Light bulb technology – a basic guide

In the past, light bulb technology was far simpler than it is today. The only bulb-buying decision most of us made was choice of wattage, and even that was usually pre-decided by our light fitting. So there was nothing to consider.

Nowadays, things are a little more complicated as the number of types of light bulbs has increased. Several technologies now compete for our attention: incandescent, halogen, energy-saving halogen, fluorescent, and LED.

Each technology has its own particular set of advantages. The following paragraphs briefly outline them, helping you to invest in precisely the bulb(s) you need.

Incandescent

Take a look at our range of incandescent bulbsAn incandescent bulb produces light when an electric current passes through its filament, causing it to glow. Only around 10% of the energy consumed by an incandescent bulb is converted into visible light, with the rest being used to generate heat. Many previously available incandescent bulbs have been phased out by EU legislation, due to their inefficiency, but a few specialist products still remain.

Despite its failings, incandescent technology has some inherent advantages:

  • Inexpensive
  • Dimmable by default
  • Maximum CRI 100 score for reliable colour rendering
  • Amount of light (measured in lumens) remains consistent throughout lifespan
  • Instant light

Halogen / energy-saving halogen

Take a look at our range of halogen bulbsHalogen technology is a form of incandescent lighting, the main difference being that the filament is tightly enclosed by a heat-resistant quartz or hard glass envelope. Inside this envelope is a halogen gas, whose purpose is mainly to return evaporated tungsten onto the filament, thus extending the lifespan of the bulb. It does this through a chemically reactive process known as ‘the halogen cycle’.

Energy-saving halogen bulbs use either an IR reflective coating or a less conductive premium-fill gas (i.e. krypton or xenon) to reduce heat loss and increase efficiency.

Halogen advantages include:

  • Inexpensive
  • Very crisp, bright-looking light (especially low voltage)
  • Dimmable by default
  • Maximum CRI 100 score for colour rendering, with slightly less red bias than original incandescent bulbs (i.e. better balanced for colour-critical applications)
  • Amount of light (in lumens) remains consistent throughout lifespan
  • Double the lifespan of original incandescent bulbs
  • Available in ‘capsule’ form for use in space-confined applications
  • Energy-saving versions use 20-30% fewer watts than original incandescent or regular halogen technology
  • Instant light

Fluorescent

Take a look at our range of CFL BulbsFluorescent lighting comes in tube or CFL form. The latter (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) includes spirals, sticks, 2D, Biax, and retrofit low-energy bulbs. Regardless of shape, fluorescent lighting works by exciting mercury atoms with an electric current. In turn, this produces a UV light that stimulates the interior phosphor coating, causing it to fluoresce and emit visible light.

Fluorescent light sources require a ‘ballast’ to regulate current and deliver sufficient voltage to start the lamp. Most CFLs include this in their base, allowing use as direct replacements for regular bulbs. Fluorescent tubes and some lamps require an external ballast, which is usually integral to the light fitting.

Perhaps the greatest disadvantage in fluorescent lighting is a generally inferior dimming capability (often non-existent), but there are various advantages:

  • Inexpensive by comparison to LED
  • High energy efficiency—typically 70-80% more efficient than incandescent or halogen
  • Very long lifespan compared to filament bulbs, reducing maintenance costs
  • Strong omnidirectional diffuse light that is especially useful as a main light source
  • Broad choice of colour temperatures
  • Low running temperature

LED

Take a look at our range of LED BulbsThe LED, or Light Emitting Diode, has been intensely developed in recent years to become one of the greatest clean technologies of the early 21st century. LEDs can produce a white light in a couple of ways, either by blending red, green and blue primary colours, or by use of a blue LED and yellow phosphor. The latter is a cheaper and easier way of producing bright white LEDs, and is behind most LED design.

Most modern LED bulbs use High Power LEDs, which can be surface-mounted to produce a bright omnidirectional light. A second type of LED is the COB (Chip-on-Board), which consists of LED chips packaged extremely densely into a single LED module. Allowing a fantastically smooth and intense light, COB LEDs are often used to closely replicate halogen spotlights.

LED bulbs generally require a greater initial investment than other technologies, but the expense is always likely to be recovered, and usually within a few months in commercial environments. Here are some of the numerous advantages:

  • Exceptional energy efficiency, usually superior to fluorescent and converting about 80% of used energy to light
  • Long lifespan that greatly reduces maintenance costs (up to 50,000 hours)
  • Negligible IR or UV radiation reduces degradation when lighting sensitive items (e.g. artworks, food)
  • Shock and vibration resistant (solid-state form of lighting)
  • Reliable cold-temperature performance
  • Extremely compact for design flexibility
  • Broad choice of colour temperatures
  • Very good dimming performance with compliant drivers and switches. Colour remains constant even when dimmed to low levels.
  • Directional form of light with very little spilled light outside of its specified beam
  • Unaffected by frequent switching
  • Instant light

Feel free to browse our full range of light bulbs.

