LED bulbs - why not mandatory or subsidised
Discussion
We’ve changed all bulbs to LED and power consumption has dropped hugely.
As a rough estimate, if 10 bulbs are on this saves circa 500w x 20m houses in UK = 10GW of power saving.
Looking at https://gridwatch.co.uk/Renewables
This would be a 25% saving on the ‘as-now’ UK consumption of 40GW
Even if the calculation is out, surely even a 10% saving is worth grabbing with both hands, so:
What don’t Govt offer free exchange of bulbs for LED or at least subsidise to at-cost to get all housing onto 100% LED??
It’s a quick fix and a lot less painful than other green initiatives???
As a rough estimate, if 10 bulbs are on this saves circa 500w x 20m houses in UK = 10GW of power saving.
Looking at https://gridwatch.co.uk/Renewables
This would be a 25% saving on the ‘as-now’ UK consumption of 40GW
Even if the calculation is out, surely even a 10% saving is worth grabbing with both hands, so:
What don’t Govt offer free exchange of bulbs for LED or at least subsidise to at-cost to get all housing onto 100% LED??
It’s a quick fix and a lot less painful than other green initiatives???
Yes they are streets ahead of those dreadful fluorescent things, however they aren't particularly cheap at the moment and one I bought before Christmas has already handed in its notice, so "x thousand hours use" sounds a bit hollow.
Interestingly before it expired it started doing the odd flicker just like its filament predecessors used to. Some things never change!
Interestingly before it expired it started doing the odd flicker just like its filament predecessors used to. Some things never change!
I have had led bulbs in my last three homes.
When I moved into this house I was shocked to find the utility bill was twice the last place, despite this one being smaller.
I then worked out the kitchen light still used hallogen bulbs. Eight of them at 50w each and a 100w fitting. Because there is an extension it's gloomy in the kitchen so the light is left on all day. £30 a month just to run the kitchen light.
All now led bulbs. I've used them for about six years and never had one go wrong.
I also think this is a really low hanging fruit to grab. Improve the chances of not running out of electricity, environmental bonus points etc.
When I moved into this house I was shocked to find the utility bill was twice the last place, despite this one being smaller.
I then worked out the kitchen light still used hallogen bulbs. Eight of them at 50w each and a 100w fitting. Because there is an extension it's gloomy in the kitchen so the light is left on all day. £30 a month just to run the kitchen light.
All now led bulbs. I've used them for about six years and never had one go wrong.
I also think this is a really low hanging fruit to grab. Improve the chances of not running out of electricity, environmental bonus points etc.
I think the savings are not likely to be as significant as you might think.
The huge push for people to move to energy saving fluorescent happened quite a few years back now and a lot of people will now be using variants of these rated at 8-11 watts. Then you add on the people who have switched to smart home systems with LED bulbs as part of the package.
The marketplace has already moved hugely in the direction of LED based lamps with fluorescent being phased out so the situation is already correcting itself.
The huge push for people to move to energy saving fluorescent happened quite a few years back now and a lot of people will now be using variants of these rated at 8-11 watts. Then you add on the people who have switched to smart home systems with LED bulbs as part of the package.
The marketplace has already moved hugely in the direction of LED based lamps with fluorescent being phased out so the situation is already correcting itself.
eltawater said:
I think the savings are not likely to be as significant as you might think.
The huge push for people to move to energy saving fluorescent happened quite a few years back now and a lot of people will now be using variants of these rated at 8-11 watts. Then you add on the people who have switched to smart home systems with LED bulbs as part of the package.
The marketplace has already moved hugely in the direction of LED based lamps with fluorescent being phased out so the situation is already correcting itself.
Very true but there’s plenty of people I know with halogen spots - you can still buy them - and even if the saving per house is 250W/hr it’s 5GW for the country which is the same as the entire output from wind power and ‘renewables’ both of which have had 100’s of millions put into them.The huge push for people to move to energy saving fluorescent happened quite a few years back now and a lot of people will now be using variants of these rated at 8-11 watts. Then you add on the people who have switched to smart home systems with LED bulbs as part of the package.
The marketplace has already moved hugely in the direction of LED based lamps with fluorescent being phased out so the situation is already correcting itself.
