Is Russ Andrews actually onto something?

That's interesting. I'd add a couple of comments.

I thought power factor issues only affected the measurement of your energy usage ie it's a metering issue and that the solution was the fitting of power factor correction capacitors. I didn't know it was a real power generation issue.

The wasted heat energy of normal light bulbs is not in fact all wasted. During periods when the building is being heated, then watt for watt the heating system will be required to produce less heat. So from this alone the savings are maybe 30% less than claimed?

Forgot to add something else I learnt about CFLs to my cost.

If your bathroom extractor fan is triggered by the room light and you fit a CFL to that light point, within a few weeks it blows the fan's electronics. After 3 seperate extractor fans went at a total cost of about £100 it was the Vent-Axia rep who happened to be at my local electrical wholesaler who told me this was a well known problem in the extractor fan business.

This was a couple of years ago, so the issue may have been resolved, but I'm not chancing it.

Again the public have been sold a hound dog.

Yep they put so much noise into the mains it is horrible.

They are not al they are cracked up to be either on the energy front.

They cost more energy to make . They use more than glass and metal.

They even have capacitors and their dielectric and i believe they have mercury in them. Also when they are dead how expensive will they be to recycle bearing in mind the constituent materials in them.

So i stick with good old vacuum tubes which are minus the component to make a thermionic valve.

regards David

It might be a good idea to stock up on old fashioned light bulbs as most stockists are 'signing a pledge' to phase them off the shelves.

Tony

quote:

What do people think?

It's the lumen level one should be comparing.

Why does he compare a 60w incandescent to 15w,13w and 20w low energy bulbs? I've changed many bulbs in my house to low energy and have found that the equivalent lumen level is a 9-10 watt bulb. Using a light meter, I found an 11w low energy Megaman bulb gives out nearly a whole f/stop more light than a 60w incandescent bulb!

If you're taking the production energy cost and wastage into account, please remember that the low energy last 6-15 times longer (or 6-15 times less production and wastage).

Cheap low energy bulbs can flicker without you knowing and cause migraine. High quality ones should resolve this. If you're having difficulty reading, fit daylight balanced bulbs or increase the wattage. Reading under any electric light is not particularly good for your eyes.

FWIW, I rang Russ Andrews a while ago to enquire about MK sockets for my system and wasn't impressed with the response.

I think that the point is an important one (hence a rare post from me). We tend to underrate the importance of our own state of mind (and body) to the enjoyment of our hi-fi.

Regards
Steve

There's also mercury in the CFLs as well so disposal is more difficult as well.

quote:

I hate reading by them and they upset my wife's skin all in all they are C**P!!

Yes, the green nuts always seem to forget that all fluorescent technology works by electrifying a poisonous metal vapour to create cancer (and goodness knows what other skin problems) causing UV light and then converting it to visible spectrum.

I'm more inclined to use halogen lamps wherever possible, they are a lot more efficient than vacuum lamps and have a more pleasant almost daylight-like light. The also have a lower manufacturing energy cost than CFLs and non of the problems with chucking harmonics back onto the mains!

Regards

The amount of mercury in these bulbs is no more than has been in the fluorescent light bulbs you have doubtless been working under for many years. You have more mercury in the PC you are using and the TV you probably watch.

The truth is out there. Here? Probably not.

Mike

quote:

The amount of mercury in these bulbs is no more than has been in the fluorescent light bulbs you have doubtless been working under for many years.

I only had one FT and now we have 5 CFLs in the house as well.

I don't see why there should be any less truth here than in the "truthful" outside (real) world

I'm not sure if this is what BIGH47 was alluding to, but my concern about mercury in CFLs has little to do with this nonsense in the USA about it posing a threat to human health in the home. Rather that universal uptake of these bulbs amounts to a huge quantity of mercury. These bulbs almost invariably end up in household waste, as there is no recycling facility for them except in some big cities. This waste will then end up either being incinerated or dumped in a landfill and the mercury will then enter the watertable either by leaking from the landfill site or by entering the atmosphere and being returned to the surface with precipitation.

The EU has done a lot of studies into mercury and concluded that even small quantities from sources such as broken mercury thermometers pose a threat to the waterborne ecosystem and (via drinking water and eating fish) human health and have banned the use of mercury in practically everything. I think it is a mark or just how difficult politicians find it to contradict the "Green consensus" that contrary to the advice of several of the reports they commissioned they exempted CFLs from this legislation.

Regards,


Dom

Dom what I was trying to say but you are far more eloquently put.