Looking for inspiration or more information? Try our Lighting Advice section.

andrew-author-bio

Andrew Evangelidis Head of Buying

Andrew is an experienced buying professional who takes an entrepreneurial approach to identify new lighting solutions and ensure Lyco have first-to-market ranges for our customers. Having previously worked for well known brands such as Wickes, Carphone Warehouse and Toys R Us, Andrew has now turned his hand to sourcing commercial lighting and ensure our customers receive top brand quality products at marketing leading prices. He manages a team of commercial and decorative buyers who travel the world finding new products that our customers don’t even know they need yet.

Lumen, Lux & Candela – an introduction

Lumen (lm), lux (lx) and candela (cd) are units of measurement used to describe the output of bulbs and light fittings. With incandescent and halogen lighting it was always easy to equate wattage with light output, because the same wattage always produced the same amount of light.

Now that different technologies have entered into the equation, using wattage as an indicator of output has become increasingly obsolete. In retrofit CFLs or LEDs, and even energy-saving halogen lamps, an equivalent incandescent or halogen wattage is given by manufacturers to make life easier.

Like-for-like comparisons between modern light sources are complex, since their output per watt varies considerably from one product to the next. Therefore, more universal units of measurement are required – measurements that actually record light.

Lumen, lux, and candela are definable as follows:

Lumen (Lm)

Lumens measure the total amount of light energy from any source, regardless of direction. The lumen answers a simple question: how much light does this source produce?

When buying modern bulbs you’ll find the lumen measurement added to the packaging and stated prominently – usually at twice the size of the wattage.

Lumens are used to measure energy efficiency, using a lumens-per-watt formula. In the lighting industry this formula is called ‘luminous efficacy’. Efficacy refers to a ratio between two different units of measurement.

Sometimes lighting manufacturers give a ‘LOR’ measurement (Light Output Ratio), which accounts for the percentage of light in lumens wasted between the source and transmission through a light fitting.

A guide to the energy efficiency (or luminous efficacy) of various technologies is as follows:

Lux (Lx)

Lux is a unit of illuminance equivalent to 1 lumen per square metre. It is a measurement given in conjunction with distance, or a set of incremental distances, so that end-users can gauge whether a lamp or luminaire delivers an adequate intensity of light for specific applications, or to meet building regulations. For instance, corridors are often required to measure a minimum 100 lux at floor level (typical height around 3m), and 300-500 lux is recommended for reading.

The Lux measurement is normally used with products that have a fixed spread of light (beam angle) such as GU10 bulbs or downlights.

The illustration below shows an example of decreasing light levels over distance: 0.75m = 3500lx, 1.5m = 800lx, 2.15m = 400lx, and 3m = 150lx.
A diagram explaining how Lux works

Candela (Cd)

Candela is a measurement of luminous intensity at source, and in a given direction. One candela is the approximate equivalent in output of a traditional candle. A candela measurement differs from lumens in that it measures directional intensity rather than the overall amount of light, so it takes no account of multidirectional output. For that reason candelas are used primarily to measure focused lamps, such as spotlights.

For more information, advice and ideas take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

Charles started Lyco in 1995 with just 4 enthusiastic employees and has grown it considerably over the past 25 years. Charles is also the Managing Director of Lighting Direct and newly acquired Online Lighting. He now has a team of 50 lighting experts working on growing Lyco Group to be the UK leader in lighting for both businesses and homes. Away from the office he is a keen cyclist and is proud to have cycled 1017 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise money for a new residential centre for adults with multiple learning difficulties.

Halogen light bulbs buying guide

Halogen lighting has become very popular over the last fifty years. Halogen and Energy Saving Halogen bulbs offer a completely different set of features to other forms of lighting.

How halogen bulbs work

Halogen bulbs are a type of incandescent bulb and just like an incandescent use a tungsten filament. However, unlike the incandescent, the filament on the halogen bulb is enclosed by a small heat-resistant quartz or hard glass envelope. This envelope is filled with a halogen gas, which returns evaporated tungsten back onto the filament, increasing lifespan. This regenerative process is called the ‘halogen cycle’. A halogen bulb filament is hotter than that of an incandescent bulb, usually at 3000K.

A relatively large bulb such as a halogen GLS is essentially a ‘bulb within a bulb’, with the quartz envelope enclosed by a further glass casing. Smaller bulbs such as halogen capsules need especially careful handling, as they have no exterior cover and glass contamination causes premature failure.

