Letter: Dim view of new bulbs

Thursday 10th September 2009, 7:53AM BST.

switch-to-energy-saving-bulbs.jpgLetter: With the ban on filament bulbs, perhaps I might be permitted to re-ignite the debate, and throw some fresh light on the subject?

Having tried the energy saving bulbs, as well as the alternative LED ones, I can say that both are vastly inferior to the old tried and tested type, giving a poor, flickering light that rapidly causes eye strain.

I now read that energy savings can only be made where the new bulbs are switched on 24 hours a day, and if turned on and off, as you normally do to save electricity with most appliances, the low energy bulbs consume as much current as the old ones did, if not more.

The comparison of old and new bulbs is rather like being told that we must now eat lard on bread instead of butter, despite it being horrid tasting, in order to reduce the number of cows kept giving off methane — another greenhouse gas!

As for the hidden agenda behind the new bulbs, I think we need to look no further than the metal lobby that desperately needs new markets for its mercury, now that the use of this deadly substance is banned in thermometers and pesticides.

W F Kerswell

Picklescott



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