Effect of EU legislation

[mointainwalker]

Just to ask the pro's: since the EU announced the phasing-out of different types of incandescents, do you have the impression ( proof ?) that research or production of more efficient light sources has accelerated ?

P.S. I hate the EU but let's leave that aside

 

[plugwash]

Not really, LED lighting seems to reaching practicaility but the decent stuff is still very expensive afaict and there is still a lot of **** out there. The dominant technologies

One thing that has happened is that they have figured out how to make linear halogens slightly more efficiant so they just about come within the new rules.

 

[ericmark]

No
What has happened some one has measured the light from a tungsten bulb and a discharge light and said quite rightly we get more light per watt from a discharge lamp.

However what they have not asked is:-

Whether the heat generated is waisted or not and in many cases the heat was used to heat the room and resulted in the central heating running for less time.

How much extra energy is used to make the lamp to that used with old bulb.

What the mercury used will do to the environment and what can be done with the toxic waist generated.

And how much extra carbon will be used to transport the lamps from China.

If all the facts were taken into consideration then maybe the outcome would have been very different. In inaccessible outdoors positions I would say there are a good idea. Also where air conditioning is required. But to ban the old tungsten bulb was wrong.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Plus they banned the type of lamp which could light a room with 100W and allowed the type which will only light up your feet for the same amount.

They should have had a threshold of lux/w with the source a specified distance away, say 2.5m, not gone for lumens/w.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[AndrewDavie]

Well, at least you can now buy dimmable CFLs (£8), and you can buy square socketed CFLs (£2.40) that will take a dimmable ballast (~£40).

Personally, I'm waiting for the dimmable ballasts to be a lot more cheap (~£10?) before replacing my living room lighting. Hopefully this will coincide with them phasing out the 3x40W bulbs I'm currently using.

 

[ColJack]

if you need to dim it, then you're a **** poor lighting designer..

use more lamps of a lower wattage and switch in banks / groups to provide the lighting levels you require for specific areas....

my 3 arm center light in the living room has been rewired to be switched in binary.. 2 switches, one switches 1 light, the other switches 2 lights so I can have 1, 2 or all 3 on depending on the "mood"?

your dimmer doesn't reduce the amount of power used by much since a portion of the reduction is taken up as heat by the dimmer..

 

[AndrewDavie]

I like having the fine variation, especially on the low side, where even a single 40W bulb would be too much when I'm watching a movie.
No doubt when I've had more experience, I'll be able to calculate what sort of system I need to create the lux level on the floor that is safe without being distracting, but I'm not foreseeing that happening anytime soon. ...or for that matter having the money to do it.

 

[Adam_151]

your dimmer doesn't reduce the amount of power used by much since a portion of the reduction is taken up as heat by the dimmer..

While some heat is dispated by the dimmer, its not really a significant amount. The main reason why dimmers dont save much on electricity costs is because lamps become much less efficient when dimmed, ie. you might dim the lamp to 50% brilliance, but its still taking 75% of the current.

An interesting side point, is occaionsly on a slow news day there is a story about a lamp somewhere from the early part of last century which is still good and still in service and everyone is amazed, but what no one realises is that with todays manufacturing processes such a a long lasting lamp could easily be produced, it would just be terribly inefficent, just the same as the lamp everyone is amazed by...

Fliment lamps which compromise slightly on the efficency front are made (or certainly were a few years back) and are sold for hard to access light fixtures, or as rough service applications such as inspection lamps or traffic lights

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The main reason why dimmers dont save much on electricity costs is because lamps become much less efficient when dimmed, ie. you might dim the lamp to 50% brilliance, but its still taking 75% of the current.

Breezer posted once with photos and results of a little test he did, but he deleted it when he left.

Does anybody here have access to a light meter and a true RMS multimeter?

 

[ColJack]

the lamp in question ( above ) is in a fire house somewhere in america..
it has it's own webcam so you can monitor it 24/7 to make sure they aren't cheating..

if it's left on then it will last longer, turning it on and off is what stresses the fillaments with the heating and cooling cycles..

 

[securespark]

toxic waist

I've got a toxic waist.

 

[ColJack]

toxic waist

I've got a toxic waist.

lets not start picking faults with others use of english shall we mr time traveller?

 

[plugwash]

An interesting side point, is occaionsly on a slow news day there is a story about a lamp somewhere from the early part of last century which is still good and still in service and everyone is amazed, but what no one realises is that with todays manufacturing processes such a a long lasting lamp could easily be produced, it would just be terribly inefficent, just the same as the lamp everyone is amazed by...[/quote]
Hell you probablly wouldn't even have to make it specially, I strongly suspect buying a 240V lamp and running it off 110V would have much the same effect.

Halogens get better efficiancy than ordinary incandescents because the halogen cycle allows higher tempreature running. It's just a pity that they are most commonly seen in horriblly ineffective fittings.