One of the easiest and most effective ways of reducing your home energy usage and your fuel bills is to install low energy light bulbs in your home.

Using a fraction of the electricity of conventional light bulbs, low energy light bulbs use less energy and have a longer lifespan than traditional bulbs. This means that you can save a considerable sum of money in just 1-2 years.

And, as you’re using less energy, you’re helping also helping the environment and helping to reduce the damaging effects of climate change.

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Benefits of fitting low energy lighting

There are many benefits to fitting low energy light bulbs in your home. These include:

• Lower energy bills – Low energy light bulbs use around 75 to 80 per cent less electricity than traditional light bulbs. This means you can expect to pay less on your electricity bill
• Longer lifespan – Manufacturers expect the average low energy bulb to last around six to ten times longer than a conventional bulb (depending on the type and usage)
• A lower carbon footprint – By using less electricity and therefore less energy, there will be less harmful carbon emissions from your home and you will cut your energy usage

Types of Energy Saving Lighting

There are three main types of energy saving light bulbs available in the market. These are:

• Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) – These are the most common energy saving light bulbs and come in a range of shapes and sizes including stick shape, candle shape, small or medium screw and bayonet fittings
• Energy saving halogen light bulbs – These are ideal if you have halogen lights in your home as they use around 30 per cent less energy than a conventional halogen bulb
• LED lights – LED lights have advanced rapidly in recent years and can now be used to replace existing halogen spotlights

You can now even buy ‘soft tone’ energy saving bulbs, meaning that you can enjoy a warm glow rather than a cold light.

What Are Low Energy Light Bulbs and How Do They Work?

Low energy lighting such as compact fluorescent lamps have been available in the shops since back in the early 1980s. As they were relatively expensive and bulkier than conventional light bulbs they weren’t successful with the majority of shoppers.

As technological advancements have made low energy lighting more efficient and allowed manufacturers to reduce the size of light bulbs they have become much more appealing to consumers.

As more and more people started buying energy saving light bulbs, the costs of manufacture fell as did the price. This made low energy lighting cheaper to buy and increased the cost savings enjoyed by replacing conventional lighting.

This reduction in cost and increased popularity has led many countries to start phasing out traditional incandescent light bulbs in favour of energy saving lighting.
Energy saving bulbs such as LED bulbs operate off a lower wattage than conventional light bulbs but still produce the same amount of light. Providing you use the correct wattage you will receive the same light as you would from a traditional light bulb whilst using much less power.

Standard vs Energy Saving Lighting

In terms of light, size and shape, energy saving light bulbs come in as wide a variety of choices as traditional light bulbs. Energy saving light bulbs fit in ordinary light fittings and you can now buy stick and candle shaped low energy bulbs, bulbs with a screw or bayonet fitting and even energy saving bulbs designed for a dimmer switch.

There are even special energy saving light bulbs designed to fit in chandelier light fittings.

One of the main differences between standard and low energy light bulbs is their anticipated lifespan. Manufacturers estimate the average life of low energy bulbs are around six to ten times longer than a conventional bulb depending on which type are bought.

Typically, conventional light bulbs have a lifespan of approximately 1,000 hours, compared with between 8,000 and 15,000 hours for compact fluorescent lamps (energy saving light bulbs). With many low energy lighting costing less than ten times the purchase price of a comparable incandescent bulb, the overall saving in monetary and environmental terms is significant.

Insider Buying Advice

Choosing Low Energy Lighting

When you’re shopping for energy saving light bulbs, one way to find the very energy efficient bulbs is to look for the Energy Saving Trust logo. This means that a light bulb has been independently tested by an accredited test house.

When you’re looking for low energy lighting it is also important to consider the lifespan of the bulb, the quality of light that the bulb will provide and the bulb’s safety.
In addition, if you are buying light fittings then you can now buy specific low energy light fittings which will only take low energy light bulbs. These use a transformer or ballast fitted into the base of the light fitting which controls the supply of electricity to the bulb. This allows a small surge of power for a millisecond to light the bulb before reducing the electricity flow to a very low level.

Low energy light fittings require a pin based energy saving bulb. While this is a different fitting to a conventional bulb it will ensure that the light bulbs you buy in future will always save energy, money and the environment.

Typical Costs

At the moment, energy saving light bulbs are a little more expensive than traditional light bulbs. You might expect to pay around £1 more for a low energy light bulb than you would for a traditional light bulb. This means that bulbs range in price from just £1-2 upwards.

The cost of low energy light bulbs has gradually been falling and it is expected that energy saving light bulbs will become even cheaper as more are produced.

Calculating Your Return On Investment

Depending on how long you use your lights every day, just one low energy light bulb could save you around £2.50 every year against the cost of a conventional light bulb.

And, for brighter bulbs or those used more often, the savings could be up to £5-6 per year.

If you were to fit all the lights in your house with energy saving bulbs, you could save around £45 every year on your energy bills; around £390 over the lifetime of all of the bulbs.

In addition, because a low energy light bulb will last around 10 times longer than a standard bulb, it could save you around £45 before it needs replacing.

What all this means is that you will normally recoup the extra cost of buying low energy lighting within just a year or two. After that, you can expect to make considerable annual savings.

As well as saving money on your fuel bills, using low energy light bulbs also means that you are doing your bit for the environment. Using less energy helps reduce the damaging effects of climate change and so fitting low energy lighting is an easy and cost effective way of going green.

Ongoing Running Costs and Maintenance

One of the main advantages of low energy lighting is that it lasts significantly longer than traditional lighting. Remember that energy saving light bulbs have a lifespan of around 8,000 to 15,000 hours compared to just 1,000 hours for traditional light bulbs.

What this means is that you can expect to pay significantly less to replace your light bulbs as you will not have to change the bulbs nearly as often. The ongoing costs of maintenance are therefore considerably lower than by using conventional incandescent light bulbs.