Energy-saving halogen bulbs

Original halogen lighting is only fractionally more energy-efficient than incandescent. However, newer energy-saving halogen bulbs generally use 20-30% fewer watts than incandescent or standard halogen equivalents. This is achieved in two ways:

  • Premium-fill gases like xenon or krypton are used instead of argon, causing the filament to burn more brightly and reducing required power for identical output.
  • An IR reflective coating on the halogen quartz envelope bounces infrared heat back onto the filament, again causing it to burn more brightly for the same wattage.

Incandescent replacement

Energy-saving halogen technology is widely used in retrofit products for replacing incandescent bulbs, many of which have been phased out recently by EU legislation. It produces a marginally cooler, brighter-looking light than the old technology, and is better than incandescent light at rendering short wavelength colours (i.e. violets and blues).

Energy-saving halogen bulbs are available as an economical alternative to incandescent GLS bulbs, candles, ‘R’ reflectors, globes and golf balls. Halogen typically has twice the lifespan of an incandescent equivalent.

Halogen spotlights – mains-voltage GU10 & GZ10

Halogen GU10 light bulb

Halogen is one of the primary technologies used in spotlighting, partly due to the fantastic choice of products available. Another reason for its popularity is its superb colour rendering. A halogen bulb includes all colours of the visible spectrum in its light, which means colour is displayed with more consistency than is possible in LED or fluorescent technologies.

The GU10 spotlight is by far the most common type of mains-voltage halogen reflector. It is used in accent lighting, task lighting, and general lighting. GU10 bulbs use what is known as a ‘twist and lock’ base, introduced by Sylvania in 1996. The base provides a very secure electrical contact, similar in principle to a bayonet cap.

One defining factor in a GU10 is that IR heat is always projected forward in the beam, whereas many MR16 low-voltage bulbs of the same size (50mm diameter) use a dichroic filter to dissipate heat through the back of the bulb.

The GZ10 bulb is a relatively rare mains-voltage bulb that dissipates its heat using a dichroic filter through the back of the bulb. The GZ10 is unsuitable for use in most GU10 light fittings, and despite having the same pin arrangement it should not theoretically fit (a GU10 bulb has a bevelled base, whilst the GZ10 is squared). Light fittings normally carry a ‘no cool beam’ symbol to signify incompatibility with the GZ10.

Halogen spotlights – low voltage AR111, MR8, MR11 & MR16

Halogen AR111 spotlights are often used in shops or showrooms, and normally have a metal block over their filament to prevent glare.

The massively popular MR16 is universally loved by specifiers, partly for its wide variety of designs and beam angles.

Low-voltage spotlights are available with an aluminium-coated reflector, which projects IR heat forwards, or with a dichroic filter that allows IR heat to pass through the back of the lamp. A dichroic spotlight is useful for displaying heat-sensitive objects like food, artworks, or textiles.

Another advantage of low-voltage spotlights is their sharper, brighter quality of light over mains-voltage counterparts. In addition to display lighting, LV halogen spotlights are common in downlights and wire lighting systems.

Halogen AR111 light bulb

Halogen low-voltage spotlights use the following caps:

  • AR111 = G53
  • MR8 and MR11 = GU4
  • MR16 = GU5.3

All halogen low-voltage lamps require a 12V transformer, which is used to step down mains voltage to individual or multiple LV bulbs, dependent on maximum load.

Linear Halogens

Linear halogen lamps with R7s bases are found in floodlighting and security lights. The filament of the lamp is supported along its complete length, and the round bases at either end fit into sprung contacts. The filament must remain horizontal to maintain lifespan.

Specialist halogen R7s heat lamps include jacketed and non-jacketed versions. Jacketed lamps tend to last longer, since they’re protected from contaminants such as food.

Heat lamps are available in clear, ruby, or gold finishes. A clear finish is used where the bright white light of halogen is required in addition to heat. Ruby or gold finishes subdue light output for applications where heat is predominantly needed.

Capsules

Halogen capsule bulbs

Halogen capsules are used in applications such as caravan lighting, boat lighting, pelmet lighting, or desk lighting. They come in low-voltage G4 or GY6.35 types, or a mains voltage G9 format. The suffixed numbers in their names are based on the distance in millimetres between their two pin centres.

The G9 is the most compact mains-voltage halogen bulb available, and because it requires no 12V transformer it’s widely used in extremely small light fittings.

High-powered specialist halogen capsules are also available for applications such as theatre, TV, film, or projector lighting.

Take a look at our range of light bulbs.

Looking for more news, information and advice? Try our Lighting Advice section.

andrew-author-bio
Andrew Evangelidis Head of Buying

Andrew is an experienced buying professional who takes an entrepreneurial approach to identify new lighting solutions and ensure Lyco have first-to-market ranges for our customers. Having previously worked for well known brands such as Wickes, Carphone Warehouse and Toys R Us, Andrew has now turned his hand to sourcing commercial lighting and ensure our customers receive top brand quality products at marketing leading prices. He manages a team of commercial and decorative buyers who travel the world finding new products that our customers don’t even know they need yet.

