Lighting

General Advice on Lighting
Avail of natural daylight whenever possible and avoid leaving electric lights switched on in unoccupied rooms. All lighting lamps carry an energy label similar to that on appliances (i.e. an A to G label) so always choose the most efficient to suit your particular needs.

Incandescent Light Bulbs
This is the most inefficient form of lighting. Only one twentieth of the energy that goes into a typical (incandescent) light bulb is converted into light; the remainder becomes heat, which means that most of the energy you are paying for is wasted. When replacement is necessary, it is cost effective and environmentally friendly to replace these bulbs with low energy light bulbs.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs)
CFLs use 20% of the energy used by typical incandescent bulbs to give the same amount of light, and last up to 15 times as long. A 22 Watt CFL has the same light output as a 100 Watt incandescent bulb. Low energy lighting will give highest savings in rooms that are most often used.

Fluorescent Tubes
Slim line 26mm diameter fluorescent tubes give energy savings of around 8 - 10% compared with older 38mm tubes and are cheaper to buy.

Tungsten Halogen Bulbs Tungsten Halogen bulbs are up to twice as efficient as standard bulbs and last about twice as long. However, they are still less efficient than CFLs and are only suitable for spotlighting/task lighting and should not be used for general household lighting.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
LEDs are the newest addition to the list of energy efficient light sources. LEDs are extremely energy-efficient bulbs and can last 10 times as long as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), and over 100 times longer than typical incandescent light bulbs. Recent improvements in manufacturing have lowered the cost of LEDs, which has expanded their application.