LED Home Lighting

Why You Need To Know About Low Energy Light Bulbs

Let’s get something straight first. You really do need to know about low energy light bulbs. This is not optional, and if you don’t find out what you need to know about low energy light bulbs and all that goes with them, then you will shortly suffer the traditional consequences of ignorance.

Why? Because conventional filament lighting using GLS (General Lighting Service) light bulbs is being phased out in short order and pretty soon you won’t be able to buy these traditional light bulbs at all. Which means that this is an issue you cannot afford to ignore and, like I said, knowing at least the basic facts about low energy lighting is something you need to assimilate, since real soon now low energy light bulbs (also called energy saving light bulbs) will be all that is on offer.

Think I’m making this up? Check out the worldwide schedule for phasing out incandescent bulbs - some countries have already eliminated all GLS bulbs and many others, including the USA, are now part way through and aim to complete the eradication of incandescent bulbs within the next couple of years.

Before we get much further into this, be aware that the subject of domestic lighting in general and “green lighting” in particular is littered with its own frequently confusing terminology. You already met GLS which sometimes morphs into GSL for General Service Lamp where lamp is the word used in the lighting industry for what most ordinary folk call a light bulb, which they would fit into for example a table lamp which insiders would term a luminaire.

You will encounter terms such as “low energy light bulb” and “energy saving light bulb” which are completely interchangeable terms; if a light bulb is low energy then it will obviously use less energy and thus result in an energy saving. However, not all low energy or energy saving light bulbs are equal…

The Different Types of Low Energy Lighting

Discounting high intensity discharge lamps since these aren’t really practical for most domestic lighting (HID lamps are commonly used for lighting large public spaces - sodium vapour streetlights are a common example) there are presently only three alternative technologies to conventional incandescent lighting that are considered to provide a viable domestic energy saving lighting solution.

To be considered a viable low energy domestic lighting solution, the alternative technology must be compatible with existing light fittings and provide equivalent light levels (luminosity) and light quality (an area known as “light color”), as well as using considerably less energy to produce the light (or put another way, converting more electricity into light, rather than wasting it as heat).

There are currently only three contenders to replace the antiquated incandescent light bulb: CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps); LEDs (light emitting diodes) and HEIs (high efficiency incandescents).

That last one may seem an odd choice since an HEI light bulb is still an incandescent lamp, but the urgent global concern surrounding existing incandescent lighting isn’t focused on the technology per se, but on the fact that all present implementations of incandescent lighting are so woefully dated and energy inefficient (we’re talking about wasting over 90% of the electrical energy used to power each GLS light bulb presently in the world).

So long as a light bulb can meet certain energy efficiency criteria then it counts as an energy saving or low energy light bulb, and to this end General Electric has plans to produce HEI light bulbs that will take incandescent lighting from about 5% to 60% efficient in terms of converting electricity into light, which is approximately equivalent to a CFL bulb. It goes without saying though that you cannot buy these now or anytime soon, and by the time effective domestic HEI becomes available the world may have already moved on.

Between the two non-incandescent energy saving lighting technologies the choice is between energy saving CFL light bulbs and ultra low energy LED lighting. Let’s examine the pros and cons of these two main types of low energy light bulbs.

The Pros and Cons of CFL Low Energy Light Bulbs

On the plus side for CFL low energy light bulbs is the fact that they already exist, don’t cost a great deal to purchase, and because they have been around for a few years now many of the initial problems have been at least mitigated to some extent.

However, to most people CFL light bulbs still seem ungainly, oversized or downright ugly (they still won’t fit in smaller light fixtures, poke out above lampshades and CFLs cannot be used at all in low voltage MR16 fittings). Also, despite many efforts to improve the light quality of CFLs many people remain unconvinced and dislike them for this reason.

Other aesthetic issues with CFL energy saving bulbs include the fact that they are not for the most part dimmable and that like regular fluorescent tube lights (from which they are derived) many folk report eye-strain and headaches from the flicker and there have even been reports of CFL’s triggering epileptic fits.

All the above issues with CFL light bulbs can be addressed one way or another over time, but the fact that being filled with mercury vapor is a fundamental part of the design of CFLs is a particularly nasty issue that is especially hard to escape. Breaking a single CFL low energy light bulb is unlikely to cause you significant harm, but the cumulative effect of millions of people eventually disposing of old CFL light bulbs with their mercury vapor still intact is far from insignificant.

Given that much household waste ends up in landfill, the potential for contamination of sub-soil and water supplies with highly toxic mercury is a very real threat. Accordingly CFL light bulbs are now classified as hazardous waste and in the UK for example are subject to the requirements of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations.

Put simply, you should observe this advice for householders on disposal of low energy CFL light bulbs and dispose of CFLs at special Designated Collection Facilities rather than put them in the bin with the rest of the trash.

All in all, ownership of CFL low energy light bulbs is stacking up to be a real pain in the backside to consumers, retailers and government bodies. But the real killer is what the lighting industry itself thinks of its own creation.

The truth is the lighting industry sees no future whatever for CFL lighting, has all but abandoned research into further development of CFLs, and is foursquare behind its preferred low energy lighting replacement for incandescent light bulbs: domestic LED lighting.

The Pros and Cons of Low Energy LED Lighting

The arguments for and against LED low energy lighting are an almost exactly mirror image of the case for and against CFL low energy light bulbs. Whereas CFL energy saving light bulbs have been readily available for a while and the cost is not eye-catchingly higher than for GLS light bulbs, LED lighting is not yet fully on stream and the cost uplift for an LED equivalent (for example a 7w LED spotlight to replace a 40w halogen lamp) is still quite noticeable to most.