What are dichroic lamps?

The term ‘dichroic lamp’ almost always refers to low-voltage MR11 or MR16 halogen spotlights. The interior surface of these lights is designed as a multifaceted reflector (MR), with the purpose of gathering up the widespread light of the burning tungsten filament and projecting it forward through the front of the lamp.

Invariably the surface of this reflector is manufactured in one of two ways; it’ll either have an opaque aluminium coating or a dichroic coating. The purpose of an aluminium coating is uncomplicated: it projects as much light as possible forward without discriminating between visible light and invisible UV or IR radiation, either of which can potentially be harmful.

A dichroic coating is essentially a thin layer of non-metallic film, sometimes referred to as interference film, which reflects visible light from the filament forward whilst filtering infrared radiation and allowing it to pass through the back of the lamp. Since IR radiation is a significant source of heat, the net effect of this is to make the beam much cooler.

Dichroic compatibility

When buying or installing a dichroic lamp you first have to ensure that the light fitting or lamp-holder can dissipate the back-firing heat. Any recessed or enclosed luminaires that cannot accommodate such a lamp should be marked with the IEC 605598 ‘No Cool Beam’ symbol. If your light fitting is labelled in this way you’ll need an aluminium reflector lamp.

Benefits

The beam of a dichroic lamp is significantly cooler than other halogen spotlights, which extends its usefulness drastically for displaying heat-sensitive objects such as paintings, photos, leather goods, food, and wine.

A second potential benefit of a dichroic coating is that it can be used to remove longer [redder] wavelengths of the visible spectrum to create a halogen spotlight with an unusually cool temperature. This has some appeal, because it’s ordinarily uncommon for a filament lamp to output anything other than a warm light, but there is a trade-off in colour accuracy and a lower CRI score. Most dichroic lamps remove only IR radiation and maintain their maximum CRI 100 rating for colour rendering.

Low-voltage MR11 or MR16 halogen dichroic lamps have other inherent advantages that complement their IR filtering properties admirably. With a relatively compact filament they are optically very controllable with minimal spill light, and deliver a focused, crisp beam. What’s more, they’re very affordable, and rarely more so than with the bargain-priced Lyco Halogen MR16, which is dimmable, highly colour-accurate, and might last you two or three years – all for mere pence! Looking for Low Voltage spotlights ?
View our full range >  

Other forms of dichroic lamp

Though dichroic lamps are mostly low-voltage, they can occasionally be found as mains spotlights. The common GU10 reflector is really an MR16 lamp with a ‘twist and lock’ 240V mains-connectable base. Cool-beam versions of the GU10 can be found with a dichroic coating, although they are known as ‘GZ10’ lamps. Great care needs to be taken in ensuring these lamps are installed into a fitting with sufficient heat dissipation.

The future of cool-beam halogen

The very need to handle unwanted heat in a lamp is, of course, indicative of poor energy-efficiency, and that places dichroic lamps in something of a precarious position. In Australia the common low-voltage 50W MR16 has already been subject to a phase-out, and there have been one or two reports in the UK of its imminent European demise. When this does come to fruition – and it seems only a matter of time – it is believed the more energy efficient IR-reflecting and Xenon-filled 12V halogen spotlights will remain available.

MR16 lamps have existed for over 30 years, and the threat of their extinction has caused some disquiet among lighting designers worldwide. With the more energy-efficient models seemingly safe for at least another three years or more, we might in that time expect LED alternatives to have been further improved and for their prices to have finally toppled. In the meantime, you can still reap the benefits of a crisp, bright, vivid, colourful, pretty cool halogen source of light!

For more advice, inspiration and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

andrew-author-bio

Andrew Evangelidis Head of Buying

Andrew is an experienced buying professional who takes an entrepreneurial approach to identify new lighting solutions and ensure Lyco have first-to-market ranges for our customers. Having previously worked for well known brands such as Wickes, Carphone Warehouse and Toys R Us, Andrew has now turned his hand to sourcing commercial lighting and ensure our customers receive top brand quality products at marketing leading prices. He manages a team of commercial and decorative buyers who travel the world finding new products that our customers don’t even know they need yet.

Coloured bulbs – when to use them

The coloured light bulb is hardly a new technology. Indeed many people might remember them from teenage years, as they are perfect for customising your room, being cheap, easy and quickly reversible, so they wouldn’t make your parents scream. While there is a lot more to coloured bulbs than simply popping in a purple one in so you can listen to Pink Floyd, there’s still an undeniable truth in there. Coloured light bulbs are a cheap and convenient way to completely change the look of a space.

