LOW ENERGY LAMPS, ARE THEY ANY GOOD?
Low energy lamps have been around for several years, they do save a lot of energy compared to the old faithful light bulb and therefore they help to reduce emissions, not to mention your electricity bill.
They are available in a lot of shapes to suit light fittings and different wattage outputs. A low energy lamp of 9 watts / 20 watts, gives an output approximately equal to light bulbs of 40 watts and 100 watts respectively which is a big reduction in power usage and they have a much longer lifespan compared to an everyday light bulb, lasting up to six times as long. All the low energy lamps are available to suit different lamp holders, i.e. Bayonet cap (BC), Edison screw (ES), Miniature Edison screw (MES), etc.
For me personally the low energy lamp has a couple of faults, the first is when you switch on the lamp there can sometimes be a slight delay before it comes on, the second is from when the lamp is switched on it can take some time before it reaches its full output, so if you want instant bright light such as in a storeroom they are not, in my opinion suitable unless you don’t mind waiting a short while.
That said they are improving all the time, but I suspect that by the time everyone is happy to use them, LED (Light Emitting Diodes) lamps will be in the shops which use negligible power, and as far as I am aware will last for even longer before a replacement is required. It was thought at one time that they would not be bright enough to be practical, but I believe there are at least two car manufacturers that are fitting LED headlights to there cars so one would think that they would be more than suitable for domestic and commercial use when they become available.