Of course, when out and about or online buying light bulbs most folk tend to notice the cost of the bulbs. What they don’t instinctively grasp is that where the cost of domestic lighting is concerned, the cost of the light bulbs is almost totally irrelevant.

The startling truth is that even if GLS light bulbs were completely free and LED lights cost, say, $50 each (which they don’t by the way) then it would still be orders of magnitude more cost effective and energy saving to buy LED low energy lights. That’s because the cost of electrical lighting is the cost of the electricity; the energy. And that’s the reason for all the fuss and legislation about energy saving and low energy lights. It doesn’t matter a rat’s arse what the light bulbs cost; what it costs to run them is all that really counts.

On this score, the simple measure of energy efficiency and the quest for top slot in the low energy lighting stakes, LED lighting blows all forms of incandescent and even energy saving CFL light bulbs into the weeds. LED lights are typically 10 times more efficient than regular GLS bulbs at present and pulling away at a staggering rate. Performance of domestic LED lighting is doubling roughly every 18 months in accordance with the predictions of Haitz’s Law.

For simple comparison and to illustrate what the whole business of low energy lighting is really all about, a regular 40w incandescent bulb outputs about 360 lumens and a 60w bulb outputs about 540 lumens. This gives a ratio of 9 lumens per watt. Anything that can deliver above 25 lumens per watt can make a case for being an energy saving light bulb.

Now the current Sharp Zenigata all purpose power LED offers luminosity of 80 lumens per watt. For general lighting applications (i.e. not spotlights) then the Cree EvoLux LED takes on a traditional 100w incandescent light bulb in a globe format using just 13w.

So right now you could replace your 60w light bulbs with Zenigata LEDs rated at 6.7 watts i.e. using about 1/10th the electricity. In just over a year and a half you could get the same 60w worth of lighting from just over 3 watts. Oh and did I mention that Haitz’s Law also predicts that the price of LEDs falls by a factor of ten every decade (it’s very similar to Moore’s Law for computer chips and for good reason - LEDs are, like computer chips, electronic devices). You see where all this is heading?

Existing LED lights are available for all common base fittings, including GU10, MR16, GU24 as well as common or garden bayonet mount and Edison screw and are ideal for implementing modern kitchen lighting ideas as well as many other normal domestic applications.

Unlike CFLs, LEDs don’t suffer from poor startup times, wear out due to frequent switching on and off, and bulky shapes. They also don’t contain toxic mercury vapour or indeed anything else unpleasant, so no disposal and health issues either.

But while energy saving LED lights are free of the many problems inherent in the design of low energy CFL light bulbs, they do have a few intrinsic issues of their own to consider. The most obvious issue is that the light emitted from an LED is highly directional - it doesn’t scatter in all directions as incandescent and fluorescent lights do. Which is reasonable enough if you want a spotlight or flood light or bright reading lamp or localized display lighting for example; but it’s not so great for general ambient lighting such as a table lamp would provide.

The other issue associated with LED lighting has been light “colour” - in common with CFLs the light has tended towards a cool blue colour, whereas we have become accustomed to a rather warmer yellow white colour. This is something that is being rapidly attended to by the use of colored phosphors (these reduce the luminosity of the light but this is of course compensated for by ever increasing lumens per watt yields for LEDs). This is especially noticeable in the current generation of LED garden lights where it is now common to find very warm whites (bordering on yellow) which are both very bright and bring out the natural colors in plant foliage.

Finally, low energy domestic LED lighting finds its biggest advantage in exactly the same place that the energy saving CFL light bulb is most disadvantaged. The lighting industry itself; which sees a huge future for LED technology and barely disguises its contempt for CFLs.

Here’s a list of items to bear in mind when considering any purchase of low energy light bulbs.

Which Low Energy Light Bulb?

So what’s to be done? Well, short term you could stick with (or adopt) energy saving CFL light bulbs on the reasonable grounds that they’re presently available and affordable, if still rather ugly. Low energy LED light bulbs that can properly replace most forms of incandescent lighting are not yet so easy to find in stores and are relatively highly priced (do I need to bang on about the true cost of lighting again? it not the cost of bulb that matters!). However if you search online for reputable suppliers (hint, not eBay) who stock quality products that really do match incandescent luminosity levels, then you can move over to ultra low energy lighting right now. Myself, I decided to go straight to LED and bypass CFL altogether.

One argument that always leaps to the fore when discussing fast moving technological innovation is the old “well maybe I should wait until it’s cheaper and better”. Well maybe you should just hang onto that horse and buggy a while longer since last time I looked automobiles were still getting cheaper and better each passing year. Waiting for the price to drop is bogus logic.

A variant is the “but I’ll have to upgrade in two years time because today’s products will appear obsolete by then”. Yep, you’re quite right. Same thing happened (still happens) with computers and media players (remember black and white TV, video tapes and vinyl records?). Today’s low energy LED lights have effective lifetimes of 2 to 3 decades (as did 1980’s computers). Doesn’t mean you have to keep them that long though.

Remember - the issue with electrical lighting is still the cost of the energy. If a new LED light bulb comes onto the market next year that halves existing LED energy consumption rates then it still makes financial sense to spend money replacing your new LED lights with the even newer models.

There will of course come a point when the electrical load on low energy LED light bulbs becomes so small that cost will cease to be a determining factor and people will replace lighting systems for purely aesthetic and functional reasons (like how the world moved to MP3 even though there was no real motivation to do so in terms of price or quality).

As a last thought, the easy give away for how energy saving a light bulb is to feel the heat coming off it. If you were to actually touch a lit incandescent light bulb it would seriously burn you; a CFL is touchable but still quite warm; almost all LEDs emit virtually no heat at all - the energy is almost entirely converted to light.