Energy saving light bulbs: To use or not to use
March 28, 2014
By Caitlyn Ng
It is no secret that conventional energy, also known as non-renewable energy (such as fossil fuels and natural gas), is depleted by enormous usage at an alarming rate.
Mankind’s hunger for energy is slowly eating away at Earth’s reserves, where soon, it will cease to exist altogether.
What other options are there for us?
Non-conventional energy, or renewable energy, can be one way to deal with this problem.
It’s where people decide to harness the energy-creating powers that are natural (such as solar, hydro and wind) so that we will be able to continue existing with adequate power supply, without much difficulty.
For the regular Joes and Janes unable to make turbines and dynamos in the home; we can aim for slight modifications which will make all the difference in conserving energy so that it is more beneficial in the long run.
A light bulb is a simple, often overlooked factor in most homes’ total energy consumption.
In order to minimise the dependency of people on lighting up rooms with bulbs that do nothing for the environment, inefficient light bulbs are slowly being replaced with the answer to depleting natural resources: energy saving light bulbs.
Most of these are compact, just as bright and available in a wide range of shapes and sizes, making it incredibly easy to fit any workplace or household so the only difference that people will notice would be the drop in their electricity bill amount.
But what is the difference between the two?
SaveMoney.my takes a look.
Incandescent bulb vs Fluorescent bulb
Did you know that watts does not tell how bright a light will be? Instead, light is measured using a form of units called “lumens”, no matter the type of bulb, where the more lumens the brighter the light.
Hypothetically speaking, a source of light needs to give 680 lumens per watt in order for it to be 100% efficient.
There are 4 types of bulbs in the market; incandescent, halogen, compact fluorescent (CF) and LED.
For the sake of ease of comparison, we shall only be looking at incandescent and CF, the most commonly used types.
The table below shows the amount of brightness in lumens that you can expect from both incandescent and CF bulbs:
As can be seen, a CF bulb is approximately 4 times more efficient than an incandescent bulb, which is why you can buy a 15-watt CF bulb that is able to produce the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb.
In addition, although CF bulbs are initially more expensive, you save money in the long run because they last up to 10 times as long as an incandescent bulb.
The bulb life of a 60-watt incandescent is about 1000 hours whereas a 15-watt CF is about 10,000 hours. However, there is a slight drawback whereby CF bulbs may take a few moments to reach its full brightness whilst incandescent bulbs reach its full brightness instantaneously.
Hence, CF is energy-saving whereas incandescent isn’t as it produces more heat than light and therefore, the heat is just wasted energy. An energy efficient light bulb by definition uses less energy.
For example, a normal light bulb that uses 60 watts for 1000 hours per year (about 3 hours a day) would give you 60kWh of power, which would cost about RM13.08 (based on 21.8 sen per kWh).
On the other hand, with an energy saving light bulb that is a 15 watt CFL (which lasts much longer than the normal one), it would only come up to RM3.27, saving you RM9.81.
And that’s just one bulb!
You could actually be saving far more than that per year with ease, in addition to helping the environment.
A great way to be socially responsible in anyone’s books.
To calculate your electric bills
According to the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (KeTTHA), there is a handy table available to help one calculate the amount of money owed for electricity usage bills as below (with a minimum monthly charge of RM3.00):
Caitlyn Ng is an Investigative Journalist of SaveMoney.my, an online consumer advice portal which aims to help Malaysians save money through smart (and most of the time painless) savings in their daily banking, technology, and lifestyle spending habits.
March 28, 2014
Incandescent and fluorescent bulbs are the most commonly used types. Check out the differences between the two.
By Caitlyn Ng
It is no secret that conventional energy, also known as non-renewable energy (such as fossil fuels and natural gas), is depleted by enormous usage at an alarming rate.
Mankind’s hunger for energy is slowly eating away at Earth’s reserves, where soon, it will cease to exist altogether.
What other options are there for us?
Non-conventional energy, or renewable energy, can be one way to deal with this problem.
