How much does it cost to change to an ‘EU’ light bulb?
I’M NO fan of ridiculous European Union directives, but I must take issue with some of the criticism of Europe’s planned replacement of halogen bulbs with LED lights. No doubt, if you try hard enough, you may be able to find GU10 kitchen ceiling lamps for as much as £25, but this is by no means a typical price. I’ve fitted out most of my house with LED bulbs of various types and have never paid anything approaching that price. My ceiling LED lamps, bought on-line, were £4.50 each. So it cost me £36 to replace all eight of my kitchen lamps. Critics say LED lamps won’t work with dimmer switches, but this is misleading. It’s true that a non-dimmable LED lamp won’t work with a normal (‘leading edge’) dimmer — this combination would damage the dimmer, the lamp or both. But dimmable LED lamps which will work with any type of dimmer and can be used with existing wiring are widely available, and it’s possible to buy a new design of dimmer switch (‘trailing edge’) which will work with any LED lamp. Since installing LED lamps, my electricity consumption on lighting has reduced considerably: my kitchen lighting has dropped from 400 watts to 24 watts for eight lamps. I’ve also used LED under-cupboard lamps in my kitchen and LED uplighter lamps in my lounge, never paying anything remotely like £25. LED lamps are neither expensive nor hard to obtain — and since using them I’ve noticed a substantial reduction in my electricity use and associated costs.
RON LOCK, Weedon, Northants. THE BAN on halogen bulbs makes sense financially. As an electrician, I recently changed 12 halogen lights for LEDs in a customer’s house. The cost of each was £5.60. These lights were on for an average of six hours a day. At 13p per kW, the customer was spending 46p a day on halogen illumination. With LEDs, they’re now spending just 5p a day. The lights will pay for themselves and last for years. I’m no eco-warrior, but I do like saving money.
RORY LOW, Hunston, Sussex.