O/T Climate change fact or fiction

I am no rep for any company but if you want some tips on energy efficient lamps here you go: -

1. Avoid LED's they are 3-5 years away for home lighting. If you do buy some try and find out at what ambient temperature they should run as overheating the junction kills the lamp life. So that magic quoted 50,000 could be as little as 1,000 hours if they get too hot in a ceiling void or wall void. Generally the dicroic replacements and linear fluorescent replacements are rubbish and a waste of money.

2. If you are buying a linear fluorescent fittings, make sure it is a high frequency T5 (T16) lamp, i.e. 5/8ths of and inch or 16mm. Don't use T8's and don't use switch start control gear.

3. If you are buying a compact fluorescent then go for teh sylvania mini lynx lamps. They have instant on at ~80% output and only take 2 mins to get to 100% output. Also check for the colour temperature of the light. A tungsten has a colour temperature of ~3000K so if you get a compact flurescent at 3000K and it sits in a lamp shade you won't have a clue it's a compact fluorescent. If you want daylight vlue then look for lamps at 5000K and above. Phillips do one at 17,000K as a linear fluorescent.

4. Avoid cheap chinese lamps, they don't have the colour rendering of good quality lamps, i.e. you can look too red or too blue as the lamps do not emit all colours of the spectrum. Stick to Sylvania / Osram.

5. If you are buying compact fluorescent for outside, avoid GE as they don;t start well in cold conditions, go for the Osram lamps they start quickly even in cold weather.

6. Compact fluorescent are as good and indeed better than tungsten in respect of brightness, just be sure to get the right lamp. i.e. 100W tungsten is a 20W compact fluorescent.

7. Don't buy one large 500W halogen flood light or one large 55W Fluorescent flood light, instead buy more lights with lower outputs. i.e. Put the light where it is needed as it is more efficient than throwing it down the whole length of your garden. If the light is going up into the sky then consider the fact you are paying for the electricity and not getting the benefit.

8. If you want a dimmable fluorescent go for the Varialight ones, they have a smooth appearance, good colour at all levels (slightly pink at low level), and work off your average rotary dimmer. (N.B. not all rotary dimmers work so check out the website).

9. If you have QR111 50W tungsten shop lights running off a 12V transformer, then change them to the 230V AR111 from Megaman. It is an 11W compact fluorescnt and gives out the same light as the 50W, also you can take out the 12V transformer which is causing it's own loses in your electricl supply. Most luminaires that take a QR111 Tungsten will take an AR111 but again check the web.

10. Turn the damn things off if you don't need them, make them last longer and reduce your bills.

My view is that the earth is hotting up and the CIBSE weather data shows that as fact. Whos to blame does not really matter as we need to do something whether that is to reduce our CO2's or adapt to the new weather patterns or both. For me, wasting raw materials and giving united utilites money because I left my lights on and my tv on standby makes no sense, so I will be energy efficient as it saves me money.

Hope things work out tomorrow and looking forward to the StH clash.