Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[HPsauce]

Not if he goes on a bike

Ah but then you have to calculate the "cost" of that bike ride.
Even ignoring the wear and tear on the bike and road surface (and extra clothes washing required) it's probably about 300 calories.
That's a small Mars bar or a pint of milk; plenty of pollution involved in producing those (or equivalent).

Like many (most? all?) "trips to the tip" they're often only worthwhile if you're actually passing by anyway in the course of your normal travels. I try to do it that way, though SWMBO doesn't approve of some of the piles of stuff that accumulate in the meanwhile. 

[sevenlayermuddle]

Not if he goes on a bike

Ah but then you have to calculate the "cost" of that bike ride.
Even ignoring the wear and tear on the bike and road surface (and extra clothes washing required) it's probably about 300 calories.
That's a small Mars bar or a pint of milk; plenty of pollution involved in producing those (or equivalent).

Like many (most? all?) "trips to the tip" they're often only worthwhile if you're actually passing by anyway in the course of your normal travels. I try to do it that way, though SWMBO doesn't approve of some of the piles of stuff that accumulate in the meanwhile. 

Whoa, you can't win.   

For all you know I may have walked to the tip, but that would have required a large steak pie in compensation, rather than a small mars bar.  Thus necessitating additional breeding of a small part of a cow.  And cows' digestive systems have been identified as a direct contributor to greenhouse gasses.   

On a more serious note, I did actually give British Gas some grief based on above a few years ago when, as a gimmick, they sent out 'free gifts' of cheap CFLs, many of which were simply unwanted, or perhaps just the wrong fittings.  I challenged them to  provide an environmentally friendly way of collecting/disposing of the ones they'd sent me, but failed to make any progress.   

[BradleyPalmer]

I am famously a critic/cynic of low energy fluorescent light bulbs, and took the precaution a few years ago of buying what seemed like a lifetime supply of incandescent bulbs, in the face of impending Euro bans.  I am pleased to say that tactic succeeded, I have not ever had a single CFL bulb in my home, and the increased power consumption has kept my winter heating gas bills down 

But my lifetime supply of 'proper bulbs' is now somewhat depleted, certainly as regards the candles used in the wall lights, so I was wondering whether any other forum members had experience, good or bad, with led light replacement bulbs?

I have tried several of these.. (the 3W versions)
http://www.clasohlson.com/uk/LED-Candle-Bulb/Pr182289000
... I am highly impressed, the light output bears up to a 25W incandescent, switch on is instantaneous, no flicker, and the colour is not unpleasant.

I have also tried just one of these...

http://www.johnlewis.com/231353765/Product.aspx
... The colour is OK and no flicker but, despite consuming nearly twice as much (nominal) power as the Clas Ohlsen bulb, and costing 50% more, the light output is markedly inferior to the claimed equivalent of 25W.  Also, there is a fraction of a second hesitation at switch on before the bulb lights up, which is disconcerting when mixed with other bulbs in the same room that switch on instantly.

So I am minded to make a trip into town, and stock up on enough Clas Ohlson bulbs to furnish all of the wall lights around the house. 

Unless anybody else can persuade me of other alternatives...?   

Thanks for any input,

7LM

I have got these led bulbs and I must say they are very efficient.. Bit expensive but consume much less power..

[Berrick]

I'm an aging hippy fearful for the world and an early adopter of LED lighting and I like it  8)

If you want a single light in the middle of a room then they still have a long way to go as LED lighting lends itself more to spot and ornamental lighting.

If you use several to light a room then they do a dam good job. Interestingly, due to the limited viewing angle of a single LED I have found with the LED lights I have bought, the smaller the room the more you need 

When I first started using LED lights everyone was quoting (and exaggerating) light output differently so making it difficult to decide how an LED light stacked up against traditional lighting. Thankfully, now, there are sites like this http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/light/how-lumen-to-watt.htm but as a rule a 1w LED is roughly equivalent to a 10w incandescent light.

As other have mentioned early mains LED's did suffer from a delay in starting but all the ones I have bought in the last year are instant start.

Are they really cheaper and more environmentally friendly?

That depends. From my experience be careful of the really cheap Chinese ones as they don't last anywhere near the 25-50K hours LED's are supposed too, 16 hours in some cases 

To be fair and because everything is made in China these days they were replaced very quickly and I kept the faulty ones which meant I have spare LED's for when others fail.
 
How safe are LED lights
Recently I read this article http://www.sott.net/article/261790-LED-lights-may-damage-eyes-researcher-says which maybe of interest to others

[sevenlayermuddle]

Have to say I'm still happy with mine, getting on for a year now and all 8 bulbs in the lounge still fine, and already approaching the point where they've paid for themselves, after which I'll be quids in.  The light is whiter that I first thought, the contrast being most noticeable when I switch to a couple of heavily dimmed normal light bulbs that I use when I want to watch TV, whereupon everything looks orange for a minute or two til my eyes acclimatise to the change.  Other times, I don't notice.


But...   

How safe are LED lights
Recently I read this article http://www.sott.net/article/261790-LED-lights-may-damage-eyes-researcher-says which maybe of interest to others