Seriously thoughtful 100W incandescent lightbulbs banned in the EU from 1st Sep

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Daithi

It may not provide the same warmth of light, but when weighed against environmental concerns we need to decide which is more important.

Do you have it one in your bathroom? And in the toiletroom (if that's even a word...)?

I have one CFL in the house right now. It's in the major fixture in my room. I only turn it on for short amounts of time (I know that thing is in there, turn on the light, oh, there it is, turn off the light). By the time the light is barely started I'll turn it off again.

One other light fixture we have, is a dimmable one. No dimmable CFL in sight where I do my shopping. And yes, we looked for that, as that light is on for longer amount of times. So, no option their to pick a normal bulb. Another fixture we have doesn't have a dimmer, and that one has a LED light in it. Couldn't find a CFL that fit (they were too "wide" on the bottom, it now has a flame shaped LED bulb).

The third light in the livingroom that's on a lot is philips Living Colours LED light.

I think I prefer to light candles than using CFL's. Same startup time... But a much nicer light.

[astra]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

I love soap without phosphates. It gets clothes clean and rinses out easily.

And I'm proud to be a citizen of the EU.

And you are from...?

[Lycoming]

I haven't read the whole thread, but surely somebody has already written....

Will the last person to leave the UK please switch off the environmentally friendly wind turbines, wave power generators, solar panels, heat exchangers and those dull bulbs; don't forget to collect your personalised hair shirt by the exit.

I love the planet, but my geriatric eyes need help, these new bulbs are not the answer; yes they illuminate, but to a lesser degree than the lights they are replacing, consequently people use more lights. Watch any news interviews from a government department. No power or light shortages there, lights and air-conditioning/heating everywhere. .

Best I stock up on AAA batteries for my reader's light.

[Sparrow]

According to the Daily Mail there's a loophole:

"..the legislation refers only to 'household bulbs' and does not cover the near-identical traditional bulbs intended for 'industrial use'.
These heavy-duty bulbs look exactly the same as an old-fashioned bulb but are designed to withstand the battering of a building site, mine or factory.
Although they are not available from supermarkets or high-street DIY chains, they can be bought from specialist shops and internet retailers for about £1 each.
They are sold as 'rough-service bulbs' and come in screw and bayonet fittings."

[BlackVoid]

Good quality LED lighting is the future. CFLs give out light that has large holes in the spectrum - that is why they look unnatural. LEDs are better. Yes, good LED lighting is expensive but it lasts just about forever. The problem is, they are very hard to get, most stores only sell LED spotlights.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by Lycoming

[SNIP]I love the planet, but my geriatric eyes need help, these new bulbs are not the answer; yes they illuminate, but to a lesser degree than the lights they are replacing, consequently people use more lights. Watch any news interviews from a government department. No power or light shortages there, lights and air-conditioning/heating everywhere. .

Best I stock up on AAA batteries for my reader's light.

My experience with (mostly) changing to CFLs is that it's pretty easy to wind up with both more light and better light. Here's how:

1. Find a source of high quality CFL bulbs. In the U.S. I use www.1000bulbs.com -- you'll want to find a source that has inexpensive shipping to your location and that sells products that are spec'd for your country's electrical system.
2. Figure out what color temperature of light best meets your needs -- this is the key to "better light." I find that 4300K is best for me (and even more importantly, it helps with my wife's SAD). Others prefer 2700K (which matches ordinary incandescents), or 3500K (which matches Halogen lights), or 6500K (which is quite similar to sunlight) or "Full Spectrum" (which is even closer to sunlight). Once you know what you prefer, standardize on it. One reason 4300K is good for me is that it represents a pretty good compromise between light color on the one hand, and making it easier to read on the other hand.
3. Switch over a room at a time. Having bulbs of different color temperatures in the same room looks really weird.
4. To get more light: Replace a 100W incandescent bulb with a 120W (or 150W) "equivalent" bulb. Don't just believe the marketing "equivalency" though. Rather, look for bulbs with higher measured output (it's stated in lumens in the US; I have no idea for other countries). Because the CFLs use 4x-5x less power than incandescents, you can put higher-output bulbs in your fixtures without risking overheating.

