Heatballs!

[pne]

In Germany, it’s been forbidden to sell classical lightbulbs with more than 75 watts; instead, you’re supposed to buy more energy-efficient fluorescent devices.

However, apparently some people are selling Heatballs®… devices which fit into the same screw fittings as lightbulbs but which are (ostensibly) intended as heating devices.

And they’re very efficient at that! They convert about 95% of the electrical energy into heat, which would put them into the energy efficiency class “A”. (Some amount of light is produced as a by-product….)

Comments

[pauamma]

Do you know whether they use the filament power spectrum to measure efficiency, or the spectrum after absorption/reemission by the bulb proper and the enclosed gas?

[green_knight]

For several years I was a very unhappy person because I utterly utterly HATE the light that most of the energy saving lightbulbs are giving off.

However, you can now get energy-efficient lightbulbs - mine's by Phillips - that use a fraction of the energy but which give off traditional lightbulb spectrum. I bought one and it's brilliant - low energy use, plenty of friendly light.

Also, lots of lamps are not designed to withstand heat - all those '60 Watts only' stickers exist for a reason, even if we mostly ignore them.