Coloured bulbs for all purposes

The classic coloured GLS bulb is still available, in a wide range of colours, not to mention energy-saving and G9 halogen variants. But rather than blitzing the entire room with one colour, like an 80s nightclub, why not use the palette available to you creatively? For a peaceful sanctuary of a room, mix up green and blue bulbs, while a games room or bar would suit bright, vibrant reds and oranges. Interestingly, if you’re planning on a bit of poker, red lighting apparently encourages people to gamble more boldly.

Celebrations

Coloured bulbs are also great for seasonal celebrations – deck out a Valentine’s Day party (or a small girl’s bedroom) with pinks and reds, while greens and reds are great for truly festive feeling Christmas, and blue and green light will create a suitably monstrous Halloween.

Change the context

Don’t just limit yourself to using coloured light bulbs on their own. You can achieve amazing results when combining them with more traditional white lights, to add context and life to a room. This works particularly well when you’re trying to make a dull-looking room really pop. If you have a hallway, bathroom or other area that could best be described as ‘institutional’, replace the central lighting with coloured bulbs, and then use white spotlighting or table-lighting to create smaller, more intimate pools of light.

To break up long expanses of plain coloured wall, use splashes of colour to make the room interesting and break it up a bit, again using brighter spotlighting if you want to create smaller, more cosy feeling areas. At the other end of the scale, make a small room seem larger by shining coloured lights into every corner of the room.

Coloured spotlights

For subtle splashes of colour, spotlight bulbs, available both in halogen GU10 and LED GU10 types for standard spotlight fittings are perfect for adding a delicate flush to surroundings. Spotlights in particular are great for highlighting ornamental items, architectural features and art, as you can pick a shade that will really bring out the colours in whatever you’re illuminating. Best of all, spotlights can be recessed unobtrusively, so you can achieve some startling effects. Mount spotlights in narrow alcoves in an otherwise brightly lit room, for striking red or green features to break up the space. And if you can’t decide what colour you want, just get colour changing bulbs that change colour between red, green and blue.

Festoon finale

Finally, don’t forget those festoon lights. Yes, draping multi-coloured ones all the way round a garden or patio can make it look like a 70s holiday camp, but there are ways to use them strikingly. One of the most effective is to use just a single colour, such as all red or all white. This works particularly well with golf ball or pygmy bulbs, but is effective with coloured GLS bulbs too. Also, don’t just leave them outside.

Stringing up festoons around a living room or dining area can give it a bit of a festival bodega feeling, which works well if you have a basement living area. Don’t feel bound to string them up in the traditional fashion either – a great alternative is to wrap festoon lights around a pillar or beam, something best done with LED bulbs, as they hardly heat up.

If you’re looking for a different type why not take a look at our full range of coloured bulbs.

For more advice, inspiration and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

Charles started Lyco in 1995 with just 4 enthusiastic employees and has grown it considerably over the past 25 years. Charles is also the Managing Director of Lighting Direct and newly acquired Online Lighting. He now has a team of 50 lighting experts working on growing Lyco Group to be the UK leader in lighting for both businesses and homes. Away from the office he is a keen cyclist and is proud to have cycled 1017 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise money for a new residential centre for adults with multiple learning difficulties.

GU10 LED Bulbs – time to upgrade

If you fit a lot of lighting, you’ll know the term ‘retrofit’. It refers to the new wave of bulbs that use the latest energy-saving technologies such as fluorescents and LEDs. They’re designed to look as much as possible like existing incandescent or halogen bulbs, perform as well as them (and ideally better) and most importantly fit into existing fittings, so you don’t have to replace anything in order to benefit from better bulb technology. That in itself wouldn’t be cost efficient.

Becoming popular

Retrofit bulbs for GLS fittings are already widespread, especially in energy-saving stick, spiral and GLS pendant variants, with LED GLS bulbs catching up fast. These of course have the advantage of a great deal of space to play with, as the large existing bulb shape offers enough room for the lighting elements and the circuitry that powers them. Plus they don’t even need to be standard bulb shaped, as GLS fittings are often quite open.

It’s not been quite so easy to directly replace GU10 halogen spotlight bulbs, however. A traditional GU10 is incredibly compact, thanks to the tiny but powerful halogen bulb inside. Because of this, GU10 fittings tend to be flush, especially to ceilings, with absolutely no space to cram in any extra bulk. Manufacturers have been working hard to find a solution to this, as there is a massive market for GU10 bulbs – think of all the fashionable bars, hotels, boardrooms and shops with a ceiling littered with flush spotlights – and they’ve started finding solutions.