It’s where people decide to harness the energy-creating powers that are natural (such as solar, hydro and wind) so that we will be able to continue existing with adequate power supply, without much difficulty.
For the regular Joes and Janes unable to make turbines and dynamos in the home; we can aim for slight modifications which will make all the difference in conserving energy so that it is more beneficial in the long run.
A light bulb is a simple, often overlooked factor in most homes’ total energy consumption.
In order to minimise the dependency of people on lighting up rooms with bulbs that do nothing for the environment, inefficient light bulbs are slowly being replaced with the answer to depleting natural resources: energy saving light bulbs.
Most of these are compact, just as bright and available in a wide range of shapes and sizes, making it incredibly easy to fit any workplace or household so the only difference that people will notice would be the drop in their electricity bill amount.
But what is the difference between the two?
SaveMoney.my takes a look.
Incandescent bulb vs Fluorescent bulb
Did you know that watts does not tell how bright a light will be? Instead, light is measured using a form of units called “lumens”, no matter the type of bulb, where the more lumens the brighter the light.
Hypothetically speaking, a source of light needs to give 680 lumens per watt in order for it to be 100% efficient.
There are 4 types of bulbs in the market; incandescent, halogen, compact fluorescent (CF) and LED.
For the sake of ease of comparison, we shall only be looking at incandescent and CF, the most commonly used types.
The table below shows the amount of brightness in lumens that you can expect from both incandescent and CF bulbs:
| Incandescent Bulbs (watts) | Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (watts) | Lumens (Brightness) |
| 40 | 8 – 12 | 400 – 500 |
| 60 | 13 – 18 | 650 – 900 |
| 75 – 100 | 18 – 22 | 1100 – 1750 |
| 100 | 23 – 30 | 1800+ |
| 150 | 30 – 55 | 2780 |
As can be seen, a CF bulb is approximately 4 times more efficient than an incandescent bulb, which is why you can buy a 15-watt CF bulb that is able to produce the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb.
In addition, although CF bulbs are initially more expensive, you save money in the long run because they last up to 10 times as long as an incandescent bulb.
The bulb life of a 60-watt incandescent is about 1000 hours whereas a 15-watt CF is about 10,000 hours. However, there is a slight drawback whereby CF bulbs may take a few moments to reach its full brightness whilst incandescent bulbs reach its full brightness instantaneously.
Hence, CF is energy-saving whereas incandescent isn’t as it produces more heat than light and therefore, the heat is just wasted energy. An energy efficient light bulb by definition uses less energy.
For example, a normal light bulb that uses 60 watts for 1000 hours per year (about 3 hours a day) would give you 60kWh of power, which would cost about RM13.08 (based on 21.8 sen per kWh).
On the other hand, with an energy saving light bulb that is a 15 watt CFL (which lasts much longer than the normal one), it would only come up to RM3.27, saving you RM9.81.
And that’s just one bulb!
You could actually be saving far more than that per year with ease, in addition to helping the environment.
A great way to be socially responsible in anyone’s books.
To calculate your electric bills
According to the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (KeTTHA), there is a handy table available to help one calculate the amount of money owed for electricity usage bills as below (with a minimum monthly charge of RM3.00):
| Domestic Tariff (kWh) |
2014 Rates (sen/kWh)
|
| For the first 200 kWh (1-200 kWh) per month |
21.8
|
| For the next 100 kWh (201-300 kWh) per month |
33.4
|
| For the next 100 kWh (301-400 kWh) per month |
51.6
|
| For the next 100 kWh (401-500 kWh) per month | |
| For the next 100 kWh (501-600 kWh) per month | |
| For the next 100 kWh (601-700 kWh) per month |
54.6
|
| For the next 100 kWh (701-800 kWh) per month | |
| For the next 100 kWh (801-900 kWh) per month | |
| For the next kWh (901 kWh onwards) per month |
57.1
|
Caitlyn Ng is an Investigative Journalist of SaveMoney.my, an online consumer advice portal which aims to help Malaysians save money through smart (and most of the time painless) savings in their daily banking, technology, and lifestyle spending habits.
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