Energy Saving Guide
|
The Energy Saving Guide
|
|
Lightbulbs and fittings A bright idea. Just one Energy Saving Recommended lightbulb can reduce your lighting costs by up to £60 over the lifetime of the bulb. And with a wide variety of styles and wattages available, it's now even easier to choose the energy efficient option. |
|
How they work Traditional bulbs waste a lot of their energy by turning it into heat rather than light. Energy Saving Recommended bulbs work in the same way as fluorescent lights; an electric current passes through gas in a tube, making the tube's coating glow brightly. This means that they use less energy and are cool to the touch. |
| Click here to learn about the myths surrounding energy saving lighting |
|
Energy saving light bulbs use a fifth to a quarter of the electricity of ordinary bulbs to generate the same amount of light. So where you'd normally use a 60W bulb, you'll only need a 13-18W energy saving recommended equivalent.
|
|
| You can now also buy low energy light fittings which will only take low energy lightbulbs. These use a ballast or transformer fitted into the base of the light fitting. It controls the supply of electricity to the bulb, allowing for a small surge of power for a millisecond to light the bulb and then reducing the electricity flow to a very low level. |
| Low energy fittings require a pin based energy saving bulb. This is a different fitting to a conventional bulb but will ensure that the bulbs you buy in future will always save energy, money and the environment. |
| The savings |
| Energy saving light bulbs are around 10 times longer than ordinary lightbulbs and can save you up to £7 per year in electricity (and 26 kilograms of CO2 ) or £60 over the bulbs lifetime. |
| If everyone installed just one energy saving light bulb the CO2 emissions saved would fill more than 1 million double decker buses. And if each house installed three energy saving bulbs, it would save enough energy to run the country's street lights for a year. |
| Other energy saving ideas |
| Always remember to turn the lights off when you leave the room. A 100W light bulb if left on for 1/2 hour creates enough CO2 to fill a party balloon. In the UK we waste £140 million a year by leaving our lights switched on unnecessarily. This causes 900,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, enough to fill 180,000 hot air balloons. |
| Did you know that you should recycle your used energy saving light bulbs? |
| Please view our guide by clicking here. |