LED is an investment

When you take a look at the listing for one of the newer GU10 LED bulbs, the first thing that you might notice is the price, especially if you’ve got a ceiling dotted with fittings you need to fill. So if these bulbs are multiple times the price of a basic halogen GU10, what are you getting for that cash? I hear you ask. Well…

  • Firstly, you’re getting a massive lifespan boost. The average GU10 LED bulb unit will last, depending on the model, between 25,000 to 40,000 hours. That’s up to twenty times longer than a halogen model!
  • As well as offering a massive long-term saving through longevity, an LED unit draws a fraction of the power drawn by the equivalent halogen bulb, so you’ll see your electricity bills plummet rapidly.
  • LED bulbs also give off a lot less heat than a halogen unit, so you’re less likely to see heat-damaged fittings, plus they can be used in situations where heat is an issue.</li

LED technology is improving fast

The sheer variety of LED GU10 bulbs has already eclipsed that of traditional bulbs. As well as current market-leaders in standard warm and cool white shades by Philips, Sylvania and GE, you can now get wide-angle and dimmable units for the first time. Or, if you have specific mood lighting effects in mind, you can not only get coloured bulbs but also ones that change colour according to a pre-programmed pattern. Surprisingly, these latter bulbs are far cheaper than standard LED GU10s, as they use a larger cluster of LEDs to provide the light.

LED GU10 bulbs have now even managed to achieve the same output levels as powerful halogen bulbs, with several 50-watt equivalents, and even a 65-watt equivalent on the market. This means there’s absolutely no reason not to replace power-hungry halogen bulbs with longer-lasting, cooler and cheaper-to-run LED units.

Take a look at our full range of GU10 LED bulbs.

Want to see what other LED light bulb options Lyco has to offer? Take a look at our full range of LED light bulbs.

For more advice, inspiration and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

Charles started Lyco in 1995 with just 4 enthusiastic employees and has grown it considerably over the past 25 years. Charles is also the Managing Director of Lighting Direct and newly acquired Online Lighting. He now has a team of 50 lighting experts working on growing Lyco Group to be the UK leader in lighting for both businesses and homes. Away from the office he is a keen cyclist and is proud to have cycled 1017 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise money for a new residential centre for adults with multiple learning difficulties.

Energy-Saving Light Bulbs – a definition

The light bulb was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in 1879. Back then, the UK population was a significantly less than what it is today, there were no cars on the roads and no planes in the sky. Any overseas holiday was a cruise of sorts.

The world has changed hugely since 1879, and so has the technology that goes into light bulbs. However, traditional incandescent bulbs were only truly usurped as the go-to bulb by energy-saving light bulbs a handful of years ago. This was well overdue, as incandescent bulbs expend over 90 per cent of the energy they suck-up in outputting heat, rather than light.

In an increasingly energy- and environmentally-conscious world, those old bulbs have no real place – and are in the process of being forcefully phased out.

Rules of energy saving

Although there’s no hard and fast rule in terms of the exact savings required by these new light bulbs, compared to the old type, to define them as ‘energy saving’, the two most popular technologies use between 70 per cent and 85 per cent less. And as they last much longer, the savings will be felt in your pocket as well as by the environment.

CFL – the good, the bad & the ugly

The most common type of energy-saving light bulb is the CFL bulb, which stands for compact fluorescent lamp. Oddly enough, the first type of compact fluorescent lighting was developed not that long after the first incandescent bulb – back in 1890 but never made it into bulb form until 1976, some 84 years later.

However, it’s only in the last decade or so that they’ve gained real prominence on the high street. In 2007 when the UK government announced the UK phase-out of incandescent bulbs, the backlash against CFL bulbs said that they produced weak, ugly light that took an age to get up to full power. CFL bulbs were admirable in their aims, but not always so admirable in their performance.

Today, that’s simply not true. Most domestic bulbs are “instant on”, giving near-full power from the moment you flick the switch, and you can pick the colour temperature you’re after. Warm, or with a cool blue-ish tint – whatever you want.

There are many types of CFL bulbs out there. Perhaps the most familiar is the spiral. It’s cheap to buy and as there’s no extra layer beyond the fluorescent tube, its light output efficiency is excellent.

If you’re after something that has a look a little closer to the incandescent bulbs of old, we offer CFL bulbs that emulate both the traditional rounded bulb shape and the more elongated candle type. The latter is particularly strong as a decorative bulb – with a more elegant look than the slightly more efficient spiral shape.

CFL derivatives

There are CFLs that look almost nothing like light bulbs too. 2D bulbs unwind the fluorescent tube of other CFL bulbs to give even better light dispersal. They’re perfect for stair well, wall light or bulk head fittings, where function takes a lead over form.

Most CFL bulbs are designed to fit in exactly the same housings as old incandescent bulbs, but there are also pin-fit bulbs for fittings that incorporate everything but the bulb itself. The benefit of these bulbs is that they’re cheaper to produce – and hence cheaper to buy.

LED bulbs – not perfect but getting there

The other main type of energy saving lightbulb is CFL’s competitive and plucky younger brother – the LED bulb.

LEDs work in a completely different way to fluorescent bulbs, but offer comparable levels of energy efficiency. One of the key benefits of LED lights is that they do not contain Mercury, a poisonous substance found in CFL lights.