Watch out for the three big "gotchas" of CFLs:

1. If your light has a dimmer, you must use a "dimmable" CFL. Non-dimmable CFLs will buzz, die very quickly, and may overheat drastically. You don't want this to happen!
2. CFLs are (mostly) not appropriate for lights that are turned on and off very frequently (especially if the light is turned on only briefly). This is a consequence of the starter circuit having a lifetime (in number of starts) that is distinct from the lifetime of the bulb (in terms of powered-on hours). Stick with incandescents for that closet where the light is rarely on.
3. Make sure the bulb will fit in the fixture!!! There are some amazingly small CFLs these days -- look for terms like "Cold Cathode" on the labelling. I find it useful to shop on the Web, in part because the vendor I use has downloadable tech specs that include exact physical size of each bulb. There's no point to buying a bulb that won't fit in the fixture where you wish to use it.

Good luck.

Xenophon

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by BlackVoid

Good quality LED lighting is the future. CFLs give out light that has large holes in the spectrum - that is why they look unnatural.

What about 'Full Spectrum Daylight' CFL bulbs?
I've ordered some, will they be a disappointment??

[Xenophon]

Sparrow:

Typical CFLs have one or two big bumps in their output, usually centered on their nominal color temperature, with very little output at other frequencies. Incandescents have a big bump at 2700K, with a long tail of other frequencies (off in the blue direction); they produce moderately more output at frequencies off nominal than do normal CFLs. The 'Full Spectrum Daylight' CFLs for which I've seen spectrograms have five or six big bumps in the spectrogram; that said, their output at other frequencies in the visible range is much higher than what you see from most incandescents. I predict that if you are disappointed, the issue won't be holes in the spectrogram. The more common problem is that the light seems much bluer than people expect -- we're really really used to the very yellow light from incandescent bulbs.

Xenophon

[Sparrow]

Xenophon - I expect it'll take a few days to acclimatise to them before I'll know whether they're for me or not.

[Laz116]

How about this as a replacement?



The light spectrum should be just as good as the old light bulb, and it's supposed to last for 2000 hours cutting 30-50% of the energy needed.

What is the downside of this, or should we all just switch immediately?

[Who are you?]

Most LEDs also have gaps in the spectrum. Only earlier this year has a full spectrum white LED been developed, and I don't think it's marketed yet.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

CFLs are (mostly) not appropriate for lights that are turned on and off very frequently (especially if the light is turned on only briefly). This is a consequence of the starter circuit having a lifetime (in number of starts) that is distinct from the lifetime of the bulb (in terms of powered-on hours). Stick with incandescents for that closet where the light is rarely on.

Problem is, all incandescents will be banned at one point. Right now it's only the 100W's (which I never used anyway).

Originally Posted by Laz116

How about this as a replacement?



The light spectrum should be just as good as the old light bulb, and it's supposed to last for 2000 hours cutting 30-50% of the energy needed.

What is the downside of this, or should we all just switch immediately?

What kind of light is that? It looks like halogen. Which will be banned by 2012.

[Laz116]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Problem is, all incandescents will be banned at one point. Right now it's only the 100W's (which I never used anyway).



What kind of light is that? It looks like halogen. Which will be banned by 2012.

It's a halogen light bulb. It's my understanding that only the low efficiency halogen lights will be banned in 2012.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Laz116

It's a halogen light bulb. It's my understanding that only the low efficiency halogen lights will be banned in 2012.

Hmm, they didn't mention that in the piece I read, just halogen

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by Laz116

How about this as a replacement?

The light spectrum should be just as good as the old light bulb, and it's supposed to last for 2000 hours cutting 30-50% of the energy needed.

What is the downside of this, or should we all just switch immediately?

Heh. They produce a massive amount of heat, and 2000 hours? Er... currently the halogens I'm using here are about ten times as expensive as incandescents and last half as long.