The Inconvenient Truth about High Energy Light Bulbs

How many light bulbs does it take to change a person?

Forget ‘low energy’*** bulbs – we are talking ’high performance’ here.

***Even the name (low energy bulb) could have been a cynical marketing ploy - designed by the establishment to ‘accidentally’ fail? Truth is, the latest modern light bulbs are HIGH on light energy, high on user satisfaction, highly long-lasting, and only low on waste! They are better referred to as high-performance light bulbs. The best ones cost more up front, like high-performance things do, but they save you loads overall. At current energy prices, one quality ‘100 watt’ CFL bulb you buy for £2.95 will save you a staggering £80 of electricity over it’s lifetime! So these bulbs are worth more than £75 each to you, yet they are given away free. (Or the poor quality ones are!) No wonder we don’t want them.

Yes...there must be a catch.... But what if there wasn’t!

(There isn’t) The latest brightest high powered LED replacements for kitchen down-lighters cost quite a bit more – as they are in high demand – but these save loads of cash too - over their prolonged life cycle.

People often say that it’s stupid to think that the huge global climate crisis we face can be solved by a few people just changing a few light bulbs – and that’s completely true! But neither will we solve anything, small or large, without starting to make some physical changes in our lives.

A fresh positive illuminating experience – a light bulb moment – can be a very good way to start to turn old-fashioned wasteful habits upside down. We won’t ‘save the world’ by changing a few lightbulbs. Neither will we save it without doing so!

Be honest now... we all do it... we give ourselves as many reasons as we need to cheerfully carry on wasting electricity, in the face of the gathering triple carbon, (peak oil) climate and cash crunches ahead... and we stay slightly uncomfortably stuck in the fossil powered past.

Here are a few common excuses. See if these resonate for you:

1. I’m too busy (working hard to pay my huge energy bills) to bother to change a light bulb.

2. Just changing one light bulb isn’t going to make a difference. Sure! (So change several?)

3. We need special light – we are special – we need the vintage Edison tungsten hot wire.

4. We are not ‘that’ hard-up. We don’t want guests thinking we are mean, or worse, green!

5. The new bulbs are a con, they use more energy making them than they ever save. (Untrue)

6. An ‘expert’ once told me they were actually worse for the environment. (Untrue)

7. They take ages to warm up - I need the light to come on instantly. (Used to be partially true.)

8. The light isn’t so good. (Actually light can be better, brighter, soft-tone, whatever you want!)

9. These lights give you headaches. (Probably true if you stare at them all day.)

10. They contain hideous toxins. (Not really. More mercury is emitted at the power station burning coal to make the energy that is wasted than is contained in the light bulb.)

11. An ‘expert’ told me it was all part of a giant ‘con’ – something about climate change not really being manmade – so I don’t want to be conned into saving money on my energy bills!!!

12. The new bulbs look ugly. (Have you seen the elegant compact lines of the latest LEDs.)

On the other hand would you like:

1. lower energy bills

2. to be part of the solution

3. to get the high quality long life light bulbs you deserve

4. to send a signal to your friends that you care, and are courageously innovating

5. to grow the market for products that are part of our common global future

6. to stand up to the (right-wing media rumour) machine that keeps people in fuel poverty - and keeps the power companies in big profits

7. to see for yourself how brilliant the best of the new bulbs can be

8. to be ‘wowed’ by just how fast the technology has improved, compared to the awful ugly inappropriate things that we have been sent ‘free’ in the past –like unsolicited junk-mail

9. to bathe in a new light that isn’t wasting fossil fuel or harming the planet

10. to help reduce the need for toxic new power stations - of any type

11. to stand up to the ‘pushers’ of doubt and obfuscators and save energy anyway

12. to fill your home with smart beautiful efficient long lasting and resilient solutions

A word of caution.

Beware strangers baring gifts. Sometimes the ‘free’ bulbs that power companies and others give away can be ugly, ‘seconds’ with poor performance. These may be Ok for garages and sheds, but please don’t ‘make your mind up’ about the new light bulbs based on these POOR examples you get given. Instead try a Philips from John Lewis. Ignore the junk that supermarkets stack high on their shelves too.

Be discerning. The very best bulbs are not always in the shops. But they do exist. They exist in top quality versions, in all sizes, shapes, outputs, and fittings. Don’t take no for an answer.

We have Zenigata LED ‘GU10’s in our kitchen. At £21.99 they were expensive, but they use 4.5 watts instead of 50 watts. They last 40,000 hours. That’s a grand total of £200 of electricity they save over their life cycle. Leaving you £180 quids in.

Once you have filled your house with these precious high performance lights – you will look forward to your next energy bill!!!