ENERGY MATTERS

[Tizer]

Thanks everyone for all the information. Mrs Tiz and me sympathise with your missus, Pluggy. We prefer the more subdued yellowish light, although we like a lot of it, nice and bright because we spend a lot of time reading and not much watching TV. When we started trying the early replacements for incandescents we began suffering our own version of SAD and soon sought out the old bulbs again. I'll probably go for the low temp yellows in the lounge but try some white in my den/office/study/computer room. I might have already mentioned elsewhere how the clothes retailers such as M&S put a lot of effort into their shop lighting to make the colours of the garments look right. I once met a colour science expert who helped them solve problems when they had customers bringing back clothes which they'd bought thinking they were green, then got home and found they were blue!

[PanBiker]

I might have already mentioned elsewhere how the clothes retailers such as M&S put a lot of effort into their shop lighting to make the colours of the garments look right. I once met a colour science expert who helped them solve problems when they had customers bringing back clothes which they'd bought thinking they were green, then got home and found they were blue!

Not at M&S but I know the feeling, I bought a black jacket that turned out to be brown. It was definitely black on the rack in the shop.

[Stanley]

I know that Coates Inks went to a lot of trouble in their laboratory to get lighting that rendered colours accurately. I have an idea that 35 years ago they used combinations of fluorescent tubes in three colours.

[Tizer]

A friend bought a suit while on a short visit to Dublin. He thought it would be great to pick up a new brown suit but when he got home he found it was gaudily speckled with a light colour which he hadn't been able to see in the shop!

[Pluggy]

The Philips LED lamps I posted arrived today. I like them, the wife not so much, they aren't "warm white" aka yellow enough. Definitely not cold as LED lighting tends to be, but not very warm. They are the same size and shape as a standard incandescent bulb but much heavier.

[Stanley]

I'm very attracted to the idea of these new bulbs but confused by the different prices from other sources. In terms of light output and warm up time I am totally disillusioned with the common multi tube energy savers, especially with the state of my eyes. Any clues out there for me?

[Pluggy]

The LED lamps don't have a warm up time, they are on instantly at full brightness, The 9.5W (it said 8 when I bought them) Philips warm white are perceptibly brighter than the 15W CFL we had in before. The Philips branded ones are pricier than other breeds. You shop around and see what there is. Cheaper option : http://www.res-lighting.co.uk/product/r ... 00lm-3000k? nominally the same light output ( 600lm ) as the 9.5 W Philips but higher colour temperature (more blue less yellow). Gone are the days when the light output was very closely related to wattage. The LEDs are the same colour temperature on paper as the CFLs I took out but look less yellow in operation.

[Stanley]

I've ordered three to try them out. I'll post an opinion....

[Tizer]

After Mrs Tiz looked at the links in the posts she said "We've got one of them in the box under the stairs. This is a BIG box because it has to house all the many different types of bulbs we are sold nowadays to fit the many different light fittings we are sold (remember when it was all bayonet fittings in the UK and you didn't come home with one and find the fitting was a screw type?). Out it came, a Philips 9.5W/48W soft white, and we experimented with it in a standard lamp, swapping it for the 60W incandescent. Very impressed and I don't know where we got it or why we didn't use it! We'll definitely be buying more but perhaps not for every light fitting we have. Some of our light fittings such as the ones in the lofts are only used rarely and then for a short time and it doesn't seem worth paying so much when an incandescent would do the job. Also there are some places where I think we'd have to buy new multiple light fittings to replace the single 100W ones because we may not be able to get a single LED one that's bright enough.

I know the LED bulbs are no good for use with dimmer switches, but what about timers?

[Stanley]

If I like them I will wait until the inevitable price drop..... High time we cracked lighting, that and ventilation have always been our Achilles Heel.

[Stanley]

The falling oil prices cause chaos in the global economic system. The Market System and Capitalism at its finest. The only good thing about it is that the people who profit most are the hardest hit and they are the ones who support a free market. Lots to be said for managed stable prices..... Like the gas market in Europe, the energy market is broken and is being used as an economic weapon. Meanwhile, the little people lose out.....

[Stanley]

The bulbs arrived yesterday. I put them in the three most important sockets in the house, in the anglepoise over my bench in the shed, at the top of the stairs and in the standard lamp next to my chair in the front room. Big improvement in response and light, they are much better. Will not be getting any more until they come down to a 'normal' price.....

[Tizer]

A good link here for advice on choosing energy-saving bulbs, the Research Institute for Consumer Affairs (Rica).
http://www.rica.org.uk/content/energy-s ... ight-bulbs
You can read the guide on the web pages or download the PDF by clicking the linked graphic on the right-hand side, alongside the Contents listing. There are guides to lot of other consumer items too.

[Stanley]

The bulb at the top of the stairs is a great improvement because of the instant response. Much safer too!

[plaques]

Is it time to review your energy supplier? I think that the recent drop in oil prices are now beginning to work through to the consumer. I've just made a considerable saving by switching from my previous supplier. Try using this comparison site for a quick guide. Energy Link

[Sunray10]

I understand there is a major power cut in Barlick tonight - anyone know what's causing it. The lights are still on in Nelson

[PanBiker]

No power cut with me.

[Sunray10]

I am told the power has come back on now

[David Whipp]

Bottom end of Gisburn Road affected. If you go on NORTHERN POWER GRID website and enter BB18, you can find out about current cuts (Pardon pun!)

[Stanley]

Any idea why our supply is so vulnerable of late David? We have had more bad switches, drop-outs and cuts in the last two years than I can remember before....

[David Whipp]

We met a bevy of power grid managers a few weeks ago; there didn't seem to be any pattern to the faults, which ranged from a swan crashing into overhead lines as far away as Silsden and a builder digging outside a property in town.

They brought along an inventory of their equipment and investment plan; Ken Hartley had a close look at this and there doesn't appear to be a problem with old and failing sub-stations etc.

It's clear that we do suffer from being at the end of the line; more miles of cable for something to go wrong on and longer distances for engineers to come and fix problems.

Keeping a tab on when the faults are happening is part of our quest to answer why they appear to be more frequent nowadays...

[Sunray10]

We don't do too badly with our power supply over here in Nelson and Colne, just one blackout in the Colne area in the last months. One or two little voltage reductions around teatime I notice, especially with this very cold weather. The lady in question called Angela lives at a farm near Barlick; she said the power was of for just over 2 hours. I don't think she has had any problem since. But thanks for the info David, much appreciated.

[Stanley]

An accident of history in some ways. When we first got the mains it originated in Keighley. The big upgrade was a special supply for Rolls (The line is carried on RSJ posts instead of normal pylons. I sometimes think that one possible reason why we get fewer outages in our area than in the town centre is that we are in the same section as Rolls....

[Sunray10]

Yes, almost certainly. Arr yes I wondered why those electricity poles were different and also around Greenberfield, too.

[Stanley]

BG drop gas price 5%. Big deal! The bill will still be too high!