Dogwatch said:
Yes they are streets ahead of those dreadful fluorescent things, however they aren't particularly cheap at the moment and one I bought before Christmas has already handed in its notice, so "x thousand hours use" sounds a bit hollow.
Interestingly before it expired it started doing the odd flicker just like its filament predecessors used to. Some things never change!
We bought ten of the cheapest LED G10 bulbs via Amazon last year for less than £15. Haven't had one blow as yet. Prior to that we'd lose roughly one 50watt halogen a month.Interestingly before it expired it started doing the odd flicker just like its filament predecessors used to. Some things never change!
There’s a reason why LED’s aren’t being given away/subsidised to £1 each or something like that.
Surely Govt can’t be expecting just market forces to get the whole country to change over as they’re peddling every other possibility to save the planet and this is one which actually saves consumers money too.
Is it to do with power suppliers wanting their cake and eating it? It’s weird.
Surely Govt can’t be expecting just market forces to get the whole country to change over as they’re peddling every other possibility to save the planet and this is one which actually saves consumers money too.
Is it to do with power suppliers wanting their cake and eating it? It’s weird.
would make a lot of sense tbh, minor in comparison to some of the draws on the grid, but little steps all add up.
would be the same with getting the nation to turn off unwanted lights,
one 15w led bulb left running 24/7 seemingly generates 48kg/year of co2 emissions
now multiply that by 20 million houses ........
would be the same with getting the nation to turn off unwanted lights,
one 15w led bulb left running 24/7 seemingly generates 48kg/year of co2 emissions
now multiply that by 20 million houses ........
ambuletz said:
expensive to buy. and any cost saving as not been well advertised/calculated.
I still use regular bulbs or energy saving ones. I'd be more than happy to move to LED if they were cheaper/
We’ve changed all ours at a cost of about £180 (bought large packs off eBay & Aldi) they were 6 and 7W - we’ve since upped four to 8W but the saving annually has been circa £80 so far (14 months) so I think the payback will be 2-3 years. I still use regular bulbs or energy saving ones. I'd be more than happy to move to LED if they were cheaper/
Bearing in mind we’re running the kitchen on 56W now instead of 560w it’s the equivalent of having less than one of the old halogens so we tend to leave the lights on more!
try telling most people 'spend £100 to replace all your bulbs'. I get that it could save you money in the longrun..but who's really going to do that unless you have a high disposable income for something that many would consider frivielous.
lights are one of those things.. people will only replace once the current one dies.
lights are one of those things.. people will only replace once the current one dies.
ambuletz said:
try telling most people 'spend £100 to replace all your bulbs'. I get that it could save you money in the longrun..but who's really going to do that unless you have a high disposable income for something that many would consider frivielous.
lights are one of those things.. people will only replace once the current one dies.
Exactly - Govt raises awareness big time and introduces subsidies to encourage. lights are one of those things.. people will only replace once the current one dies.
Looking at just standard light fittings, we would have had 12 * 60 W which equalled 720
moving to LED at 8 w makes it 96 now - which is good until the Mrs gets all the led side lamps etc to bring it all up
That's another 112w
Still I guess overall we're still quids in at 208w instead of 720w plus we didn't have any of those crazy halogen lights in this place.
We are probably at the lower end of the scale though.
moving to LED at 8 w makes it 96 now - which is good until the Mrs gets all the led side lamps etc to bring it all up
That's another 112w
Still I guess overall we're still quids in at 208w instead of 720w plus we didn't have any of those crazy halogen lights in this place.
We are probably at the lower end of the scale though.
Maybe someday we'll be generating loads of cheap, green electricity and then we can have a bonanza of simple electrical heating and we can use whatever type of bulb we find most aesthetically pleasing. In the meantime it's hard to argue we shouldn't be using LED lamps. It's unfortunate that they tend to produce rather harsh light and that, entirely understandably, they don't work too well as direct replacements for incandescent bulbs in systems that were designed for incandescent bulbs ... e.g. with 240VAC dimmer switches, fittings that are designed for a lamp that throws an equal amount of light in all directions. What we really need is standardised wiring, switching and fittings designed specifically to take advantage of LEDs, but those don't really seem to have matured to any degree yet.
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