Make your Home Green

Low Energy Lighting

Many of the articles we have all read in the press are based on older technologies and don’t reflect the current market for low energy light bulbs.  Earlier this year the phase out of general purpose household bulbs began.  The first to go was the good old General purpose household bulb, 100w/150w bulbs that have lit more rooms throughout the years than any bulb on the market. There was mass hysteria, people bulk buying 100w lamps to ensure there home lighting wasn’t affected in anyway. Little old ladies buying 20 bulbs to last their lifetime, sad but true.  The general public were not happy, “It doesn’t give the same light”, “It flickers”, “I have to wait 10 minutes for it to come on”.

Because of the phase out proposals a selection of new lamps became available they generally consist of the following:

Compact Fluorescent

These Energy Efficient lamps are an excellent choice for table lamps and ceiling pendants where the lamp is not visible.  The lamps quickly get to their maximum output.  Many are designed to closely mirror the size of a standard general purpose lamp.

When using compact fluorescent lamps in place of conventional lamps in your home lighting the following table is a guide to the equivalent wattages:

Ordinary Bulbs

Energy Saving Equivalent

25w

6w

40w

8-11w

60w

13-18w

100w

20-25w

Retro Fit Low Energy

This type of lamp is available to suit most home lighting common lamp holders (BC, ES, SES, and GU10).  It is still a fluorescent lamp but the control gear is housed inside of the lamp.  They tend to be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye and are available in the more common shapes, candle, golf ball and gls and varying wattages.  A guide for equivalent wattages is below:

Ordinary Bulbs

Retro Fit Lamp

25w

5-7w

40w

8-10w

60w

11-14w

75w

15-17w

100w

18-22w

150w

23-27w

Energy Savers

These lamps are halogen versions of the popular home lighting lamps.  Primarily the ones affected by the phase out.  The lamps are clear, and contain a halogen lamp instead of the normal tungsten filament.  They give the same light output as the lamps they are replacing but use less power.  It generally represents a saving of approximately 30%, although not as efficient as the compact fluorescent lamps or retro fit lamps it is still a substantial saving and of course it has other benefits.  These lamps will look fantastic in a crystal chandelier as the halogen aspect will make the crystal sparkle.  Versions of these lamps are already available and are sufficiently efficiency rated to survive the phase out until at least 2012.

About the Author

A lighting retailer can advise you of the best lamps to use in your home lighting scheme.

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