggered, then switch back off. If we’re ever able to afford to buy a place, it’ll be something I’ll set about doing. I love automation, especially when it makes things easier and cheaper. Imagine lights that automatically come on when you open the door and walk into a room..bathroom lights that automatically light and turn off..no more forgetting and leaving them on..
You could even easily run an LED/low voltage flourescent lighting setup in a house off batteries. Imagine - power cuts? Not a biggie. You could even charge the batteries using solar and wind power..
Ah, I can dream..
We got sent some energy saving bulbs when we had cavity wall insulation done and we’ve just started using them having run out of “proper” bulbs. Sophie won’t go in the downstairs bathroom now because “it’s light and still dark in here”. They’re awful!
The LED light bulbs sound good though, what candle power do they go up to?
Ooh, now you’re asking. This one is a reading lamp really. Not bright enough to contest with a CFL, but bright enough to see by.
However, it’s an old one in LED terms..the tech involved has advanced in leaps and bounds since!
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/
That’s the site I tend to use, but more and more people are pushing LEDs now..CFLs contain mercury (as do all flourescent lamps), and from all I’ve read, they’re only regarded as a stopgap measure before LEDs really come of age.
Assuming one day we can afford to buy a place, I’m really going to go to town on the electrics..
I’ve already done it on the car…LEDs ahoy there.
If you want some decent, cheap CFLs, ours came from Tesco..a few quid at most. The ones we use are ES base (cheers landlord for that damn silly fitting), but they do BC as well. 11watt CFLs are seemingly equivalent to anything from 55-100watt incandescents..there’s arguing going on..heh.
It helps that we’ve got MENTAL lightshades..I’ll try to get a pic. It’s like a big silver UFO..very effective though.
Actually, done some research which severely taxed my limited knowledge of electronics. 460 luminere is roughly the same as a 100w light bulb. The brightest white LED I could find was 9 luminere so that’s about 50 to give the same light as a 100w light bulb. That’s £71.33 from RS Components. Add to that the cost of a bayonet cap, which I can’t seem to find anywhere to buy and then the cost of a reflector and a diffuser and you’re probably looking at closer to £80 to make your own LED light bulb with the same brightness of a 100w light bulb. And that’s at cost price.
I phoned a company to ask where I could get some LED bulbs brighter than a 20w bulb and they said you can’t.
Looks like LED bulbs aren’t the immediate future.
Maybe…but bear in mind LEDs are a very focussed light. There are a lot of very, very bright LEDs in production now that are painful to look at and chuck out a STUPID amount of lighting..Luxeon Stars are a good example.
Spot lighting is very possible..360 degree LEDs aren’t common. I’ve got some chrome “nut fitting” white ones for the car, that are going in the boot and under the bonnet to floodlight that, and save me farting about in the dark. They’re far too bright to look into.
I’d say LEDs are more a “task light” at the moment..but there’s a lot of very interesting stuff going on in that area.
I’ve seen LED floodlamps, LED PIR night security lamps and so on in mainstream shops now..it’s getting there. The nice thing about LED security lighting is it’s a low voltage job, and you can pick up solar powered “no running cost” units quite cheaply.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-04-14-led-lighting_x.htm
http://www.reuk.co.uk/LED-Spotlights.htm
Yeah, they’d be fine in a reading lamp or something but as a replacement to a proper light they’re uneconomical. Might get one to put in the light on Sophie’s headboard because she won’t sleep without a light and it’s too bright. A dim LED would be good and cheap.