KEY POINTS:
It may sound like a bright idea, but immediately replacing your entire household's lighting with energy-efficient bulbs may not be as immediately beneficial as some people might think.
While there is little doubt that New Zealand's use of old-style filament bulbs should be relegated to the dark ages,
it seems rapid adoption of the new fluorescent bulbs needs to be treated with caution.
Climate Change Minister David Parker hinted as much this week when he was quizzed about a promise made by his Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull.
In what was touted a "world first", Mr Turnbull promised incandescent lights in his country would be phased out by 2010, to be replaced by energy-efficient alternatives such as compact fluorescent bulbs.
However, Mr Parker took a more reserved approach. He said that while the benefits of fluorescent lights were obvious, "I don't think there will be an immediate ban [on incandescent bulbs]."
The traditional bulbs would not be phased out until energy-saving alternatives were fully usable, he said.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority told the Weekend Herald the issue was "less about a blanket ban and more about raising the efficiency standards to ensure only the most efficient lights are on sale".
Either way, the days of the flickering filament appear numbered.
For the average New Zealand household, replacing about $20 worth of traditional cheap bulbs with about $120 worth of fluorescent bulbs could hurt the budget. It's probably better to burn the old ones off first and gradually replace them over time.
That way householders can wait for better technology to emerge.
Because the market for fluorescent bulbs is still a young one, there is currently little choice on the supermarket shelf.
"There's a different light output with fluorescent compacts," said Craig McWilliam of Wellington firm The Lightbulb Man.
"There's different colours with white compacts. There's a daylight colour, a neutral white, and a warm white. Often we get complaints of a clinical white, which is a bluey white, as opposed to a warm yellow.
"Not a lot of supermarkets stock it [the warmer colour]; they only stock one type so consumers don't get confused."
Demand would drive change, but Mr McWilliam estimated at least half the bulbs in his customers' homes were of the incandescent variety.
"I would say halogen accounts for about 30 per cent and fluorescent up to 20 per cent."
In some instances light fittings, such as those on cooktops, would need to be changed before they could take fluorescent bulbs, so banning old style bulbs outright could present difficulties, he said.
In addition, fluorescents did not work in cooler temperatures, so were of no use in appliances such as fridges, and they also failed to work with light fittings that had a dimmer feature.
Mr McWilliam predicted that in the medium to long term the emergence of the LED (light emitting diode) light could render fluorescent compacts redundant.
"LED is new technology. The bulbs are like you'd see in torches. It emits light that is straight away probably five times more efficient than compact fluorescents."
Incandescent bulbs could last between 1000 and 2500 hours, compact fluorescents 5000 to 15,000 hours, and LEDs 20,000 to 100,000 hours, he said.
However, a 3W LED, which does the job of an 80W bulb, could currently retail at up to $40.
Ecobulb is one of the most popular energy-efficient bulbs on the market in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland, thanks to campaigns launched in conjunction with the Electricity Commission and power companies, which offer specials to consumers.
Ecobulb spokesman Chris Mardon said price and appearance had been the biggest barriers to sales of compact fluorescents. But advances in technology were changing that.
"We've modified the shape and got good bulbs out there now. They were ugly, expensive, and suffered a perception that they were very dim. The old ones took forever to warm up."
His company had sold 2 million bulbs, which equated to a $200 million electricity saving to New Zealanders.
The estimated uptake of fluorescent lights in homes was as many as four million bulbs.
But a total of 30 million bulbs in homes throughout the country left plenty of room for improvement.
Disposing of fluorescent lights was something that needed to be managed, Mr Mardon said.
His company was looking to implement a recycling scheme to avoid the small amount of mercury in each bulb being released into the environment.
Compact fluorescent bulbs should be disposed of in the same way as any hazardous waste.
