Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

Low-energy bulb disposal warning

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7172662.stm

Low-energy bulbs 'cause migraine'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7167860.stm

Low-energy bulbs 'worsen rashes'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7170246.stm

I'm wondering why all this has arrived in the news at this particular point in time.:scratch:

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

no doubt because of this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7016020.stm

:)

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

Because conventional bulb manufacturers have activated their PR battalions... :rolleyes:

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

It was a slow news day ?

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

I've got a few timer light switches which won't work with energy saver bulbs, and most dimmers won't work either.
I'm all for saving money and the enviroment though so I've got the majority of the house using them. I've had quite a few which haven't lasted even a year. Some take a while to warm up as well and start off too dim.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

personally I think I would be happier pursuing this technology

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/7162606.stm

The issues regarding fluorescent lamps have always been there, the new ones just incorporate all the components in a neater package, with some nifty glass-work.

However, I'm not sure if the overall ecological balance is favourable - as a consumer lower energy bills & longer life for products is good - as a citizen the manufacturing & eventual disposal of such items may be less so???

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

I read somewhere that because low-energy lights give off less heat, the heating in your house runs slightly longer to compensate for that, and as a result almost completely negates any energy saving you think your making.

Anyway, as homealone has said, once manufacturing & disposal has been added into the equation, I'd be surprised if there's anything like as much of a saving of energy as seems to be made out... and trying to find out the energy used in manufacturing them is like trying to find rocking horse do-do in a proverbial stack of needles.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

What makes me giggle. They last years. So you have a house full of ancient bulbs, which by the time they warm up, you're switching the light off again. Also causes domestics as men **** all over the bathroom floor. So you rush out and buy a whole new set - and put the old ones in a landfill site. And no doubt you'll have to do the same again in a few years when something even better comes along. It's like all energy saving - just shifts the energy consumption/planet damage somewhere else. And it's not as if any of us will be here when the planet's chuffed.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

It seems to me that whatever we decide to do to reduce our carbon footprint someone will point out why it's not ecologically sound for the planet and us...We are just doomed as a species.:(

After all who would think that sending North Sea Prawns by boat to be hand shucked in Thailand and then sailed back to the UK would be a better way of being more carbon neutral? :shrug:

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

It's not just a matter of being carbon neutral Coggy. There's a lot more to that story than the BBC covered. One such thing being the recent discovery that the pressurised water shelling of said prawns, until very recently the preferred method of 90+% of UK seafood processors, creates aerosolized particulate carcinogens.

Ship your prawns to the other side of the world to be shelled by hand and - Hey presto! no claims.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

They don't claim the 'prawns' are sent to Thailand because it is carbon neutral, but do claim it might not be as bad as you might think to do so....

When the extra quality from hand peeled is factored into the equation along with low labour costs the scenario makes some kind of sense???

Sorry light bulbs ;)

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

we can have mountains of light bulbs, allong side the mountains of fridges and freezers, and those lovely maintenance free car batteries.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

True in the winter, not true in the summer, when you wouldn't have the heating on anyway (you do have double glazing and loft insulation, I hope?). It's more efficient to heat using, er, a heating system, anyway, since it heats from the floor up rather than the ceiling down.

It's not just 'hey I've got low-energy lightbulbs', of course - other energy saving matters, like replacing your computer with a newer one with better energy characteristics - laptops are better than desktops here.

I think we've got one or two tungsten bulbs left, the rest have been replaced by LE ones over the last year or so as they've gone bang. No mass-replacement or landfill use beyond what would happen anyway. None of the LE ones have broken or been dropped - some are better than others, so the dodgy ones get relegated places where they're not needed so often, like the downstairs bog (which, being a non-double glazed ex-outside-lav, isn't the most congenial place after dark anyway). There's one fitting that's too tight for the current generation of bulbs, so we have to keep a store of tungstens for it, which is annoying. When I find a small enough LE I'll replace it.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

I managed to find a LE (Philips Genie 11w) bulb to replace the candle type which my bankers lamp requires. It's surprisingly small (11.5cm x 4.5cm approx.) and works very well indeed.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

You can even get spot type LE bulbs now as well as Halogen replacements
The Green Shop You can probably get cheaper elsewhere, but they do show the range of LE bulbs available now.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

That's the whole point!

