Tiny CFLs

Compact fluorescent tubes are getting so, er, compact these days that we are finding it possible to replace the last few incandescents in the house, including these tiny ones in our cooker hood. Smart!

The light bulbs flicker at The Mail

The Daily Mail's ferocious attack on the tyrannical march of energy efficient lightbulbs seems to have flickered and died... a search today suggests that the last attack dog article on bulbs was on 10 Jan. And today they're proclaiming a breakthrough in LED technology which will be even greener than "unpopular" CFLs. Blimey!

But in case you think they're going soft, a column today proclaims recycling a waste of time and a con, despite the absence of any evidence to back this up - just based on a quote re incineration from Peter Jones. 77% of readers say recycling is a waste of time in an on-line poll.

For those overseas readers who are familiar with The Mail and it's rabid rants at everything modern or progressive, you can get a flavour from the satirical Daily Mail Headline Generator - my favourite "Can Gypsies Give You Cancer?" If only this was an exaggeration...

Monday Morning Rant

Do you know what really gets my goat?

Apart from all the other stuff?

Smart-arsed, intelligentsia types moaning about maybe just having to change their lightbulbs to help the world stave off global catastrophe as if we're asking them to sacrifice their first born children. Euan Ferguson in yesterday's Observer wrote half a page patronising those who recycle before 'drawing the line' at efficient light bulbs as being dim, low wattage and 'yellow'.

What a Div. If he'd ever used a CFL, he'd know that they're just as bright (the low wattage comes from the efficiency bit Wuan) and, if anything, too white.

But, this is obviously such a compromise to his louche, wild-living-at-the-edge libertarian literary lifestyle, he just won't stand for it. Get a grip. You're a columnist for a Sunday supplement, mate, not Jack fricking Kerouac.

I could go on, but it's recycling day and I need to go and put my box out.

Hotel Toilet Fun (no, it's not what you think, I'm afraid)

I'm writing this in a very funky Leicester hotel room because I'm at the Local Government Association Climate Change Conference.

The bathroom has a dim light that comes on when you go in and automatically switches off when no motion (ahem) is detected, normally when you've left. Brilliant in eco-terms, but if you nip to use the loo, it switches off unless you keep moving.

Toilet dancing - it'll be the next big thing - you heard it here first.

A (mini CFL) Spotlight on Lighting Innovation

I've blogged before on different types of compact fluorescent bulb. Well I finally got my hands on some of these little 7W beauties (left and illuminated in the centre) made by Megaman which replace 40W mini-spots (right). That's less than 18% of the energy if you don't leave them on longer "'cos they're efficient".

What is really amazing (OK, if you're sad like me) is how far the technology has progressed. Only a couple of years ago, compact fluorescents were huge, ugly and ungainly because of the size of the 'ballast' required to light the bulb in the first place. Now the ballast can be squeezed elegantly into the slender neck of the bulb and these smaller bulbs can be replaced like for like.

If only someone could come up with a dim-able energy efficient bulb...

LED there be light!

There's been a lot of hype about the next generation of lighting using white Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) as they're much more efficient than tungsten bulbs and a lot less toxic than fluorescent bulbs.


I got a Cyba-Lite LED/Xenon torch (right) last summer. You use the LEDs for walking around, but if you lose your car keys, you can switch to the powerful Xenon bulb for more oomph. The batteries will last over nine hours on the former, but only one and a half on the latter.

Then Santa got me this great solar-powered LED bike light (left) from The Natural Collection. I was going to wait to see how well the charging works in practice before reviewing this product, but as the light works for 15 hours from a peak charge and it gets plenty of daylight to trickle charge the batteries during the day, I'd be waiting a long time... During the summer, you can use it as a torch or just as a solar charger for two AA or AAA batteries.

While both of these uses are small beer in terms of energy use (and avoiding toxic waste batteries), the really exciting development is domestic LED bulbs. I haven't tried them out yet, but I understand they're still for decorative lighting as they can't match those 50W halogen spotlights just yet...