Other LEDs disappoint, but the new bulb from Philips has the power to drag low-carbon spotlights out of the shadows
New energy saving LED bulbs from Philips. Photograph: Philips
I've tried everything to resist but I'm afraid this post is going to start with a cliche: I've seen the light. The shadows have receded. You get my drift. Last week incandescent lightbulbs began their long-awaited march out of existence and, at the same time, the next generation of ultra-low-power lightbulb has come a step closer to practicality.
I'm not talking about the compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) that everyone is busy replacing their energy-wasting incandescents with. Instead, I mean the bulb that is one technological step beyond CFL, the LED. Until now, LEDs have been a disappointment for everyday use but Philips has come up with a new bulb that will hopefully make the doubters shut up.
As part of my plans to green my house and, in preparation for the departure of the age of the incandescent bulb, I've been researching the best way to replace the lights in my home with low-energy alternatives. Some would say I've been quite boring and obsessive about this – but never let it be said that I'd let this research go to waste.
It's easy enough to find CFL replacements for the bayonet and screw-cap sockets in living rooms and bedrooms. The range of reliable bulbs in various shapes, sizes and brightnesses has bloomed in recent years and their prices keep getting lower. (Actually, the prices are a steal – I replaced a bunch of bulbs at my parents' home recently and managed to buy 10 good-quality CFLs for 50p).
More problematic are the lights in my kitchen and bathroom. These were a mixture of halogen spotlights with GU10 sockets and R50 reflector bulbs with screw caps. All were at least 50W each and they all had to go. As Russell Smith of Eco Parity Solutions found in the energy survey of my house a few months back, the carbon footprint of my electricity consumption was vast, and most of it was used in my lighting.
First things first, I looked for direct replacements for the R50 reflector bulbs. Megaman, a reliable source of low-energy lights, makes some but they're not easy to find even in specialist DIY shops, so not the most accessible option. Another route I considered was to get all the light sockets in the kitchen and bathroom replaced with standard GU10 sockets if I could find a reliable halogen-replacement. After some experimenting, I settled on 11W Megaman spotlights: they're slightly longer than halogen bulbs but still fit in the standard sockets. In total, I replaced 17 incandescent 50W bulbs with 11W CFL spotlights, each costing around £9.
But something still niggled. Before settling on the Megaman spotlights I had flirted with LEDs. Tempted by their even lower power consumption (sometimes just 2-3W) I even bought a few to test out. But, as anyone who's gone down this road will testify, LEDs are still expensive and, overall, unimpressive.
The bulbs I got were very dim indeed and the light was an ultra-harsh blueish-white. They weren't cheap – at around £10 each – and the only thing they had going for them was that they come on straight away. Even the Megaman CFLs I eventually settled on take around 30 seconds to get to full brightness from a cold start. But this just wasn't enough to persuade me to use them.
But how quickly things change. This month, Philips unveiled its new range of LED bulbs. I was sceptical that they'd be any better than the several I had tried already but, well, something has definitely changed in this technology. The 3W Econic spotlight is a direct replacement for the ubiquitous 35W halogen bulb and claims to have the same light output. When I tried it out, I found that Philips wasn't exaggerating. This is brighter than any other LED I've come across. Putting two in our small shower room, after a while I forgot that the bulbs were not halogens.
There are some slight issues. The light is whiter than is ideal but by no means harsh (I wouldn't, for example, have any problems using an array of these bulbs in my kitchen and bathroom but probably not bedrooms and lounges). Then there's the upfront cost, which is very steep – each Econic bulb comes in at £25. But the manufacturers claim the bulb will keep going for 15 years. Given the electricity savings over that period too, this might be an investment worth making. This new range from Philips also includes some candle-shaped bulbs and a screw-cap bulb too.
The most interesting thing about the Econic and its new stablemates is that finally here's an LED bulb worth talking about.
The technology will no doubt get better and cheaper. So who's to say that, within a few years, we're not all using LEDs to reduce the cost of lighting our homes to mere pennies? Reducing the carbon footprint of lighting to virtually nothing seems tantalisingly close.
