Illuminati

OK – apologies for the rant… Is it just me, or have light bulbs really gone downhill in recent years? It seems as if scarcely a week goes by without me having to replace one.

I’m sure it wasn’t like that in my childhood. I don’t think we have more in our house than my parents had in theirs, or that we use them more. Perhaps we have a higher proportion of ‘strange’ ones – spotlights, candles, globes… and these varieties haven’t evolved to the same degree as the common-or-garden species?

The worst ones seem to be Philips, but most of the places we shop don’t seem to sell anybody else’s any more. The Philips spotlight bulb I’ve just replaced after a couple of months claimed to have a one year lifetime (based on 3 hours’ use per day). Even if it had managed that, it doesn’t seem like a great achievement, in this day and age.

The low-energy ones often do rather better, as they should, given their cost, but I’m too fond of dimmer switches to be able to change to those in any wholehearted way, and I’m still rather dubious about whether the true environmental benefits over their lifetime, if any, justify the cost and inconvenience…

So tell me, am I just becoming old and cranky, or does somebody still make a good old 60-watter the way they used to when I were a lad?

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4 Comments

I wonder if the electricity may be at fault? Maybe we live in noisier times?

50W GU10 halogens are very effective at blowing CF lamps if wired on the same circuit. The ‘bang’ from the ceiling and the ‘fhhint’ from under the units is a frequent occurance. I wonder if the efficiency of wax candles can be improved.

I’ve just ordered 4 Megaman “dimmerable” energy saving lightbulbs. I’ll let you know how I get on with them 🙂

The bulbs I ordered are here here, in case anyone’s interested.

Cool – looking forward to hearing how they go…
Q

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