Efficient Home Lighting – CFL versus Incandescent

This month the humble lightbulb has been put in the (energy saving) spotlight as the EU’s phase out of the traditional incandescent begins, and so it seems like a good time to review some of the alternatives on the market and where you can find them.

Incandescant bulbs – “The Heater that emits a bit of light”
These are the ‘old’ school bulbs that are being phased out due to new EU regulations on performance requirements of energy-using products.
Only around 5-10% of the energy used by these bulbs actually goes to generating any light, with the rest being wasted as heat so it’s clear why it’s time for the newer CFL technology to take their place.

LED Lamps
LED lamps are typically made by grouping a number of individual LEDs together and are currently one of the most efficient lighting technologies. LEDs come in a range of colours, allowing for coloured lighting solutions, and even packages where the mix of colour can be controlled.
As LED lamps remain a relatively new addition to the residential lighting market the initial costs are high. So, in purely monetary terms, LED lamps seem to be not quite cost effective just yet.
However, the cost is bound to fall as more get manufactured and so are definitely ones to watch in the future.

Energy Saving bulbs
Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are the most common energy saving lightbulbs and are similar to the fluorescent tubes traditionally installed in commercial buildings.

There have been criticisms that energy saving lightbulbs take too long to turn on, or can’t be used with dimmers but most of these isses have been resolved in newer versions.
There is some evidence that equivalent rated bulbs aren’t quite as bright as their traditional counterparts, but I’ve found the light from CFLs to be perfectly good and in my opinion the reduced energy use more than makes up for any other limitations.

Importantly, while traditional incandescant bulbs can be disposed of in your household rubbish, energy saving bulbs (CFL’s) contain small amounts of mercury and so need to be recycled properly (although the longer lifespan of these bulbs mean it shouldn’t be necessary too often) – For advice on where to dispose of energy saving lightbulbs, see the Recolight guidance here.

So what’s the best option?
A very quick cost comparison of a typical year of operation shows that replacing 60W incandescants with 11W energy saving bulbs is over 5 times more cost effective – obviously there are some big assumptions here, such as ignoring the heating effect that a lot of old bulbs might give, but even replacing each 60W with two energy saving bulbs still looks better for your pocket and the environment (if disposed of correctly!)

	CFL	Incandescent
Power Used (Watts) (Light output might not be exactly equal, but these have been sufficient for my needs)	11W	60W
Lifetime (Hours) (Average lifetime as from the EnergyStar website)	10500	875
Cost each (Based on prices from British Gas and Staples)	£1.49	£0.75
Hours in operation (Assuming 6hrs / day for a year)	2190	2190
Bulbs Needed	0.2	2.5
Total Cost of Bulbs	£0.31	£1.87
Energy Used (kwH)	24.1	131.4
Energy Tariff (£ per kWh) (This is the average tariff prce as used by the Energy Saving Trust)	0.1296	0.1296
Energy Cost	£3.12	£17.03
Total cost over year	£3.43	£18.90
Where to buy?	CFLs are widely available for example from British Gas, Lightbulbs direct or most hardware stores. For dimmable versions, check Ryness.co.uk.	Just in the name of being fair, Incandescent bulbs can still be purchased from Staples, but hopefully after reading you might consider the alternative option!
Other considerations	Contain small amounts of mercury – needs proper disposal. Price continuing to fall	Can be disposed of easily, but price likely to increase now phase-out begins

Vectrix Electric Scooters

Transportation’s a large factor in most household emissions and so any effort here to reduce transport-related CO2 would be a great step for anyone to make if they want to quickly make a difference.

Although the Government recently announced their plans to provide incentives for scrapping older, less efficient cars, they don’t seem too fussy about what new car is bought with the money. Certainly newer car models are much cleaner, but say I used the money to trade up to a larger car, the environmental impact might actually be worse, particularly once production-related emissions are taken into account!

So what other options might you consider if you were to change your vehicle? The best possible option, (but one only really practical for those that live in big cities) is to use public transport wherever possible – I got rid of my car several years ago, but then I’m fortunate to have London’s Underground network which is (reasonably) reliable and has good coverage.

For other city-dwellers, a great viable option now is to go electric. In particular the Vectrix Maxi-scooters caught my eye at the recent UK Aware show.

(There are also options for people needing a family car, such as the Toyota Prius – but I’m not yet at that stage, so that’s a subject for another post!!)

Vectrix scooters are entirely electric and plug into everyday 3-pin sockets. The latest model has a maximum speed of around 62 mph – more than enough for city streets. The range for a single charge is stated at 35-55 miles, which will obviously depend on your driving style and terrain, although even within sprawling London, this should be sufficient for most places I’d want to visit.

