Lights out for old bulbs

New generations of those fluorescent bulbs don't use liquid mercury, and they should be replaced by LED technology which is about as environmentally friendly as lighting can get.

I have just replaced my halogens in my kitchen with LEDs, the halogens were consuming 450 watts, the LEDs consume 32.4 watts. Their light output is far more directional compared with the compact fluorescent option, and are brighter than the halogens they replaced, warm white in colour. You can get 12 volt or 230 volt LEDs. Yes, there is an alternative to fluorescent lighting, but you have to do your homework carefully first. I did my research on the internet. The ones I have I purchased online, I haven't seen them in any retailers' stores.

Yes, these energy saving bulbs that contain mercury are not very good at all. The technology of the future for lighting is LED bulbs! The market is currently small but is growing fast. Check out www.ledstuff.co.nz as they offer a range of halogen replacement LED bulbs as well as automotive and motor home bulbs. They are a bit pricey, but have many benefits such as much longer life and energy saving.

Most houses now have a number if not all downlights to rteplace these at the best price I have found sofar would be around $10 each.It would take more than a year to make replacing the current ones eccomical,hardly an incentive !!!! John

there is a lot of information out in the market place about what lamps are now avalible. 1/ replacements for 12v halogen recessed both phillips & osram produce a 35w replacement lamp which produces the same amount of light to the normal 50w lamp 2/mercury in CFL lamps there are several brands which are leading this technology marexim,phillips and other with very low levels of mercury. This technology is moving fast and with 1-2 years we will have a next generation LED lamp with not harmful componants and 3-5 times the life of the new eco (cfl) lamps.

In order to get your most energy efficiant light solution for your home you should contact light specilist (light engineers)these are not generally found in your normal retail lighting shops but specilist lighting outlets.

In the end eco (cfl) lamps are not the long term answer but a good intermediate step in reduction of our energy consumption.Until we have fully developted both LED and Electroluminance technology, all the big lighting companies have working on these product with huge investments in R&D.

I have 9 energy saver bulbs in the house and have already had to discard or return 7 because of failure or significant heat damage where the glass enters the case - in less than two years. Two exploded. Want to know how to save money on energy saver bulbs? Keep the receipts.

Don't panic too much, folks - LED bulbs are finally making it to the NZ market. Read about them on the net and you'll fall in love with them, although maybe not the price tag for this country (hmm, shipping from the US might actually be cheaper)... However, the price will drop as they become more popular, and the savings in the long run are huge. No mercury, no heat, practically zero energy useage, if one LED breaks the rest keep working and they last about 50 years! I'm going to get them in my house if I have to scrimp and save for one every month.

Theres no doubt about it...the energy saving bulbs are a double edged bandaid that people know to little about. Not only is there mercury in them but there is lead in the glass and solder. BUT there is a solution! There is a new light bulb which looks just like the old regular rounded bulb (no more ugly spiral or neon look) and there is NO mercury in them and NO lead AND they last for nine years (approx) with a 12 month warranty. They come in a range of 'normal' 75 watts, downlights, and candle lighting with both BC (normal bracket) and ES (screw in) fittings. Its not my intent to use site as a prop to sell them, but to illustrate that alternatives are available. I believe that the Mid week will be running an article on these bulbs soon, so keep an eye out ;) YOU DONT HAVE TO PUT UP WITH POISENS IN YOUR HOME!

Wah!Wah! It's too hard, let's just do nothing instead.

There is less than a miligram [approximately] of mercury in reasonable quality CFL [compact flourescent (converter) lamps [cheaply made CFL's are higher in mercury, sometimes by a factor of 4 or more]. That's a thousandth of a gram. Compare that to producing massive amounts of electrical energy and then marching it across NZ in order to power very inefficient lightbulbs? Compare one CFL to between six and 15 tungsten lamps and the material quantities alone are a persuasive argument against tungsten. Add to that the cost [environmental included] of replacing and transporting, and managing between 5 and 14 extra lightbulbs and the whole issue becomes a no-brainer! 1 Milligram, multiplied by every single CFL ever to be sold in NZ per annum is less than 4 kilograms of mercury for the whole of NZ per year. I may be mistaken, but I think the dentistry industry puts more than that into our bodies each year and the medical thermometer industry probably also uses more. There is most likely a higher density of mercury in many parts of nature than what CFL's contain. The main CFL manufacturers websites are full of data on the subject. Each New Zealander could possibly eat all the mercury in all the CFLs that they buy each year and it would make no difference to their health at all, that's how small the quantities are.