The Energy Saving Light Bulb

The energy saving light bulb has developed in leaps and bounds over the last few years. The CFL ( compact fluorescent lamp) technology that they use has had a few issues in the past. Firstly, the older CFL energy saving light bulbs took a long time to reach their full brightness and when I say a long time I mean of the order of 20 minutes. This meant that they were quite user unfriendly certainly when people were walking between rooms for example showing guests around. Secondly, they were not  dimmable which meant that people who had a dimmer fitted in a space for mood lighting considerations no longer could use that facility.

The dimmable energy saving light bulb

The dimmable energy saving light bulb has always been around but can suffer from a number of setbacks. Dimming the CFL technology lamps is not a trivial issue and many of the dimmable CFL lamps do dim but not progressively and will not reduce much in brightness. As a consequence you can reduce the brightness but only in steps as opposed to in a progressive manner. With out CFL lamps we actually supply UK dimmer switches to the manufacturer so thay these can be used as part of the testing process and in this way you can be assured of a good product.

Another issue has always been the price of the dimmable energy saving light bulb which is a result of the complexity if the electronics inside and also the extensive testing processes they need to go through to ensure compatibility with a broad range of dimmer switches and high end dimming systems for instance Lutron. There is no easy solution here but the prices have reduced and it is all about finding a dimmable light bulb that is of hogh quality and reasonably priced. It is unlikely that you will need to put dimmable energy saving light bulbs all over your house so they higher investment needed for those rooms where you need the mood lighting is generally considered to be a sound investment.

Another important consideration is that a number of dimmable energy saving light bulbs on the market are not very high powered. Typically they tend to be up to 20 watts and producing somewhere around 1000 lumens of light output. If you are having a dimmable bulb then it is generally much better to purchase a bright one on the basis that you can always dim it. Unlike with the old fashioned dimmers, which used a rheostat which meant that you did not see an energy saving when the light was dimmed, modern triac systems do mean that you save electricity when the light is dimmed. Consequently it is always best to go for a high wattage CFL lamp of high lumens output. Our lamps are 25w watts and produce 1400 lumens output so you can enjoy a high light level but progressively reduce the level when the mood takes you!