Cost of lighting

[Lowri]

I hate the stark light from low energy bulbs so in order to overcome the imminent shortage of regular bulbs (due to be phased ouit by 2009) I've been stockpiling mainly 100w & 150w lamps. For the past 18 months or so where I would normally have a 40 0r 60w bulb in a lamp I now fit a 150w and dim it down to the desired brightness. Result also being bulb seems to last forever due to being under run.
Question is if I turn 150w bulb down to the level of a 40W how much power would I be consuming?

[beso]

I do hope your house is very close to sea level. Your attitude is profoundly irresponsible.

Incandescant light bulbs are miserably inefficient when run at their designed power. When run at low power their efficiency is even worse. Niceboy's answer is incorrect.

High efficiency lights don't have to be stark. There is a wide variety available. Look for those with colour temperatures around 4500K. These are closer to the colour of an incandescant lamp.

[Lowri]

Well beso I have to say they perform perfectly well to me, giving off warm soft glowing light to compliment the room at night....... It's the comfort factor. In what way is dimming even more innefficient? As for being irresponsible, the house is temperature controlled, so any heat produced from the lights is offset anyway. I've seen many speciality low energy tyes in the shops these days some of them very dinky indeed, .....but at such prices!!
None of them can claim to give the gentle soft light of incandescent lamps, and I've centainly never seen the kind you mention .Where would you buy them? Whats more, where carefully planned lighting is an essential element to create ambience, dimmers play a big part, and the low energy (fluorescent light) not only looks horrid but they buzz as well.. Never have I had one either that lived up to the claim of six years life, most petering out after about two years or so, thats if they haven't become so dim as to be useless anyway. So it's still thumbs down for me with the fluorescents, until, that is., one is produced that can give the warm glow of incandescent.
If anyone can tell me where I could obtain the new type mentioned above I would be willing to try one out!

[rojash]

There is a powerful argument that low energy bulbs are at least as environmentally damaging (if not more so) than incandescent bulbs. They are however, much more profitable to the producers. The imminent ban on incandescents is much more likely to be due to the lobbying powers of major manufacturers (such as Philips) than any rational assessment of the pros and cons.

[gucciman]

i have the opposite problem, i like a room to be as bright as possible and the low energy bulbs are just way to dim for my liking, i'm gonna stockpile real bulbs too!

[spudqueen]

rojash - you're completely right. But low energy bulbs will be obsolete in the not too distant future. Watch this space..............................................

[rojash]

Absolutely, spudqueen - can't wait to fit my place out with super-bright LEDs - more environmentally friendly, and way, way, more aesthetically pleasing than both incandescents and fluorescents.

[Disco Fever]

I have in my kitchen 15 GU10 spot lights and I replaced all the lamps with the equivilent LED lamp which now saves me a fortune as the 15x50 watt lamps were killing me in the electricity dept but the LED lamps only take 4 watts each so i'm making a massive saving.....

All my rooms in the house have energy saving lamps in and because i'm a sparky I get all the different colour rendering ones, 827 is warm white, 835 is white, 840 is natural daylight and 640 is sky white and the sky white ones are bright enough to light my small back garden with only two lamps....

Yes I say lamps because bulbs you plant in the ground well so I was told many years ago when I was an apprentice...