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[UncleUB]

Or you can have .........6 for 20p 

http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Offers/Home--Leisure/

[Chrysalis]

to be honest I dont use energy saving bulbs because they save power.

I use them because normal bulbs barely last a month, with normal bulbs I was changing them far too regurly and was getting silly whilst energy saving bulbs last years, I have only ever had 1 die on me out of multiple years using multiple bulbs.

[Chrysalis]

Hi,

These guys will help you clean up your electricity after fitting low energy light bulbs.
http://www.wireless-protection.org/electricity_03.html

Scam or not?

Cheers,
Peter

£99 for the filter and look at the list of symptoms, I would expect they deliberatly trying to scare people yes.

They probably discovered there is something silly like a 0.000001% chance of asthma symptons etc. so they get listed.

[HPsauce]

And this confirms what I've always known:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8367933.stm
"Energy-efficient light bulbs lose on average 22% of their brightness over their lifetime, a study has found.
In some cases they emit just 60% as much light as traditional models"

[HPsauce]

Well, I think I may have discovered the answer to some of my problems...
http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/category/465/g9-adaptors/

You buy an adapter with a G9 halogen bulb. Fit a suitable screw-on cover if appropriate.
More efficient and longer-lasting than GLS of course and "instant-on" unlike low-energy ones.
And dimmable of course.

Ideal for those lights that you want on quickly but don't normally leave on for a long time - cloakrooms, bedrooms, etc.

Anyone seen them in the DIY "sheds" yet?

[jazz]

They look interesting.  Would they work on security lights which are switched on with a PIR device? 

[HPsauce]

Most security lights I know have linear halogen bulbs, so are not a problem.
Or do you have some with old-style GLS bulbs? If so I guess these would work fine, it's just an adapter and still 240V.

[HPsauce]

I've just seen that the Beeb picked up on this again yesterday: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8406923.stm

[oldfogy]

They look interesting.  Would they work on security lights which are switched on with a PIR device? 

Yes, because fundamentally they are no different from a ordinary lamp.

[jazz]

Thanks folks.  Most of my security lights are halogen linear ones but I have one old PIR activated light by the front door which has an "old fashioned" 100W light bulb in it.  I have a couple of spares in stock but was just seeing possibilities for the future. 

[sevenlayermuddle]

Quite a good article here...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8406923.stm

It adds something I'd not thought of before, and that's the non-unity power factor.  Put simply, that means the power dissipated as heat by the CFL bulb is less than the product of the voltage across it and the current through it, because the current and (AC) voltage are not perfectly in phase with one another.  You're not charged any extra for that, you're only charged for the energy dissipated in your home.

That sounds good, doesn't it, you've drawn more current than you're charged for?  But it's not - the current is real and flows through the supply network, resulting in heat-loss in the electricity supply system.  Looked at another way, low energy CFL bulbs contribute directly to heating up the great outdoors and the atmosphere, whereas traditional light bulbs have unity PF and contribute cheifly to indoor heating, where heating is usually a good thing in any case.

There does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel (no pun intended).  I noticed some LED bulbs in B&Q - currently only 'equivalent' to 10W incandescent, but hopefully they'll improve.  The halogen bulbs also shouldn't suffer from the PF issue.

- 7LM

edit: PS I just noticed that link was already posted by HP.  Still worth emphasising the PF factor aspect, though.

[oldfogy]

I had to change "another one" yesterday, that now makes 2 within the last 5 or 6 years.

I have a smallish stock of these so-called "long life" bulbs all of which are made by Phillips or at least have the Phillips brand on them and just happen to notice on the packaging that some are marked as 6 years and some of the others also identical packaging and made by Phillips are marked as "10 years"

[Weaver]

The point made earlier about power factor is an important one! It's an insidious thing, the wastefulness of unhelpful power-factor kit. Sounds like mfrs should be encouraged to put power-factor correction into the units themselves, which would add quite a bit to the cost.

I wonder if a whole-house hw solution could be engineered to counter the problem of evil power-factor devices in a more cost-effective way.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Sounds like mfrs should be encouraged to put power-factor correction into the units themselves

Excellent idea, Weaver.  In fact, if the govt. was serious about energy-reduction, PF-certification could be mandated for all domestic appliances.

Alternatively, fit PF correction units at the house supply (meter cabinet), paid for by a tax on the utility companies who've gained cheap publicity be sending out 'free' CFLs...?  Though I'm not a power-distribution engineer, so not sure how practical that alternative would be.

[roseway]

Simply putting a suitably dimensioned capacitor in parallel with the bulb would make a substantial improvement. I would have thought that these could be included in the bulb for quite a small cost and not very much increase in size.