Search all WA Government Sites Print this page	There are three main types of household lamps or lights to choose from - incandescent, halogen and fluorescent. These lights are suitable for different rooms and uses in your home. Incandescent lamps Incandescent lamps or bulbs are the most commonly used light globes. While they are cheap to buy, they are relatively short lived (around 1000 hours) and extremely inefficient in their use of electricity. Only about 5 to 20 percent of the energy consumed by the light bulb is converted to light, the rest is converted to heat. Dimmer switches can be used with incandescent lamps to save energy. However, when an incandescent lamp is dimmed down to one quarter of its normal light output, it still uses half the normal energy. If the light is consistently dimmed, a lower wattage globe is more economical. Because of their high energy use, incandescent bulbs are best used in areas of your home where light is used for short periods of time, such as walk-in cupboards, toilets and bathrooms. Halogen lamps Halogen lamps are a variation on standard incandescent bulbs. Although more expensive than standard lamps, they are a little more energy efficient, emit a brighter and a whiter light. Halogen lamps tend to focus the light and are best used in task lighting, such as over a cooking area or for highlighting features such as artwork and architectural design. Due to the focussing effect of halogen lamps, they are not particularly suitable for general areas such as living rooms. This is because multiple lamps would be required to provide an even distribution of light. Take an example of a small living area. To adequately light this space you may require a single 75 watt (W) incandescent globe. To provide general lighting, around three to four halogen lamps may be required (150 -200W). In this case it would be more economical to use a single incandescent lamp or even better, a fluorescent lamp. Halogens can generate significant amounts of heat and are often recessed and vented into the ceiling to prevent overheating (see section on light fittings for further information on recessing). Most halogens are low voltage and require a transformer. However, 'low voltage' does not simply equate to low energy consumption. The transformer is used to reduce the voltage (not wattage) to a level suitable for a halogen globe. Dimmers are recommended with halogen lamps as you may not always require strong lighting. Fluorescent lamps Fluorescent lamps produce minimal heat, are much more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs and generally last around 8000 hours. They are made up of two main parts - a lamp and a starter. The lamp has a special phosphor coating on the inside surface of the glass casing which gives off a visible glow when bombarded with ultraviolet light. The ultraviolet light is created by passing electricity through a gas contained in the lamp. The starter is required to convert household electricity to the voltage required to power the fluorescent lamp. Modern fluorescent lamps come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colour tones. They need only about a quarter of the energy of standard incandescent bulbs and half the energy of halogens to produce the same amount of light. They are most suited to areas where lighting is required for long periods of time since they take about half a second to start and a minute or two to reach their full brightness. Frequent on/off switching can reduce their lifespan. However, if you leave a room for more than 10 minutes you should turn fluorescents lamps off. There is a misconception that fluorescent lamps use a significant amount of electrical energy while the lamp is starting up. This is not correct - switching on and off fluorescent lamps does not waste energy. Most household fluorescent lamps cannot be used with dimmer switches. There are two types of fluorescent lamps - compact and tubular. Compact fluorescent lamps are designed to fit into a standard light fitting and are available in a range of sizes and styles. Compact fluorescents can be used anywhere in the home. Whilst they are more expensive to buy than standard globes, they will save you money in the long term. In the past compact fluorescent lamps were thought to give off a cold-looking glow which put some people off using them in their homes. There are now a variety of fluorescents to choose from, including lamps which cast a warm glow. When switching on, a slight time delay can occur before compact fluorescents reach full light output. Tubular fluorescent lamps can be straight or circular and are widely used in kitchen areas and workshops. For further information on lighting, see the Lighting brochure (PDF 198 KB).   The right light for the job Where general lighting is required for long periods of time, the most efficient options are tubular fluorescents or compact fluorescents where tubular types are not practical. For rooms where lights are used for short amounts of time such as bathrooms and toilets, incandescent lamps are recommended. Halogen lamps are most suitable for task lighting, i.e. lighting of artwork, benchtops, etc.   To access Adobe Acrobat Reader for the PDFs provided on this site: www.adobe.com.au
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