New energy saving LED bulbs from Philips. Photograph: Philips
I've tried everything to resist but I'm afraid this post is going to start with a cliche: I've seen the light. The shadows have receded. You get my drift. Last week incandescent lightbulbs began their long-awaited march out of existence and, at the same time, the next generation of ultra-low-power lightbulb has come a step closer to practicality.
I'm not talking about the compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) that everyone is busy replacing their energy-wasting incandescents with. Instead, I mean the bulb that is one technological step beyond CFL, the LED. Until now, LEDs have been a disappointment for everyday use but Philips has come up with a new bulb that will hopefully make the doubters shut up.
As part of my plans to green my house and, in preparation for the departure of the age of the incandescent bulb, I've been researching the best way to replace the lights in my home with low-energy alternatives. Some would say I've been quite boring and obsessive about this – but never let it be said that I'd let this research go to waste.
It's easy enough to find CFL replacements for the bayonet and screw-cap sockets in living rooms and bedrooms. The range of reliable bulbs in various shapes, sizes and brightnesses has bloomed in recent years and their prices keep getting lower. (Actually, the prices are a steal – I replaced a bunch of bulbs at my parents' home recently and managed to buy 10 good-quality CFLs for 50p).
More problematic are the lights in my kitchen and bathroom. These were a mixture of halogen spotlights with GU10 sockets and R50 reflector bulbs with screw caps. All were at least 50W each and they all had to go. As Russell Smith of Eco Parity Solutions found in the energy survey of my house a few months back, the carbon footprint of my electricity consumption was vast, and most of it was used in my lighting.
First things first, I looked for direct replacements for the R50 reflector bulbs. Megaman, a reliable source of low-energy lights, makes some but they're not easy to find even in specialist DIY shops, so not the most accessible option. Another route I considered was to get all the light sockets in the kitchen and bathroom replaced with standard GU10 sockets if I could find a reliable halogen-replacement. After some experimenting, I settled on 11W Megaman spotlights: they're slightly longer than halogen bulbs but still fit in the standard sockets. In total, I replaced 17 incandescent 50W bulbs with 11W CFL spotlights, each costing around £9.
But something still niggled. Before settling on the Megaman spotlights I had flirted with LEDs. Tempted by their even lower power consumption (sometimes just 2-3W) I even bought a few to test out. But, as anyone who's gone down this road will testify, LEDs are still expensive and, overall, unimpressive.
The bulbs I got were very dim indeed and the light was an ultra-harsh blueish-white. They weren't cheap – at around £10 each – and the only thing they had going for them was that they come on straight away. Even the Megaman CFLs I eventually settled on take around 30 seconds to get to full brightness from a cold start. But this just wasn't enough to persuade me to use them.
But how quickly things change. This month, Philips unveiled its new range of LED bulbs. I was sceptical that they'd be any better than the several I had tried already but, well, something has definitely changed in this technology. The 3W Econic spotlight is a direct replacement for the ubiquitous 35W halogen bulb and claims to have the same light output. When I tried it out, I found that Philips wasn't exaggerating. This is brighter than any other LED I've come across. Putting two in our small shower room, after a while I forgot that the bulbs were not halogens.
There are some slight issues. The light is whiter than is ideal but by no means harsh (I wouldn't, for example, have any problems using an array of these bulbs in my kitchen and bathroom but probably not bedrooms and lounges). Then there's the upfront cost, which is very steep – each Econic bulb comes in at £25. But the manufacturers claim the bulb will keep going for 15 years. Given the electricity savings over that period too, this might be an investment worth making. This new range from Philips also includes some candle-shaped bulbs and a screw-cap bulb too.
The most interesting thing about the Econic and its new stablemates is that finally here's an LED bulb worth talking about.
The technology will no doubt get better and cheaper. So who's to say that, within a few years, we're not all using LEDs to reduce the cost of lighting our homes to mere pennies? Reducing the carbon footprint of lighting to virtually nothing seems tantalisingly close.
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