With Filament Bulbs At Their Death Bed – Enter LEDs
Posted by Richard Clarke on 1st Sep 2011
The way we purchase and use our light bulbs is going to change.
The first to go were the 100W incandescent lights, and from 1st September 2018 you won’t be able to buy any halogens at all across Europe.
The History
This EU class “D” halogen ban was supposed to come in even earlier, but was delayed by two years after pressure from Lighting Europe.
This followed concerns that replacement lighting supplies wouldn’t be able to cope with the demand of those who still use incandescent bulbs.
The phasing out of these products stretches back to 2009 when the 100W was banned.
Reaction to the news was mixed. Some are lamenting the coming loss of a staple of home lighting, with others eagerly awaiting the switch to more energy efficient methods.
What Are People Worried About?
Many of the concerns are revolved around the use of compact fluorescent tubes (CFLs), with people citing multiple drawbacks when compared to the gold standard filament bulbs we’ve been using for years.
Price
The primary worry that people have is that other forms of lighting are considerably more expensive than halogens – up to 15 times more for the actual bulbs.
While we can’t argue the merits of CFLs, we can confidently say that our LEDs are some of the most competitively priced on the market – helping alleviate any concerns you might have about prices.
Just take a look through our selection of E27 bulbs and you’ll see that our range is very affordable.
These prices will only get lower over time as manufacturing costs drop and they become more mainstream. This is only a matter of time, with LEDs becoming the norm for businesses around the country.
Any price difference is more than offset by the sheer longevity of LEDs too – with most bulbs having up to 50,000 hours of life. This is 2 times longer than fluorescent bulbs and 20 times longer than halogens.
This is actually the reason why LEDs are being adopted across the London Underground network, with lower maintenance levels being the main benefit.
The Waiting Around...
A common argument also thrown at CFLs is that they are dimmer than normal when you switch them on, taking up to 5 minutes to reach full brightness.
This is because for all the mercury present inside them to be in vapour form, it must generate enough heat which is what causes the delay.
Again, this is something that isn’t an issue with LEDs – which hit maximum brightness the moment you flick your switch.
Dimmers And Wiring
Lastly, there are concerns about CFLs not being compatible with existing wiring systems and dimmer switches.
Fluorescent lights require a special dimmable ballast to be able to dim, and even then don’t provide the smoothest dimming. This is because their light is generated by a discharge through gas.
LED dimming is considerably easier, and only requires a trailing edge dimmer to be purchased for them to work.
Our range of dimmer switches by Varilight are specially made for this, with all the information you need on our site.
Otherwise, they’ll retrofit into your existing fittings and wiring, with only a transformer needed for low voltage products.
The imminent ban on halogens has many people worried, but a little bit of research shows that where CFLs may fail, LEDs are fully equipped to become the industry standard for lighting both domestically and commercially.
