Dimwits! Eco lightbulbs are not as bright as they claim

ECO-FRIENDLY lightbulbs are using more energy than they promise on the packs, it has emerged.

And some are not even as bright as they claim.

Traditional bulbs have been outlawed by the EU in a move to cut energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

But the halogen bulbs that have taken their place are not as green and energy efficient as they appear. Ikea, Philips, GE and Osram are among firms exaggerating energy performance by up to 25 per cent, tests by the Swedish Consumer Association show.

The revelation has echoes of the Volkswagen scandal. In September the car giant admitted it fiddled emissions tests to give the impression its vehicles were less polluting than they are.

The lightbulb research, conducted between 2012 and 2014, found a 42W Airam halogen lamp consumed 25 per cent more energy than claimed on the label to achieve its declared brightness of 630 lumens. A GE 70W halogen bulb burned 20 per cent more energy to reach its stated 1,200 lumens.

A 28W Philips halogen bulb was found to be 24 per cent less bright than claimed, while Ikea’s 53W and 70W bulbs each underperformed by 16 per cent.

The problem is that EU standards covering light bulb design include ‘tolerances’, which means they do not have to meet the exact claims made on the pack.

A senior lighting industry executive said companies are effectively taking advantage of this to exaggerate efficiency claims.

The anonymous source told The Guardian: ‘All the major brands are doing it. No one is clean on this issue and everyone has to follow suit to compete. In the past, we declared our measured values on the packaging but when we measured our competitors’ equivalent products we saw that they were declaring higher values on their labels.

‘So we had to play the same game. We’re in a competitive market and if we didn’t, we would be idiots. The net result is that consumers are being cheated.’

EU tests for bulbs allow for a 10 per cent tolerance threshold, meaning a bulb advertised as 600 lumens need in reality produce only 540 lumens. The industry source said a threshold of 2 to 3 per cent would be possible to achieve and would be fairer to consumers. The same tolerance regime for energy efficiency claims applies to other household products, including TVs, dishwashers, washing machines and fridges. As a result, the energy use claims for these may also be unreliable.

The European Commission has been working on proposals to close the loophole since Novem- ber 2012. However, reforms are not due until next year at the earliest. Viktor Sundberg, a vicepresident at Electrolux, said tolerance loopholes should be closed on all products.

Ikea no longer sells the halogen bulbs used in the tests. Philips said it complied with all relevant standards and was committed to accurate labelling. Osram said the issue was ‘not company-specific but an industry topic’. The Lighting Europe trade association said very few bulbs fall outside the 10 per cent tolerance range.