All 5,265 council properties in Stroud District are being given this month six bulbs while tenants at smaller sheltered housing units will each receive four bulbs.Photo: above me delivering 240 light bulbs in Matthews Way and below - getting ready in the Maypole Hall: volunteers Ron, Pam Thorne and Jane Cant.
Today I've volunteered to deliver the bulbs - well only 240 in Matthews Way area. Their are only a handful of Council properties in Randwick and Ruscombe with some 30 plus in Whiteshill. Delivery was already planned for that so I got part of the Matthews Way area in Paganhill - an area I know well as my partners daughter lived there until last week.
Stroud District is apparently the first council anywhere to run a scheme like this: it is estimated that households can save up to £55 a year by fitting energy saver bulbs - and they last up to 10 times longer. The figures suggest that changing just one ordinary light bulb to an energy efficient alternative can save a typical house £9 per year - which when multiplied across the UK's 26 million households would add up to a massive £312 million saving.I have to say I have some doubts about those figures but nevertheless it is an important step in not only raising awareness around climate change but also hopefully making a move to tackle fuel poverty.
Powergen has provided the bulbs as part of its responsibilities to increase energy efficiency. In other areas there have also been innovative schemes - one I have been trying to get Stroud interested in is the ground-breaking free insulation (cavity wall and loft) to over 30,000 homes in Kirklees. This £14million scheme was initiated by the Green party and will ensure that many households across Kirklees receive around £400 worth of insulation measures free of charge!!
More info re Kirklees: The scheme will see £6million of Kirklees funding matched by a similar amount from Scottish Power under their Energy Efficiency Commitment monies. Households benefitting from the scheme will see their fuel bills reduce by an average £150 following installation of the measures at a time of high fuel prices and growing concern about greenhouse gas emissions. In total it is expected that at least £4.5 million will go back into the local economy each year rather than into the coffers of energy companies. This scheme has national significance. In addition to huge carbon savings it will achieve, it is the first scheme in the country that gives free insulation to residents whatever their circumstances.
Photos: above a car full of light bulbs and below Pam Thorne, the local Village Agent who helped delivery in the area.This month our district council also launches a new Tenants Energy Network (TEN). This group of volunteer tenants will help others make the best use of energy, keep fuel bills down, maintain a comfortable temperature in the home and reduce condensation. TEN has produced an information leaflet on saving energy, which we were handing out today with the light bulbs.
The free bulbs made the front page of the SNJ a couple of weeks ago: interestingly it was a group of Tory councillors photographed rather than getting a cross-party group with those of us who volunteered to help - and in my case in a Tory ward! Ah well that sounds like sour grapes but I do get fed up with how so much of what we do gets politicised - and good on the Council for this initiative which like the insulation scheme makes sense in terms of immediate financial gains and emissions cuts.Next week I'm meeting some of the officers to discuss further how the Environment strategy is being implemented and where there is room to push harder: the steps we are taking are still tiny compared to what is needed but it it is a start - and a good one.
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Bright lights
Still not convinced by the performance of eco light blubs? Matt Prescott founder of the Ban the Bulb campaign, puts the latest models to the test
* The Guardian
* Thursday August 2 2007
Blame the 1970s. One of the problems holding back the uptake of energy-saving light bulbs has been that many people have still not forgotten the poor-quality versions they used then. But today, with lighting now using approximately 10% of the UK's electricity supplies, energy prices rocketing upwards, and a generally increased concern about the effects of climate change, many people say they are now prepared to give energy-efficient bulbs a second chance - provided that their performance has improved. So I put some compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) to the test.
Although not perfect, the good news is that energy-saving bulbs have improved considerably, even over the past couple of years. They might not work properly with dimmers yet, but they are generally smaller, brighter and softer on the eye than they used to be. Because they work by making a phosphorous coating glow rather than by heating a filament, energy-saving light bulbs use 60% less electricity to make the same amount of light as an equivalent incandescent. This saves about £9 worth of electricity per bulb per year; or put another way, they last 6-15 times longer than the 1,000 hours of a traditional bulb and offer the UK a quick and simple way of cutting CO² emissions by 2-3m tonnes each year.
Despite these advantages, energy-saving bulbs are a lot more variable in their performance than we have come to expect from incandescents, and each make and retailer offers quite a different product. For example, it is possible to buy traditional globe-, spiral- and stick-shaped bulbs of varying size, cheap and cheerful CFLs from China, or relatively sophisticated CFLs from the major western brands, which incorporate many of the latest patents. For this review, I have stuck to a basic range of 100W- and 60W-equivalent CFLs.
My personal assessments are based on how well each light bulb worked in the same room, straight out of the box, and how happy I would have been to continue using each bulb in my own home. I have not been able to verify the life-expectancy claims for each one, as this is said to range from 6,000 to 15,000 hours (you can only watch a light bulb for so long), but I have mentioned the manufacturers' claims.
In most cases, the information available on the packaging was close to useless and took plenty of very determined reading to yield anything useful. None of the labels explained, in plain English, the amount of mercury in the bulb, how to dispose of it safely once used, its financial, carbon and energy savings, or the spectrum of light produced. Given that these are the first things people always ask me when seeking advice about what bulb to use, it's a shame this isn't standardised on all packaging.
The presence of mercury is something I am frequently asked about. A small amount is still needed in order to make all compact fluorescent lamps work, although the amount has steadily declined and is now about 50% less than used to be the norm even a couple of years ago, at approximately 4 milligrammes per bulb. The fact that it is still used is regrettable yet unavoidable at present, but the average quantity is three times less than the mercury released into the atmosphere by burning the extra coal need to power equivalent incandescent bulbs. As the mercury is contained within a sealed glass container it should be a relatively straightforward matter to recycle it safely. The EU's restriction of hazardous substances directive came into effect on July 1 2006 and provides a framework for how such recycling could be done, but is not yet law. To date, Ikea is the only company I know of that recycles all the CFLs returned to it and I hope it will not be long before all retailers follow suit in this important area.
And the results are ...
Following my test, I found that I preferred the performance of the traditional-style CFLs. They all produced a high level and quality of light within 1-3 seconds and produced an even light quality in all directions. The light intensities were good in all cases, and they all illuminated my test room more effectively than the stick bulbs, which cast light spots and shaded areas on the walls. The traditional-style designs from Philips offered the best performance. They warmed up to a bright light almost instantaneously and provided a very good even light around the entire room. The 100W-equivalent Philips bulb was more than capable of lighting a large room on its own. The traditonal-style bulb from Tesco also performed well against all of the test criteria and was very cheap at only 81p even though the life expectancy was relatively short at 6,000 hours.
· Dr Matt Prescott is director of the Ban the Bulb campaign (banthebulb.org).
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