Death of the Halogen Globe

[Julie-Ann]

Imagine a home with no halogen lights. This is a real possibility within the next 18 months.
In May 2010 the federal government is changing the building regulations to create six-star energy rated homes. One of the proposed regulations is that new homes will only be allowed to have a maximum allowance of 5 – 6 watts of light per square metre.
So my family room of 3.5 x 4 metres will only be allowed 70 – 84 watts of light. Currently this space has 4 x 50 watt halogen lights, which totals 200 watts of light:eek:.
After gasping for air when reading this I raced to one of my favourite light shops in Perth (Ideal Lighting in High Road, Willetton) to ask what alternatives are there. At the moment the best alternative is a 35 watt High Lumen bulb. So 4 x 35 watts will be 140 watts, still almost double of the new allowances. Scary.
They are either going to have develop even more energy saving light bulbs or we are all going to have to get used to our homes having less overall lighting. I would hate to do this calculation with all the lighting of various sorts that I have in my kitchen. One solution for some rooms will be to use more lamps for task lighting.
And if those of us who have already built think we won’t be affected by the new regulations I have bad news. The new regulations are proposing that from May 2011 when you sell your home you will have to disclose the energy usage of your home. So a higher energy house like ours that is full of gorgeous energy hungry halogens will receive a lower resale value:eek:.
Now that I have terrified you all I will tell you I bought one of these 35 watt globes and it is just as bright instantly as my greedy little 50 watt globes.
When the regulations are released I will give you all the details.


http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab86/jamhind/35wattglobe.jpg


Sorry about the upside down box:D, I couldn't reshoot the picture because the box was in the bin and the globe is in the ceiling.

[Lanne]

Julie it should be easily solved with energy saving bulbs (the intention i thought). I have 11w bulbs kicking out the usual 60watts..

my 4 x 11 would give you the same, but for 44 not 200?

Unless I totally missed the math?

Lanne

[Julie-Ann]

Lanne showed me on Twitter this morning the 11watt bulbs. The good news they are low energy and from Ikea. The bad news they are for a screw in fitting.
I had a look on the Ikea site to see if they had any low energy bulbs that would fit into an existing halogen fitting or even a new downlight fitting. I couldn't see anything on the website but if anyone is at Ikea soon have a look for us.:)
You would think there must be a way to get the same amount of light using only 5-6 watts per square metre or why would the government choose that number. But my lighting shop and I haven't seen anything that can do that and be a downlight. And from a design point of view so many people like having downlights as it spreads the light around the room so well, whilst being so inconspicuous.
The search continues....


.

[Lanne]

IKea (and coles/woolworths for that matter) have the screw in and twist in low watt ones...

No idea about halogen tho. We swapped to the low watt a few years ago.. and noticed instant savings in our powerbill.

I am in need of a new bulb for the studio (we have special ones) and will be contacting lighting retailers this week. I will ask and report back to design HQ :)

[Julie-Ann]

Design HQ - love it Lanne roflmao
(for those who don't have a teenager to translate that means "rolling on floor laughing my ass off") Mr16 taught me that.

[Julie-Ann]

An update on the halogen globe saga:D.
Yesterday I visited Beacon in Myaree and a lovely lady named Alison and I discussed the situation.
Apart from simply replacing your 50W halogen globes with 35W low energy halogen globes there are 2 other alternatives. Both however require you to hire an electrician as they involve replacing your 12V halogens with 240V lights.
The first and currently the best alternative is to install fluorescent downlights. You will need to a new lampholder assembly for $4.95 each. Also you will need the globes which come in warm or cool light, and in 9W (equivalent to 35-40W) or 11W (equivalent to 45-50W). The globes range from $19.95 - $24.95. So even with the cost of the electrician to install them it is a reasonable price and an enormous saving on energy. Of course the problem with fluorescent globes is they take a little while to warm up but a good quality one should be at full brightness within a couple of minutes.
The second alternative is LED lights. Alison felt this technology will be the way of the future but it isn't so practical yet. There are two major problems with LED downlights. Firstly the area the light spreads over, that is the angle of the light, is commonly only a 15 degrees beam angle. There are 60 degrees beam angle globes but that brings us to the second problem - cost. A 60 degree LED light fitting is $189 each and must be installed by an electrician:eek:. They are working on widening the beam angle and lowering the cost but for the moment the fluorescent is the better option.
Will you look at replacing your halogens?

[EnergySaver]

Julie-Ann,

VIBE Lighting have just realeased a 7w LED MR16 style lamp that is a direct replacement for most halogen MR16 type lamps. It is available in both warm white and natural white and comes in a 100% dimmable style. The initial cost of the lamp is fa outweighed by the savings you could be making on both the environment and your lighting bill is huge. Because they are a direct replacement, in most cases you can do it at home yourself without the use of an electrician.

VIBE Lighting products are available from http://www.anllighting.com.au