LED lights also solve one of the lingering problems of CFLs, whose lifespan drops significantly if they are turned on and off frequently. They also often offer better lifespan in general – LED lamps can last for up to 30,000 hours where some CFLs are only rated at 8,000 hours. However, this remains light years – or at least light days – ahead of incandescent bulbs.

The downsides of LED bulbs include that they’re generally significantly more expensive than the CFL type, and while they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, they’re not always available in as high-power variants as CFL. For example, you won’t find a 60W-equivalent LED candle bulb… yet.

Halogen – a low energy alternative

There’s a third type of energy saving bulb too. CFL and LED are the kings of energy saving, but we can’t forget humble halogen. We offer energy saving halogen bulbs, which don’t contain harmful mercury and generally cost peanuts compared to CFL of LED bulbs. However, they remain much less energy-efficient.

The savings speak for themselves

Forgetting their life-spans for a minute, the clearest way to work out the energy efficiency of a bulb is to calculate its lumens per watt rating. A lumen is a standard unit of brightness. CFL and LED bulbs work out at around 50-70 lumens per watt.  Halogen bulbs can manage around 20, while old incandescents will struggle to reach 15 lumens per watt.

Over the space of a year, the energy benefits of using CFL and LED lights is obvious – especially as they tend to last 5-10 times as long. Consumer body ‘Which’ has calculated that a single energy-efficient bulb will save you over £30 on your power bill over five years, and their calculation didn’t factor-in rising energy prices or inflation.

As incandescent bulbs continue to be phased out across the world, we’re only likely to see improvements in today’s energy-saving bulb technologies. What we should all be looking forward to is improvements in LED lights that’ll see prices of LED bulbs start to tumble. For now, why not check out our huge selection of energy saving LED bulbs?

Take a look at our full range of energy saving light bulbs.

Alternatively, if you are looking for more inspiration, advice and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

Charles started Lyco in 1995 with just 4 enthusiastic employees and has grown it considerably over the past 25 years. Charles is also the Managing Director of Lighting Direct and newly acquired Online Lighting. He now has a team of 50 lighting experts working on growing Lyco Group to be the UK leader in lighting for both businesses and homes. Away from the office he is a keen cyclist and is proud to have cycled 1017 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise money for a new residential centre for adults with multiple learning difficulties.

Wattage comparison – Goodbye Watts – Hello Lumens

Not so very long ago, when incandescent bulbs ruled the roost, choosing the right light bulb based on brightness was incredibly simple, as it was all done in watts. And what’s a watt? Well it’s a measure of energy transfer (named after James Watt, the pioneer of steam engines), but that was always irrelevant. For years, everyone knew that 60 watts meant standard room lighting, 40 watts was a bit dingy, 100 watts was nice and bright for kitchens and bathrooms, and anything brighter than that was best left for surgeons and interrogators.

Getting rid of confusion

Everything’s changed now though, with the decline of incandescent bulbs and the rise of energy-saving and LED bulbs. All of a sudden, the wattage has changed drastically while the brightness has stayed the same, leading to a good deal of confusion. When energy-saving bulbs were first introduced, manufacturers initially dealt with this by printing the wattage the bulb was equivalent to on the packaging, e.g. ‘11w – 60w equivalent’. You can find a table of the more common equivalents at the bottom of the page, which is a reasonably good guide to the likely brightness level of your bulbs (not all energy-saving bulbs give off quite the same light, but then neither did incandescents). However this isn’t the whole story.

While it’s easy to make a rough comparison between incandescent and energy-saving bulbs, lighting is not just about these two types of bulb any more. There are also now various different types of LED bulb, not to mention halogen bulbs, and assorted tubes, so it’s virtually impossible to find a measure of energy that can be applied to all bulbs and still mean anything to the layman. Which is where lumens (lm) come in.

What is a lumen?

A lumen is a measure of the light given off by any light source that can be perceived by the human eye (i.e. not including the invisible wavelengths). Lumens basically cuts out any measurement of how much energy it takes to produce a given amount of light, and just measures the light given off. This is like your car’s speedometer measuring how fast you’re going, rather than the amount of energy it takes to get you to that speed, and is a far more sensible way of defining light levels.

You’ll need to get used to Lumens too, as EU legislation now states that the lumen value of a particular bulb must be printed most prominently on packaging. It’s not hard to see watts and equivalent wattages going the way of pounds, ounces and the dodo in the fullness of time. So how do lumens work then?

Rough equivalents

As a rule of thumb, lumens are very roughly equivalent to the incandescent wattage times ten, plus a little bit, so that a 450lm light source is roughly equivalent to an old 40 watt bulb, while an 800lm light source is similar to a 60 watt bulb. Comparisons for the most common sizes are in the table below.

