BRIGHTER BULBSThe Bright Side of Low Energy Bulbs
brighter bulbs
Many people bemoan the passing of the old tungsten or incandescent type light bulb.
Many have even built up a stock of these old fashioned energy wasting bulbs, hoping to preserve the warm instant light that they were used to.
Is this nostalgia for the old fashioned bulb well founded?
A staggering 95% of the energy used by the old fashioned bulbs went into heating the filament to white heat level. The remaining 5% of the energy gave out the light!
Not only does this seem like a lot of wasted heat that adds to the problem of global warming but we were actually paying alot of money for this expensive and unwanted heat.
We have now discovered the dark side of the old fashioned bulbs so now here is the bright side of the low energy bulbs.
The most common low energy bulb is the Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL). It has a twisted fluorescent tube that emits ultra-violet light(UL).
This light is turned into visible light when it passes through the coating inside the bulb's envelope.
Most CFLs are designed to replace an incandescent lamp and can fit into existing light fixtures formerly used for incandescents.
CFL bulbs take a fraction of a second to come on and a few minutes to reach their proper light level BUT they do provide the same amount of illumination or visible light for around 20% of the electiciity usage of the old fashioned bulb.
These bulbs are best used as general ambient lighting.
A CFL bulb is expected to last for 6,000-15,000 hours whilst the old incandescent bulb rarely lasted 1,000 hours
The second widely available type of energy saving bulbs are the light emitting diode (LED). This bulb is more energy efficient and can be dimmed. LEDs are usually used in clusters.
LEDs are quicker to reach their proper light level and are more directional than CFCs or the old bulbs.
LEDs are brighter bulbs best used as spotlights and down lighters.
These bulbs tend to emit a slightly blue light but the very expensive, modern LEDs do give a warm light and promise a life of 25 years or more!
Ordinary Halogen bulbs use more energy than LEDs and CFLs as they get extremely hot but there are newer varieties available and recommended by the Energy Savings Trust.
Photos Source Wikipedia Public Domain
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