My only concern would be running out of juice and being stranded mid-journey – A full charge apparently takes between 3-5 hours, so for important journeys you’d have to plan ahead to ensure a full battery. If the worst did happen, I’d like to believe with some charm you could negotiate some charging time from a nearby friendly household or shop socket and charge enough to be on your way within an hour or so!

The added bonus of exemption from road-tax and congestion-charge makes this a no brainer for me against conventional petrol scooters, and I hope to take a test-drive on one soon.

In terms of emissions, electric scooters emit zero CO2 – although including electricity production I’ve seen figures quoted from between 14g/km and 43g/km. However compare this to even a a modern rated car at 150g/km (not even including petrol-production related emissions) and you can see that the savings can be substantial.

See how the Vectrix compare with a similar rated petrol scooter:

Category	400cc Scooter (e.g. Suzuki Burgman)	Vectrix VX-1	London Underground Oystercard
Price	£4,710 direct from Suzuki	£6,995 from Envy Motors	£100 per month
Top Speed	c.100 mph	c. 62 mph	Highly variable!
MPG / Range	c. 60 mpg	35-55 miles on 1 charge	Zones 1-2!
CO2 emissions	unclear – some think higher than some cars, but est. c.50g/km based on Piaggio estimates	Zero (excluding electricity & production) – somewhere between 14-43g/km including	Negligible comparing using vs not
other Factors	High hydrocarbon, NOx and CO emissions

Do you have a Vectrix or electric vehicle? How much do you use it, and has it delivered the savings you’d hoped? Let us know below!

Green Computers

Is it time you upgraded your desktop PC or laptop?

As with a lot of things, it’s probably worth asking yourself if you really need a new one as small upgrades can go a long way to keeping your existing desktop or laptop running smoothly and is often the more enviromentally friendly option over buying a new computer.

Assuming your current computer has given up the ghost and can no longer take the stress of YouTube and BBC iPlayer though, there are now some good alternative choices to the ‘regular’ desktops and laptops stocked in your average electronics store.

The ASUS’s Bamboo Series Notebook, is clad in bamboo – one of the most sustainable materials available – making the production and eventual disposal a lot better on the planet. ‘Super Hybrid Engine’ technology also improves power efficiency, extending the battery life between 35% and 70% compared to similar spec’d notebooks and hence the time between charges.

Specs are as follows: (12.1 inch screen version):

• Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T9400/P8600/P840
• Memory: DDR2 800 MHz SDRAM, 2 x SODIMM socket for expansion up to 4GB SDRAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® 9300M GS External 256MB VRAM
• Harddisk: 320/250/160GB
• DVD Multiwriter, Webcam, 8-in-1 Card reader
  

For a slightly cheaper option, Fujitsu Siemens have a range of green-certified computers including their Scaleo L ‘Green Edition’ Desktop. Most of their desktops have ‘Energy Star 4.0′ ratings, which means good power efficiency in all modes of operation including standby and halogen-free motherboards. Fujitsu-Siemens are also expected to show off a ‘Zero Watt PC’ in March this year at the consumer electronic show CeBIT, although it won’t be available to buy until the middle of 2009 – I’ll be bringing you more details of this when announced. [via GadgetLite]

Standard Laptop	Asus Bamboo Series Laptop	Fujitsu Siemens Desktops
c.£750-£1200 (for similar spec to Asus Bamboo Series, Intel Core 2 Duo T9400)	c.£1320 from Anvika	c.£370-£700 from MacWarehouse

The Greener Strip Plug

The humble four-way strip plug now has an alternative that intelligently shuts off power to appliances that aren’t being used, making for an altogether greener choice that reduces energy consumption.

The ‘Intelliplug’ from OneClickPower powers off all other devices plugged in to the strip when the main appliance, such as a PC, is not in use. This stops energy being wasted by electronics like printers and PC speakers left on in stand-by. The Intelliplug automatically learns how much power the PC is using so that peripherals are switched back on when it is started, and leaves a delay so that things shut down properly without damage.

OneclickPower also has strip-plugs designed for home AV equipment, but the Intelliplug could really be used with any set of appliances that are used together, such as:

• TV, Video, Set-top box, DVD Player, Console
• CD Player, Amplifier, Radio
• PC, Printer, Monitor, Speakers, Scanner

Standard 4-Way	8-Way Intellipane	3-Way Intelliplug
from c.£11 (with surge protection)	c.£23 from Microdirect c.£20 refurbished from OneClickPower	c.£13-£15 from Microdirect or OneClickPower
Energy used: Average PC draws c.89 watts per hour under a low load, so with a combination of appliances anything in the region of 90 – 500W	Saves on average c.35 watts per hour according to OneClickPower

Do you have an Intelliplug? Do you know of another solution to reduce power wasted on stand-by? Get in touch!