We all must help to save on energy use
THE use of old-fashioned incandescent lights in the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Hanley is a totally unnecessary waste of our taxpayers’ money.
I wrote to the museum injuly pointing out there are about 200 of these lights in reception and the galleries. I explained the cost in electricity of these bulbs is about 10p each 10 hours the lighting is used, whereas a modern LED bulb of the same brightness would only cost 1.5p for 10 hours’ use.
I explained that a modern led bulb costs about 96p and would pay for itself in only 100 hours of use. The museum is open four days each week for seven hours each day, so the cost of running these 200 bulbs, as it is at the moment, is about £56 per week. I had a reply to my letter saying there was a programme of lighting upgrades at the museum.
Thirty-eight weeks later, I see the situation hasn’t changed, so a waste of electricity and our nation’s energy has incurred an unnecessary cost of £2,128.
The cost of the LED bulbs would be less than £200 and each would only take about 30 seconds to change over, so even with the investment of the new bulbs, there would have been a saving of £1,928 over this time.
It seems to me that although there may be a plan for wider upgrades of the lighting which seem to take a long time to agree, it is only sensible to make the changeover to modern lighting to make these savings immediately.
With all the issues of energy shortage and the cost to produce energy in money terms and in damage to the environment, I just can’t accept that these delays are justified. It seems to me we all have a duty to make individual savings where possible to help reduce the speed of climate change and to save public money.
CHARLES WALKER CAVERSWALL