Make your light bulb the right bulb!

Until the introduction of the compact fluorescent bulb in the 1990s, if you wanted a light bulb, then you had no choice in the matter but to buy an incandescent. This, of course, was less of an issue in those days of comparatively cheap, secure energy supplies and a lower general awareness of environmental issues such as global warming.

Nowadays, of course, there are all sorts of different bulbs on the market, each with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. There are three main types of bulb technology currently in use domestically - CFLs, LEDs, and incandescents. Here we discuss the pros and cons of each type so that you can make an informed decision.

The basic design of the incandescent bulb has changed very little since its invention by Thomas Edison in the 19th century. It works by passing electrons through a thin piece of wire until it heats to the point where it glows white hot. This would catch fire if it was exposed to the oxygen in the air, so that is the main reason why it is sealed inside a glass bulb.

These bulbs are still the cheapest to buy, but the fact that they dissipate much of the energy required for the bulb as heat rather than light makes them very inefficient, and costly to run when compared to their modern rivals. Also, they do not last nearly as long, due to the extremes of temperature that the filament is exposed to over time.

Once a boutique product for keen environmentalists, but now a mass market product, the compact fluorescent bulb, often called energy savers, are now almost as cheap to buy as incandescent bulbs, but last a lot longer and use far less energy, due to the fact that they generate a lot less heat than their incandescent equivalents.

Although they require far less in the way of energy than incandescent bulbs, they do contain some quite toxic chemicals, and are more damaging to the environment when they are disposed of, which takes some of the shine off their environmental credentials.

The newest kid on the light bulb block is the Light Emitting Diode(LED) bulb. Although LED technology has been with us for a good while, it is only comparatively recently that the technology has been developed to the point where it has become a viable lighting source.

LEDs are without a doubt the future of the light bulb, as they are a lot more energy efficient and long lasting than the much lauded energy saving CFLs, with none of the toxic by products associated with that technology. They are currently too expensive to be a mass market product, although this is expected to change over the next few years.

At the moment, unless you have the funds to kit your house out with LEDs, CFLs remain the best buy, although you can expect this to change over the coming years.

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