Energy saving lightbulbs for the kitchen. At last.

Today is a momentous occasion. After 2 months of energy saving light bulb investigation my Dad is finally purchasing some bulbs online that can fit in our kitchen GU10 spotlights. These spotlights are a complete pain. The only bulbs that fit in them, GU10s, don't screw in like normal bayonet or screw-top bulbs. So we can't buy normal energy saving bulbs for them from just any old place. At the moment - and I am HORRIFICALLY ashamed to admit this - most of the bulbs in these kitchen spotlights are halogens. Which is really bad. Because these bulbs consume energy like nobody's business. And they blow after about 2 minutes because they get so ridiculously hot, so you have a pile of used lightbulbs that you then throw away or have to spend hours finding somewhere that will actually recycle them every month or so.

I say most of the bulbs in the kitchen are halogens. There is also one LED bulb, and three CFL bulbs. These are the results of my extensive GU10 investigations which have taken 2 months. Yes. 2 months. (There's also a funny LED bulb in the spare room that has resulted from these investigations but we don't talk about that because it is "cool white" i.e. practically ultraviolet blue and makes us feel a bit queasy.) After weighing up all the pros and cons of these various energy saving GU10 options my parents have finally settled on one of the CFLs. We would have preferred LEDs, which consume even less energy than the CFLs, but they don't come in a high enough wattage yet to give off much light (unless you wanna pay about £20 for a single lightbulb).

So that you don't have to spend 2 months trawling internet sites for energy saving GU10s, I have added some websites to the links section. But if your parents are as fussy as mine it'll take that long just to find one that suits their preferences...
"...must be brighter..."
"...takes too long to brighten up..."
"...the box says 'warm white'! Its not! Its 'cool'! Look, the lights all, not yellowy..."
"...well, if it came in a wattage five times higher..."
"...£17.99 for an LED lightbulb?!! BEFORE VAT?!..."

The one we're going for, FYI, is the "50MM compact flourescent GU10 (8,000 HRS)" in 9 watt and 11 watt, available from http://www.wightlightsupplies.com . It takes a couple of minutes to brighten up when you first switch it on, but the tone of light is quite warm (i.e. yellow) and after a couple of minutes they're very bright. Other ones we tried from wightlightsupplies included:
- a Protronic GU10 which seemed to be similar but the tone of light wasn't as nice and we didn't like the shape so much
- a Megaman GU10 which my Mum didn't like because the light "wasn't yellow enough". But it did brighten up very quickly so if you're not bothered that everyone in the room looks a bit pale...
- an LED GU10, which was fabulous apart from the fact that it was only 1.5 watts (equivalent to about 15 watts) and so looked a bit pathetic. Beautiful, but pathetic. Basically we needed an LED of 5 watts to come near my mother's brightness requirements. And such an LED does exist... on http://www.initiallights.co.uk... but its £17.99. Before VAT.

So in conclusion... if you don't have a small fortune in the bank, CFLs are probably the way to go, and just put up with the fact that they take a couple of minutes to brighten up. By the time they blow in 10 years technology will probably moved on enough for CFLs that light up straight away. (FYI: 7 watts CFL = 30 watts halogen, 9w = 40w and 11w = 50w). If you do have a small fortune well lucky you. Head straight on over to initiallights and load up on gorgeous LEDs.

http://www.naturalcollection.com
http://www.initiallights.co.uk
http://www.BLTdirect.com
http://www.thelightbulb.co.uk
http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com
http://www.lightingworld.co.uk
http://ricamstore.co.uk
http://www.lamps2udirect.co.uk
http://www.netlamps.co.uk
http://www.capcarbon.co.uk
http://www.greenshop.co.uk
http://www.yourwelcome.co.uk
http://www.wightlightsupplies.com