Shedding light on energy saving

Date published: 31 March 2009

A FAILSWORTH furniture store is holding a light bulb amnesty to help customers become more environmentally friendly.

Shoppers at Housing Units can swop their traditional light bulbs for the energy-saving version and collect information on how the switch will save money and energy.

The swop scheme has been set up to highlight the fact that 85 per cent of lamps in homes across the EU are not energy efficient despite industry plans to phase out traditional and highly inefficient incandescent bulbs by 2015.

Tim Hart, from Housing Units, said: “There are several issues relating to traditional bulbs versus energy-saving bulbs, and when customers bring in their failed traditional bulbs for us to dispose of, then we’ll be able to demonstrate the benefits of replacing it with an energy-saving bulb.

“While there is, of course, a higher purchase price, an energy-saving bulb can save around £10 a year in running costs compared to a traditional bulb, which, bearing in mind they last up to 15 years, means a saving of £150 per bulb.

“An energy-saving bulb may cost more — it costs several times as much to make one — but in a typical home with, say, eight main electrical light sources, that could mean saving £80 a year, or £1,200 for the lifetime of the bulbs, for an initial investment of something like £24.

“Some people don’t like the light quality of energy-saving bulbs — known as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) — but this is fast changing, and can be down to the quality of the bulb you buy.

“Traditional bulbs are much of a muchness, but energy savers can vary enormously in quality and light output.”