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They are most definitely dimmer than the 100w bulbs. And they don't help when you're working on your computer. Ban the interfering tree-huggers instead.

Both sides have valid points. I'm in favour of cutting down energy consumption where we can and my house has been all CFD bulbs for a while, but the phase-out is clearly being rushed and the ability to see the whole picture is being obscured by the zeal to go green.

I am visually impaired , and yes I use energy saving bulbs
as they last longer and changing a bulb is very difficult for me .
However I have bought more lamps to get the light levels higher so use more bulbs
I also turn threm on sooner as they take time to reach their full light
So am i saving energy and the environment -m probably not

And to quote the obvious VI people are already more environmentally friendly since we can't drive and thus pollute the atmosphere with carf emissions

This worrying future lack of incandescent lightbulbs and the impact of a ban on them for people with light sensitive medical conditions, was first blogged about in March 2007 by Sally's Life - A Light Bulb Moment. For the up to date position, see the website of Spectrum Alliance and their campaign on light bulbs at spectrum alliance dot org dot uk. They are asking all people with light sensitive conditions to contact them so they can represent their concerns to the decision makers. Make sure you doctor or specialist knows too, and records your light sensitivity, so that you are well documented as needing incandescent light bulbs in the future.

A member of my family has bad visual problems and the low energy saver light bulbs have caused her nightmares. She sees things darker than someone with full sight and they do not light up quickly enough for her to see.So she can stumble in the dark. So now when we see 100 and 150 watt bulbs we buy as many as we can. i can't cope with main lights being low energy but I was able to buy three blue led special longlife halogen bulbs for my porch ceiling light. Expensive but the blue means you can see immediately who is at the front door without a fog in front of you.

I'll definitely be affected, and so will many others, but like wartyferret I am able to compromise and use low energy bulbs in certain parts of the house. I wrote about this only the other day over at mine...can't do a link but www.beautyoffensive.blogspot.com is where it's at, with links to other areas of the debate.

problem is people want a bargain.

bargain low energy flourescent bulbs are cheap for a reason, that is

- they don't have a warm start facility which allows the bulbs to achieve full brightness quicker. Basically better bulbs preheat the gas in the lamp before striking the arc that ignites the gas in the bulb that excites the light producing coating inside the bulb.

- they don't contain the electronics to compensate for the natural flicker alledgedly induced in a flourescent bulb connected to a 50Hz AC power supply

- they give off UVA (why I had to where shades at work all day when I had Psorlens PUVA) and UVB in very small amounts. cheap bulbs save money by not adding a coating of acrylic to the bulb surface which absorbs the UV emitted.

- they haven't had the spectrum of light properly managed so as to match a standard incandescent or daylight bulb, which is done by altering the chemical makeup of the internal coating of the bulb that emits light.

I have my whole house converted to low energy bulbs, all from well known manufacturers who have produced properly manufactured and researched products...there is no problem from them, and friends with severe migraine and even epilepsy have commented that the bulbs I use (All Phillips btw) do not cause them any discomfort.

The bulbs cost £5 - £10 each bit last 20 times longer than conventional bulbs, so a long term saving. Actually I made back my money in lower bills and no bilb repalcements in 2 years.

If you still can't cope with Flourescents then go for LED Lamps instead.


You get what you pay for !!!

I am already having terrible problems with these bulbs and as my main lighbulb chose Sunday to die on me I am living already with parrafin lighting!

Firstly I have epilepsy and I find these lights going on and off, on and off, on and off, on and off all night when they are supposed to be off to be a risk to my life as I am prone to status epilepticus.

Secondly, my house was built with all lighting on inbuilt dimmers, so I could not use energy efficient bulbs because they say not to use them with dimmer switches (I suspect that is why they cycle on and off all night even when switched off). I think it is the dimming system built into the house which causes the continuous power cycling on the neutral wire, which makes them cycle when turned off.

I could not get dimmable ones locally, and ended up paying £130 to a taxi man to collect one from the nearest city (can't drive due to my disability). He got it, but that too cycled on and off the whole time it was supposed to be switched off. Spent another over £100 on another electrician, who just said that they do that with double pole double throw dimmers, espcially on 3 switch circuits! There way nothing he could do. Basically he thought my whole house was pretty useless with new bulbs, even though the house wireing was perfect - until energy saving bulbs came along!

being disabled I have low income, so can't pay for my house to be re-wired differently. I really can't sleep with the light going on and off 7 or 8 times a minute and the only way to switch them off completely if you have a central whole house dimming system (the type installed when built into new houses) or is to plug and unplug the light bulbs - and beware - the heavy bits at the end of energy saving bulbs get very very hot and burn fingers!!!!!!!

Additionally I don't believe that all this lighting the whole time they are switched off is really FREE of environmental impact. It may well be a totally capacitance load as by electrician says, and not show on my bill due to the way electric meters work, but it still costs the energy generators and wastes energy and damages the environment far more than old type bulbs!!!!!

So, for safety's sake, I am back using parrafin lamps, and even that causes eye strain as I work long hours with small writing and it is not very bright. In fact I an thinking of trying 60 watt old style bulbs instead (not really adequate to light 22ft x 13 ft room!)- but no doubt they will be banned soon.

I too get that problem of lights never properly switching off with energy saving ones. They go on and off non stop, all night. Yes, my house has wired in dimmer switches too and three way switches (hall, living roonm and landing). I have had to swap to 60 watt bulbs old type, but find my eyes are killing me by about 8pm and the stinging eyes makes me feel so tired I have to go to bed at 8pm now! I just hope it isn't long before they realise that this just isn't going to work and re-introduce them, because this really wont work in winter when it gets dark earlier.

Obviously flashing light on and off all night is wasting more power than these abominable things save. I thought we were supposed to be reducing electricity use, not increasing it!

Glad to read above that I am not paying for this extra electricity I am using though and that somehow it doesn't register on electric meters :-)

Hmm! Good news to some of us struggling with low earnings due to disability. It looks like that by installing these energy saving bulbs with 3 way switch and dimmer, we can have free lighting itf the switch is on the off position - Hmmm! also makes me wonder whether this uncharged electricity is the reason they think they are lower energy - perhaps they use far more electricity, but it is not all metered "due to the way electric meters work" - INTERESTING!

Energy efficient light bulbs are the easiest first step consumers and businesses can take towards reducing their energy consumption. Products have gotten light years better in the past few years and, in my eyes, indisputably better for 99% of applications. Both [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator] CFL and LED light bulbs run much cooler than incandescent bulbs, use energy much more efficiently, and do offer saving on your electricity bill. I am a vendor of energy efficient bulbs, so perhaps I am a bit biased, but I don't know why everyone doesn't switch today.

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