Get ahead

Due to the huge variety of possible light levels available from new generation energy-saving and LED bulbs, it’s a good idea to get into the habit of thinking in lumens. It’s also a very good idea to buy spares when fitting multiple light sources in the same space, as wattage is now no longer a guarantee that a bulb will be the same level of brightness. Plus because bulbs lasts so much longer now, if one of your bulbs looks wrong, you won’t be stuck with it for months, but maybe for years!

 

Energy-saving bulb Incandescent Bulb Average Lumens
4-7 Watts 25 Watts 300
9-11 Watts 40 Watts 450
13-16 Watts 60 Watts 800
18-20 Watts 75 Watts 1100
22-25 Watts 100 Watts 1500

Need a particular bulb? Try our light bulb finder!

Looking for more inspiration, advice or news? Try our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

Charles started Lyco in 1995 with just 4 enthusiastic employees and has grown it considerably over the past 25 years. Charles is also the Managing Director of Lighting Direct and newly acquired Online Lighting. He now has a team of 50 lighting experts working on growing Lyco Group to be the UK leader in lighting for both businesses and homes. Away from the office he is a keen cyclist and is proud to have cycled 1017 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise money for a new residential centre for adults with multiple learning difficulties.

Energy Saving GLS – Traditional Bulb Replacement

The traditional light bulb that has been such a familiar part of our lives for generations is soon to be no more, replaced by LED GLS Light Bulbs. Before long the incandescent lamp will be just another relic of the past. Already the sale or importation of pearl or frosted bulbs is prohibited throughout the EU although existing stocks can still be sold. Those stocks have already dwindled to the extent that it is now virtually impossible to source such bulbs.

Replacing old friends

It is all in the interest of reducing our carbon footprint by means of energy saving and the new bulbs that have taken the place of our old friends are all energy saving in one form or another. When energy saving GLS light bulbs first appeared in the shops many people were put off first by their appearance which was radically different to what we were all used to and then by apparently inferior performance in terms of light produced for a given wattage.

Things have moved on since then. Manufacturers soon realised that sticks and spirals were not to everyone’s taste so alongside these shapes which so proudly proclaim their up to the minute nature they produced energy saving GLS light bulbs that look quite similar to the more familiar incandescent bulbs. They fit in existing fittings so much better too and perform much more like the old bulbs. Now you don’t have to worry. When the last of your stock of traditional bulbs finally expires you will be able to replace it with a new energy saving lamp such as an LED  GLS from Lyco that will not only use as much as 79% less electricity and save you money that way but will also last at least eight times longer than the old type and save you even more even though it costs more to buy in the first place.

What’s in a name

In case anyone is wondering, the term ‘GLS’ simply stands for ‘General Lighting Service’ and refers to the kind of bulb to be found in any household and ‘Energy Saving GLS’ is the same thing but in an energy saving form. The standard energy saving GLS light bulbs already mentioned work on the same principle as a fluorescent light tube which is why the earlier designs look rather like a small tube doubled over or a group of straight tubes.

You can have energy saving with brighter light by using Energy Saving Halogen GLS bulbs as a direct replacement for your old incandescent bulbs. These work by heating Halogen gas inside them just like your car headlamp bulbs. You get the energy saving of Halogen bulbs, about 30%, at a price much closer to that of the traditional bulbs and you still get twice the life of an incandescent lamp, at 2000 hours. You’re saving money again as well as helping the environment.

Switching problems overcome

Dusk to dawn sensors, time switches and dimmer switches have always been a problem for Energy Saving GLS Light Bulbs but Lyco have the answer in Philips Dimmable Master LED GLS. These bulbs are more expensive again but they come with a 3 year guarantee and give a colossal saving in energy consumption of 80%! LED Energy Saving GLS Light Bulbs work on an entirely different principle to any of the others. They contain a light emitting diode, an electronic device that produces a lot of light for a very small amount of electricity. It is the most efficient method yet discovered of converting electrical energy into light energy.

Do yourself a favour!

For long term savings it would be well worth while for any householder to replace all the old incandescent bulbs in the house with the appropriate Energy Saving GLS Light Bulbs rather than waiting for the old bulbs to go ‘pop’. If you want to do the planet a favour and save money at the same time it’s worth thinking about right now.

Take a look at our full range of LED GLS Bulbs.

Looking for more news, inspiration and advice? Try our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

Charles started Lyco in 1995 with just 4 enthusiastic employees and has grown it considerably over the past 25 years. Charles is also the Managing Director of Lighting Direct and newly acquired Online Lighting. He now has a team of 50 lighting experts working on growing Lyco Group to be the UK leader in lighting for both businesses and homes. Away from the office he is a keen cyclist and is proud to have cycled 1017 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise money for a new residential centre for adults with multiple learning difficulties.