Energy Saving Bulbs News

With the introduction of so many Energy Saving Light Bulbs and Light fittings we are sure that you have some questions about the ranges available. Here, we' have tried to answer some of the more common queries and surprisingly may shatter several popular misconceptions about these money saving products.

Energy saving light bulbs take a long time to light up
Not at all, most of the modern energy saving bulbs take no more than a few seconds to reach their full brightness. The short warming up or striking is because of the way the Bulb works. A current is passed through gas in the glass tube, making the tube's coating glow brightly thus emitting the light. In standard bulbs, the current is passed through a filament or wire that heats up and produces light. The problem being that 95% of the electricity used to achieve this is in fact lost in the production of the heat. This is what makes them incredibly inefficient. Energy saving Lamps, by comparison, use efficient technology as in fluorescent lights, in a smaller compact size resulting in even less energy consumption.

Manufacturing an energy saving bulb takes more energy to produce than a standard bulb, doesn't that make it inefficient?
This is not the case because of its technology, an energy saving bulb might well take more energy to manufacture than a traditional bulb. But overall the energy saved by the bulb during its lifetime far exceeds this energy consumption.

Switching lights on and off uses more energy than leaving them on
Switching an energy saving bulb on only uses the same amount of power as leaving it on for a minute or two. Turning the bulb on and off repeatedly may possibly shorten its life span, but normal household use should not realistically cause any problems. Most reputable Branded Energy Saving bulbs are tested through 1,000s of cycles of switching. Although to help the lamp to last as long as possible, it is best to leave it on for a period of 10 to 15 minutes at a time, allowing it to stabilise. If you're still using traditional bulbs, please remember to switch them off every time you leave a room. In the UK alone it is estimated that we waste more than £175 million a year by leaving lights on that are not required.

Are the mains and Low Voltage halogen bulbs more efficient than traditional bulbs?
Generally Halogen bulbs installed in the home consume less energy than traditional bulbs. Typically a Halogen lamp of 20W-50W will give a light output compared with 40W-100W for traditional bulbs. However, rooms lit with halogen bulbs will often have more fittings than rooms illuminated with traditional bulbs or energy saving bulbs. Therefore, these installations will use more energy overall. If you have halogen lighting in your home you can now buy Energy Saving halogen bulbs , PL lamps and LED Bulbs that fit into Halogen light fittings. They use around 30% - 70% less electricity than traditional halogen bulbs.

Traditional bulbs give a better quality of light?
The glass used to house energy saving light bulbs has to be translucent and not totally transparent. Therefore the light quality of energy saving bulbs cannot be directly compared with that of clear traditional bulbs. Some Energy saving bulbs give a different light output to that that we are used to in the Home but consider that almost all commercial applications of lighting that we are exposed to every day are of the Low energy type, it then becomes clear that we soon become accustomed to this type of lighting.

Don't some energy saving bulbs contain mercury? And thats bad for the environment?
Energy saving bulbs contain tiny amounts of mercury smaller than a pin head. In the long term, CFL technology will actually help less mercury to pollute the air. Due to us burning fossil fuels like coal the biggest source of mercury in the air. And as energy saving bulbs use 80% less electricity than a traditional bulb, that means less mercury overall.

My lights have dimmer switches. Can I use them with energy saving bulbs?
Most energy saving bulbs are not compatible with dimmer switches at the moment. A standard dimmer switch will make the energy saving lamp flicker and damage your bulb. Some manufacturers are bringing out Dimmable Energy saving lamps but at the moment these are quite expensive, but as technology moves on these will become more affordable. There are Halogen energy saving bulbs that can be used dimmer switches and our sales staff will be able to advise you on these.

The government wants to ban traditional incandescent bulbs?
There is an EU and UK proposal for a voluntary phasing out of traditional bulbs between now and 2011. This is to give manufacturers and retailers time to develop and stock additional products that replace traditional bulbs. You will notice over the next few years that some traditional lamps are no longer available to purchase.

Recycling your energy saving light bulbs
Most Energy saving light bulbs are part of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) initiative which means that those who sell these products must provide information to the public on how they can be recycled. A government charge currently 0.15p each has been placed on all lamps of this type to allow for recycling costs. You can contact the retailer you purchased your energy saving light bulb from about how to recycle it or you can contact your local authority to see if they will recycle energy saving light bulbs. If you need any further information on recycling your Low Energy and other types of Lamps please contact our office for further information

You can also find out more about disposing of energy saving light bulbs at Recolight.co.uk

Do you have a comment about this article?
Please click here to leave a comment.