Energy Efficient Lighting

Edison and Swan's invention of the domestic electric lightbulb in 1879 (see history link!) was a pivotal moment in history. Yet there is every reason over 125 years later to stop using incandecent filament lamps - they are extraordinarily inefficient!

In fact, over 95% of the energy emitted from a typical filament lamp is heat. This is an incredible waste - it not only costs an unecessary amount of money to run, but the CO₂ emissions from power stations are dreadful. EPCs include lighting efficiency as a key element.

Luckily alternatives exist and are becoming more fashionable. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are now much more compact than they first were, are cheaper (39p in John Lewis!), last up to 10 times longer than most filament lamps and warm up almost instantly.

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