---------- Post added at 12:36 ---------- Previous post was at 12:32 ----------

I sometimes have migraines and its only from the flicker effect from a faulty fluorescent bulb

---------- Post added at 12:50 ---------- Previous post was at 12:36 ----------

The rash issue is a very small case and alternatives will need to be provided. But you can't make an alarmist headline like "Low-energy bulbs 'worsen rashes'" when its such a specific condition that the sun does the same thing.

What complete BS.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

I now have energy saving bulbs in all of my rooms but one, one of them flickers for a second when turned on but the rest have no flickering at all. I have yet to have a energy saving bulb fail, whilst normal bulbs seem to last anything from 1-3 months and need replacing regurly.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

Given all the other lack of planning & preparation displayed by the government, perhaps we as a nation need to prepare ourselves for a no-energy rather than a low energy situation.

I have bought low energy lightbulbs and they are pretty good but perhaps not as good as those they are intended to replace.

However, in getting them it crossed my mind that if we had no electricity it would have a massive impact on our technologically based society.

Got to the stage where I am considering having solar panels fitted so that I can still benefit from my low energy bulbs.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

Only while the sun is shining, of course.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

I believe the panels can cope with low light levels and charge even on wet and cloudy days.

Useful backup in the event that my local branch of the National Grid suffers an outage!!

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

That's what I meant - you need to store the electricity, which can make solar energy ridiculously expensive.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

Todays low energy bulbs are nothing short of a disaster waiting to happen. Every one of them is made to such a low standard with low quality components so they can be financially acceptable by the population every single one of them is a major fire risk. This is also why they no longer last the amount of hours they used to when they first came out.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

Any evidence of this (the fire risk), as a quick search couldn't find anything.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

We've got to reduce the energy for the future for when the globe warms up because we'll need the power for all those aircons we'll be buying :D

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

http://www.eastmarket.com/sylvania/ and its not uncommon, I have had many go like this in recent times. They never used to and they would last a lot longer than they do today.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

Very interesting.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

I bought low energy bulbs to replace every single bulb in the house from Tesco's last week, yes they start off a bit dimmer but they warm up very quickly and at 89p for 2 (buy one get one free) it was a no brainer. We have oil heating and no internal thermostat so I'm not bothered about any extra heating bills.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

The two biggest problems for me is that the energy saving bulbs are too white and harsh (I prefer a peach coloured bulb) and they are not dimmable.

For me then, they are useless. I'll stick with the ordinary light bulbs thanks.

Ali.

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

You can get dimmable ones http://www.ebulbshop.com/acatalog/11...ng_Energy.html

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

Never had any problems with ours, I agree that its annoying that you can't dim them but we have a stand alone lamp the other end of the living room that we turn on when we want dim lights.

I do like the daylight one that I have in my office!

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

I have used low energy lamps for many years, the first being a 16 watt "2D" bayonet cap lamp on the landing in the early '80s that was so heavy it required a heavier duty cable drop to the lampholder.

However I use light dimmers for the wall lights in my lounge and will not be changing them for low energy flourescents. Why you might ask? As you dim a tunsten lamp its colour temperature changes giving a "warmer" glow, and also you reduce the amount of energy it is consuming, very pleasant for watching TV. Dimmable low energy lamps are currently horrendously expensive and dimming a flourescent lamp its colour temperature remains the same as determined by the phoshor coatings and the light output when dimmed, in my opinion, looks very "cold" and uninviting. Maybe when the technology changes I will review this!

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

Well all of us will have to convert eventually..or use candles.;)

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

I`d worked out what I will use in the next 30 years & stock up now!!!!!:rolleyes:

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

That is true, but hopefully the demand for acceptable dimmable light sources will have spurred on the development of high output colour changing LED technology, etc. In my lounge there are 8 light fittings, only the four wall lights are on dimmers, the un-dimmed fittings have low energy lamps installed. I do have a stock of 40w, 60w and 100w tungsten lamps I have removed as I systematically replace them with low energy flourescents in the rest of the house!!!!

However, lumen for lumen, candles are not an eco-friendly alternative even compared with tungsten lamps!

Re: Energy Bulbs,a boon or a curse?
 

Low energy fluoros will soon pass into history once the LED lamps technology gets a move on. I use several LED lamps in the house for localised lighting for reading, etc.

And at 1.8 watt per lamp they are saving me a fortune already.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...Led/index.html

http://www.ccrane.com/lights/led-light-bulbs/index.aspx