Light Bulb General Information If you are going for energy saving light bulbs then get bright ones!! 18th February 2012 saving 1 Comment Energy consumption of light output With old fashioned filament light bulbs if you wanted a brighter light in a room you would typically have to change a 100w light bulb for a 150w light bulb. This would then give you 50% more light corresponding to an increase in lumens output from around 1400 lumens to 2100 lumens. For sure you get another 700 lumens of light but the price to pay in increased power consumption is 50 watts which is a high cost. If you look at the same analysis with energy saving light bulbs then, for example, you would typically start with a 20w energy saving light bulb which would typically give out around 1200 lumens and then move up to a 30w energy saving light bulb which would give out typically 1900 lumens. This means that for an extra 10 watts of electricity you are getting a massive increase in light level of 700 lumens. This is providing an increase in efficiency of around 7 times by moving to the energy saving light bulb. The moral of the story with energy saving light bulbs. In the early days of energy saving light bulbs then only low wattage ones were available around 11-14 watts, certainly at an economical price, but now the technology has improved dramatically so the larger units like the 30w energy saving light bulb are not only available but also can be acquired at a reasonable price. So in a nutshell then do not sit around in the dark with your antiquated 11w energy saving light bulbs that take simply ages to reach an acceptable brightness, why not invest in some nice bright 30w energy saving light bulbs and enjoy the simple luxury of light. The Transition with the GLS LED Bulb The GLS LED bulb is now making strong advances to take over from the CFL energy saving light bulb and the prices have dropped dramatically over the last few years. The high wattage LED bulbs of 7watts and above could not be made before but technological advancement means that the outputs are increasing every year and the prices are still dropping. In fact not the 7w GLS LED is a great lamp and a real contender to take over from the CFL energy saving light bulb for good. The other benefit of the LED technology is that to make an LED bulb dimmable only costs approximately 20 % more whereas to make a CFL dimmable energy saving light bulb adds around 400% to the cost of the light bulb. This means that the dimmable LED GLS bulb is going to illuminate the homes of the future and as the energy consumption is low then why not get bright ones which are dimmable and then you can set them to the required level. So the dimmable GLS LED is taking over and it is only a matter of time.
Good points! Energy saving is not the only reason for choosing lighting you want to use, and politically pushed “replacements” and phase outs”have been counter productive also in saving energy overall – the LEDs should offer a better prospect, although still with omnidirectional brightness issues The metered saving is not the only issue in savings, eg the usually welcome heat from incandescents, or the so-called power factor of fluorescents and to a lesser extent LEDs (=hidden power consumption), as research referenced. Reply
