Just a thought on the current trend towards those horrible CFL lightbulbs, with the accompanying flicker and inability to be run with a dimmer switch....

If you were to buy your electricity on a carbon offset or renewable-only tarrif, then the electrcity usage of the bulb is not going to cause more CO2.

However, your gas central heating is burning gas - and letting off CO2.

The extra electricity of an incandescent bulb is coming out as heat - meaning that your heating, controlled by a thermostat, will simply not work as hard to keep the same temperature.

Surely therefore, if you buy your electricity from such a supplier, you are better using incandescent bulbs than CFLs, and even if you dont, then as long as you have thermostaticly controlled heating, the use of CFLs does not reduce your energy use - the heating just works very slightly harder to compensate?

[nvingo]

I guess that in the summer then, when the heating is off, the filament which starts off slightly warm when off will use less energy to raise it to illuminating temperature ?

When talking about fuel>heat conversion, coal/gas/oil are more economic than electricity.

[ad47uk]

Originally Posted by Nemeth782

Just a thought on the current trend towards those horrible CFL lightbulbs, with the accompanying flicker and inability to be run with a dimmer switch....

If you were to buy your electricity on a carbon offset or renewable-only tarrif, then the electrcity usage of the bulb is not going to cause more CO2.

However, your gas central heating is burning gas - and letting off CO2.

The extra electricity of an incandescent bulb is coming out as heat - meaning that your heating, controlled by a thermostat, will simply not work as hard to keep the same temperature.

Surely therefore, if you buy your electricity from such a supplier, you are better using incandescent bulbs than CFLs, and even if you dont, then as long as you have thermostaticly controlled heating, the use of CFLs does not reduce your energy use - the heating just works very slightly harder to compensate?

Not sure about the renewable only tarrif, still think they are a bit of a con anyway. but I don't think the heat of a light bulb is going to make much difference to a central heating thermostat, anyway mostly the main thermostat is in the hall, where the light is only use now and again.


going by your idea, my Pasma T.v should make a difference to my heating bills because I would not have to have the central heating on so high.

Can't see it working myself