The Brighter Glory of an Energy Saving Lightbulb

"If every UK household installed just one [energy-efficient] bulb we'd save over £80 million per year![ref]"

Recently, on yet another grey rainy day in England (how else does it get verdant, eh?), i was looking into the promised properties of full spectrum lights to see if they helped break the monotony even if you don't have seasonal affective disorder.

This lead to a site which sells such things. (Aside: one of the great things about the UK is the number of sites online that ship goods, from weigh scales (at scales-r-us (not kidding)) to, well, light bulbs. Just about anything that can be put in a box can be put in the post and will be there in a day. maybe two. amazing. Just in case you're wondering, this is not how it works in Canada. Even if you're putting something in the mail for delivery in the same city. no. no no no no). Which lead to the discovery of an "energy saver" version of full spectrum lights. Which in turn leads to all sorts of energy saver bulbs - at the time, on sale, even.

Turns out that changing light bulbs from regular wattage to energy saver can do more to fight the later winter/early spring blahs better than a whole box of full spectrum homeotherapy -- really...please, read on

If you don't have experience of Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs), they come in a variety of shapes,(and explanations for why they're so efficient and exceed their stated life expectancy [1] [2] [3]) from regular looking bulbs (shown above), to tubes looped over each other. They take a moment to warm up and come to full illumination. This is a bit disconcerting at first, but one acclimatizes quickly. And the light color is not bluey fluorescent but the same as regular bulbs. that's a happy surprise.

The energy reasons for using these bulbs are two fold: they cut electricity bills, and, especially, they save energy resources. Here's a great factoid: "If every UK household installed just one bulb we'd save over £80 million per year!"
(point 7, of http://www.est.org.uk/myhome/whatcan/energyplan/)

Did you know:

Replacing a 75 Watt incandescent fixture with a 20 Watt CFL fixture that is in use for 10 hours a day will pay for itself in just over a year in terms of saved power. That light will then continue to work for upwards of 10 years after, each year saving you more and more money. [http://www.energyalternatives.ca/conservation.asp]

or

Each Energy Efficiency Recommended bulb can reduce your lighting costs by up to £7 a year. That's just one light bulb - imagine how much you would save if you replaced them all! Because energy efficient bulbs use only a fraction of the energy needed to light a traditional bulb, they also help the environment by demanding less energy from the power stations which means fewer climate-changing gases being released. [http://www.est.co.uk/myhome/efficientproducts/lighting/]

There's another reason for using them, too: more light,

Sockets that have a max wattage of say 60 watts can now have bulbs that are a third of the wattage and give near twice the light. This is a great cheap way to improve the light in an area and save energy and electricity costs at the same time. This is awesome if you're somewhere where there's a fixed lamp (like a kitchen or bathroom) and it's a bit on the dull side. Going from 60w to 100w in an energy saver is an incredible difference.

It's just great having a brighter environment, and yet knowing that you've actually achieved it by using less energy. Having just replaced four regular sixties (240 watts) with two 12s and two 20s for the equivalent of two 75s and two 100s, that's an energy savings of 176 watts; the 64 watts give 350 watts effect of illumination.

The hard part if you're on limited income is making the hurdle to spend the denaros (or pounds) on the light to begin with. In my case, i was lucky and caught a sale. That said, there are power companies that apparently give discounts on CFLs. In the UK, their Energy Saving Trust site has links to these kinds of schemes. But heh, even one bulb makes a difference - a collective 80million£ difference.

I still can't get over this notion of getting more - more light - for less energy resource, less energy cost. It really does feel pretty good - especially on these grey days when a person wants/needs the lights on, full spectrum or otherwise.