Lightbulbs
This means killing off any harsh central light and turning on every available reading, bedside and desk lamp.
In recent years, however, I began noticing that even when I go through that routine, the room can still look cold and miserable. It is all down, of course, to energy-saving bulbs – and I have to say, I’ve come to have a healthy loathing for the things. I hate their greenish flickery light and the slight whistle some emit.
From 20 or more years ago, when they first appeared, I found the very sight of one coiled round like a small white glass snake inside a lamp fitting dispiriting even before you turned it on. You even find energy-saving bulbs in five star hotels now – not surprising, as the old tungsten type are disappearing rapidly from shops. Which is why I have built up the world’s biggest collection of warm, energy-wasting bulbs for treats, even though I am on quite good terms in most other ways with my friend, The Earth.
A few years into this modern mania, however, energy-saving bulbs are improving. And there’s no arguing with the fact that, in spite of an abiding feeling that the light quality still isn’t as good as with old-fashioned bulbs, the case is quite strong against the incandescent tungsten bulbs which survive in my naughty cupboard.
Indeed, perhaps I’m simply losing the will to resist, but I have begun to wonder whether the nostalgia that made me panic-buy the last remaining 100w bulbs last summer, was really that well founded.
And in retrospect, energy-usage wise, I have to admit they were a bit insane, producing all the unwanted heat.
A staggering 95 per cent of the energy used by a conventional bulb goes on energising the filament to – literally – white heat level. Even if you regard global warming as a hoax or mere moral panic, the simple cost in wasted electricity of producing 95 per cent heat and just five per cent light must be seen as nuts.
So is there a bright side? Well, there are now tolerable options. They may not be delightful, but energy-saving no longer has to mean morale-sapping.
The most common is the Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) a twisted fluorescent tube that emits ultra-violet light – to a skin-reddening (though not cancer-causing) level if you get within an inch or two, say critics. The CFL’s UV output is turned into visible light when it passes through the coating inside the bulb’s envelope.
CFL bulbs take an irritating several fractions of a second to come on, and a few minutes to reach their proper light level. But they provide the same amount of illumination for around 20 per cent of the electricity of a conventional bulb and last for 6,000-15,000 hours; conventional bulbs rarely last 1,000 hours.
It is apparently a myth, by the way, that CFLs wear out quicker if you turn them on and off a lot. Experts say you should turn them off when you leave a room, just as you do with “normal” bulbs. The light? Well, it’s warmer than it was and most people no longer detect the dreaded flicker, which some still claim produces eye-strain, headaches and even epileptic fits. But… CFLs don’t work with dimmers.
The second widely available type of energy-saving bulb, the LED (light emitting diode) bulb, is more sophisticated, more expensive, more energy-efficient, can be dimmed – and is the up-and-coming variety, usually used in tightly packed clusters.
LEDs – they’re already familiar in traffic lights and some car headlights – don’t suffer from poor start-up times, but are more directional than old bulbs or CFLs, so best as spotlights and down-lighters than as the general ambient lighting a table lamp provides. LEDs also tend to be a bit blue, but there are top-end LED bulbs, like the £30 (yes, really) Pharox available from ryness.co.uk, which have a warm light, are astonishingly efficient and promise a 25-year or greater life.
If you do the sums, this is actually not as insane as it first seems.
Where, you may wonder, do the currently ubiquitous halogen bulbs exist in the new eco-conscious light bulb hierarchy?
Well, they aren’t as energy-miserly as CFLs and LEDs, and as anyone who has touched one knows, they run extremely hot. But they still use much less energy than incandescent bulbs, and are available in still lower-energy varieties; Philips Masterline and Osram Decostar are two such, recommended by the Energy Saving Trust.
Halogens also – oh, joy – give a warm, homely light, and are still legal and more or less guilt-free! Hurrah for that.
Jonathan Margolis writes: It should be every good citizen’s mission to make life a misery for the “parking industry” as the distasteful coalition of car park operators, seedy private traffic warden companies, corrupt clampers and greedy local council officials chooses to call itself. So a pat on the back to the creators of www.freeparkingspace.co.uk, a gloriously subversive database of places where you can legally park free.
Just type in the basic details of where you’re going and the site will detail how to help make the vultures go hungry. Beware, it’s a new site, it’s a bit slow and doesn’t have extensive national coverage yet – and, in spite of its noble aims, it won’t pay your parking ticket for you if it gets something wrong!
Written by Jonathan Margolis, this article was first published in the August 2010 issue of Saga Magazine. Read Jonathan's technology column every month in Saga Magazine. Jonathan's opinions are his own and for general information only. Always seek independent, professional, financial advice.