Halogen, energy-saving lamp, LED - a buying guide

We have researched for you which lamps really fall under the term energy-saving lamp and whether it is worth buying halogen lamps and LED lamps.

Halogen, energy-saving lamp, LED - a clarification of terms

According to EC regulation 244/2009, which has been in force since September 2010, a lamp can only be called an energy-saving lamp if it uses at least 70 percent less watt than a standard incandescent lamp.

• Halogen lamps are basically only advanced incandescent lamps, which generally use 30 percent less energy than conventional incandescent lamps, but are by definition far from an energy-saving lamp.
• Compact fluorescent lamps with built-in ballasts are the lamps that are generally referred to as energy-saving lamps and which many only know by this name. That is not entirely correct, but since most compact fluorescent lamps generally use around 80 percent less energy than the ordinary incandescent lamp, the name is usually not wrong either.
• The LEDs, which, incidentally, were not invented in recent years but, on the contrary, whose history began over a hundred years ago, saw their breakthrough in the early 1950s. They have been and continue to be developed so that they are already celebrated as the light source of the future. However, not all LEDs that you can find in stores are classified as energy-saving lamps.

Halogen lamps and compact fluorescent lamps - soon discontinued?

• Since the energy hunger for halogen lamps is still relatively high, so that they are not even allowed to bear the "energy-saving lamp" label, it is not really worth buying.
• Compact fluorescent lamps have developed enormously over time, saving a lot of energy and thus costs over the course of their lifetime, which is also many times higher than that of the incandescent lamp.
• In addition, they are now available in all possible brightness tones and even some dimmable models are on the market.
• Apart from that, compact fluorescent lamps can now also be obtained relatively cheaply.
• The only thing that really speaks against the compact fluorescent lamps is their mercury content, which can cause health problems if the lamp is destroyed. Apart from that, they damage the environment if not properly disposed of. For this reason, compact fluorescent lamps are also subject to hazardous waste.

The light emitting diode - a bright future?

• LEDs do not contain dangerous substances such as mercury, which gives them a considerable advantage over compact fluorescent lamps.
• However, they are not entirely without health risks either. Due to their very high light intensity (depending on the LED), looking into the light source for too long can damage the retina. This should be observed especially with small children and pets.
• Unfortunately, LEDs are not cheap, but they have a long life expectancy and use extremely little energy, which is even better than the compact fluorescent lamps. However, this does not apply to all LEDs. You should therefore pay particular attention to this when buying.
• The new efficiency label for lamps, which goes from A ++ to F and is valid for all lamps that will be on sale from September 2013, is helpful.

You can recognize the brightness of energy-saving lamps by the lumen specification. The good old wattage has had its day. Another important factor when purchasing the new light source is the Kelvin number, which you can use to identify the so-called color temperature of an energy-saving lamp.