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???
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.
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.
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!
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.
Robbo 27 said:
If there is no other consideration other than money, how long would you say it takes for the reduced energy consumption to offset the cost of replacing a traditional 50w bulb.
5 x 50W is £13 a year based on 5 hours a day on.The LED version at 5w is £1.30
So around 2-3 years. In a kitchen or a room where the light is on all the time it’ll drop to 1-2 years.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 19th January 12:06
Robbo 27 said:
Teddy Lop said:
What makes me laugh though is I point out the economic advantages of LED to a client, they agree, but then decide they'll use up that box of 50w halogens rather than "waste" them! They can't seem to grasp that popping in a 7w lamp now and binning the lot is the cheapest solution.
Sorry but thats me, perhaps its a Northern thing.I have a cupboard full of bulbs, must be about 100+ in there, most are CFLs, a block of 20 LEDs, candle bulbs, halogens, 4 diffrent types of thread. I cannot see me throwing away half my stock when there is nothing wrong with it and an LED bulb takes 1-2 years to pay for itself.
We’re supposed to be going green and the continued use of filament bulbs uses Gigawatts more power that comes at a massive CO2 cost.
Troubleatmill said:
At the end of the day.
The Government does not have their money.
The Government has your money.
99 times out of 100 - It is better you get off your arse and do it yourself than waiting for an incompetent dinosaur to wipe your arse for you.
That’s not the point. The dinosaur is wanting co2 reduction - which will potentially impact your lifestyle. It’s effectively dictating what your future travel methods will be, what you hear your house with, what your car runs on. The point is that one change - to mandatory led bulbs - will have the same green impact as ALL current wind and ALL current solar plus a bit more to spare. All doable straight away.The Government does not have their money.
The Government has your money.
99 times out of 100 - It is better you get off your arse and do it yourself than waiting for an incompetent dinosaur to wipe your arse for you.
The saving is 5-10GW, with the added benefit of lower power bills. Here’s the output of the others now:
I’m no ‘green’ but it ticks that box big time.
bazza white said:
I didn't think you could buy the old style bulbs anymore.
We have a few of energy savers in the house that we've never changed. We dont use them as it takes 5 minutes for them to produce any light.
I like Led bulbs but getting the right lumens is a pita. I never known how many I need and the wattage is huge a small number know you cant go by that. Used to be 60w bulb for the celing and a 40w in a lamp.
I just got one off eBay and tried it. Found that 6W was good for the kitchen and 5w for lamps. I’ve since changed two of the kitchen ones to 10w which is very bright!!!We have a few of energy savers in the house that we've never changed. We dont use them as it takes 5 minutes for them to produce any light.
I like Led bulbs but getting the right lumens is a pita. I never known how many I need and the wattage is huge a small number know you cant go by that. Used to be 60w bulb for the celing and a 40w in a lamp.
Four Litre said:
Another total con. Take into account their overall cost and that FACT they only last a few months more than halogen ( not 25 years as sold). The costs to make to the environment must be big.
My neighbor who is a sparky always jokes about the amount he returns (as do I) for a replacement each time they last less than 10% of their lifetime.
Must be lucky with ours then we have 42 and not lost one in 18 months.My neighbor who is a sparky always jokes about the amount he returns (as do I) for a replacement each time they last less than 10% of their lifetime.
Ever been taken in by tradesmens myths?
Four Litre said:
Another total con. Take into account their overall cost and that FACT they only last a few months more than halogen ( not 25 years as sold). The costs to make to the environment must be big.
My neighbor who is a sparky always jokes about the amount he returns (as do I) for a replacement each time they last less than 10% of their lifetime.
Apart from the environmental concern.. he’s onto a winner then?My neighbor who is a sparky always jokes about the amount he returns (as do I) for a replacement each time they last less than 10% of their lifetime.
Huge savings & free bulbs for life
We are on LED bulbs. the savings to us are not that big mainly because we only changed from the older energy saving bulbs.
I'm sure we saved money when we changed from normal bulbs to energy savers but its been a long time now
However when we went to LED we tried an experiment and went for daylight bulbs rather than warm light. This was accidentally as I purchased the wrong type bulb and installed it in the porch. The wife and I quite liked it .
We then did this in the lounge to see if we liked it and we all thought it looked a bit different. Then throughout the house. Interestingly a lot of friends have commented that it makes things look fresher and brighter. A few have switched to them also
Our house is on a slight hill and its a bit distinctive and when you walk or drive up the incline it looks quite distinctive. We now have the bulbs everywhere.
To be fair we bought ours quite cheap and they seem to be the same as more expensive ones we got. A standard type is as low as £1.60p ish ith the dimmable versions being nearer £3.60p
I'm sure we saved money when we changed from normal bulbs to energy savers but its been a long time now
However when we went to LED we tried an experiment and went for daylight bulbs rather than warm light. This was accidentally as I purchased the wrong type bulb and installed it in the porch. The wife and I quite liked it .
We then did this in the lounge to see if we liked it and we all thought it looked a bit different. Then throughout the house. Interestingly a lot of friends have commented that it makes things look fresher and brighter. A few have switched to them also
Our house is on a slight hill and its a bit distinctive and when you walk or drive up the incline it looks quite distinctive. We now have the bulbs everywhere.
To be fair we bought ours quite cheap and they seem to be the same as more expensive ones we got. A standard type is as low as £1.60p ish ith the dimmable versions being nearer £3.60p
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