Regular incandescent light bulbs (including halogen lamps) convert considerably less than twenty percent of the energy they use into light. Since they work by literally burning a metal filament, most of the input energy is dissipated as heat. To say that they’re not particularly efficient at performing the very task for which they were designed is therefore understating things somewhat.

If you wanted a diminutive heater then regular light bulbs are quite effective, though of course the heat they generate is usually dissipated somewhere useless like the ceiling and much of the time all they achieve is making the air conditioning work harder. The simple truth is that you are shelling out good money for heat you don’t want and getting very little actual light in return.

What are termed “low energy” or “energy saving” lights have been on the market for a while. Most typically in the form of compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) which even today are still the most common kind of energy saving bulb offered to domestic customers. However, CFLs have hardly been a runaway success, due in the main to factors such as being oversized, taking a long time to attain optimum brightness and their cost. There have been improvements to make CFLs more discrete, attain full brightness quicker, and cost less but there is no escaping their tarnished image or the fact that they contain toxic mercury vapour and are problematic when it comes to disposing of them in an environmentally aware way.

The latest generation of energy saving light bulbs use light emitting diodes (LED). These are massively more energy efficient than present CFLs but until very recently have not been sufficiently bright to replace regular home lighting.

However LED bulbs are now viable as practical alternatives, especially the ones made to replace GU10 or MR16 halogen lamps. If you are thinking about going down this path then you should also know that some white LED bulbs (particularly those labelled “cool” as opposed to “warm” white) may have a slightly bluish tinge, which some people find fairly attractive but which can stand out rather if combined with other types of lighting.

There is no doubt though that far and away the main benefit of LED lights is that they convert nearly all their input electricity into light and lose almost none as heat which quite simply means that they require a great deal less electricity in operation. Approximately ten times less, which represents a massive saving in expenditure because the cost of electric lighting is almost totally due to the operating cost. The price of the actual light bulbs is really quite insignificant by comparison.

LED lights also last about 20 times longer so need replacing far less often. The benefits are obvious then; not only does LED lighting save you the consumer financially, they also aid the environment. The manufacturing process is simpler than for CFL and there are no nasty disposal issues.

The main environmental benefit is of course related to the fact that they consume much less electricity and therefore considerably less electricity has to be produced which also means less CO2 emissions. A win-win situation really.

If you would like to find out more then read this article about replacing halogen with LED.