In a couple of years
this will cease to be a problem, seeing as the EU has consigned us all to a life of gloom by insisting that we use these energy saving CFL lamps.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:28, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

This is excellent for teenage emo's who like to spend their life in perpetual gloom and misery

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:30, Reply)

Especially if you use
the cheapo 8 watt ones that are given away free by power companies and newspapers. When you first switch them on you're rewarded with a faint brown glow, which improves over time to something akin to candlelight.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:31, Reply)

Yeah, they are shit
plus they look ugly. Wickes do nice looking bulbs, and they aren't that pricey.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:35, Reply)

They aren't gloomy
just ignore the 11 watts is equivalent to a 60 watt bollocks and buy a 14 watt bulb instead (or whatever the numbers are, I don't know exactly). Job done. I really don't see what people's stupid attachment to horrifically inefficient methods of lighting are. A tungsten bulb is only about 5% efficient, they are better as heating elements than as lights.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:30, Reply)

People are stupid.

(PsychoChomp, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:32, Reply)

You're stupid

(Bazongaloid, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:33, Reply)

I quite agree
But the 25W ones (which give out about as much light as a 100W filament bulb) are rather expensive.

Anyway, I think LEDs are the future of lighting. CFLs should only be a stopgap for the next few years.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:33, Reply)

They do LED equivalents
of the halogen bulbs I have in my living room, which I haven't tried yet, but if they work it'll be excellent, they must use bugger all power.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:34, Reply)

They're still expensive
and they are directional light sources, so they're not ideal for ceiling lights etc at the moment. But once the technological problems of heat dissipation and longevity of large single-die LEDs have been solved, they'll be the dog's bollocks.

Dimmable, available in lots of colours, more efficient than CFLs and they come on instantly.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:36, Reply)

have they made a decent "natural light" looking LED yet?

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:41, Reply)

They're getting there
There are two main ways of making 'white' LEDs.

The first is to combine multiple dies into one device, each emitting a different colour. So you would have a red, green and blue trio in a single enclosure, and by careful selection of the relative outputs of each, to the human eye the output is white light.

The other way is to use an ultraviolet, or at least deep blue, LED, and coat the inside of the enclosure with phosphors which will fluoresce and emit (usually) yellow light. Normally, the phosphor coating is applied sufficiently thinly as to allow some blue light through, so the blue-yellow mixture gives a whitish light.

With both types though, the colour rendering index is poor, due to the single spectral lines which are used, rather than the continuous spectrum of a tungsten filament lamp. This can be improved though by the use of more colours in a multiple-die device, or a range of phosphors in a fluorescent type.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:45, Reply)

I think it was the phosphors approach that I was reading about a little while ago
thanks
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:48, Reply)

Sensible post of the day winner

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:50, Reply)

Dat's interesting
We are looking at LEDs for the office, and have seen ones with differnt white colours.

I think the phosphor variant will be cheaper but the phosphor will probably wear over time, and change colour.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:52, Reply)

Phosphors have improved markedly
due to research into CRT technology (which unfortunately became obsolete around the same time as the technology reached a highly advanced stage!). So they're less likely to change over time as they were say 20 years ago.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:56, Reply)

cheers

( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:58, Reply)

And LEDs are improving every day
For example:

this press release details a new product to be launched this autumn.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:59, Reply)

all
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 14 Apr 2010, 12:37, Reply)