12 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2009, DELHI BUSINESS OF www.livemint.

com WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2009,DELHI 13

LZFE
mint TOMORROW in BUSINESS OF LIFE
THE FUTURE IS
GADGETS
LIVING
BRT WOES
Beyond the debate on the bus rapid
LITTLE ROOMS
Hotels are matching
NOT SO BRIGHT
transit, or BRT, system in Delhi lies slim travel budgets
the issue of integrating the with cabins inspired For all their energy efficiency and
different modes of transport by trains and planes longevity, consumers are facing a
number of problems with CFLs

I t sounds like such a simple thing to do: Buy some new

light bulbs, screw them in, save the planet. But a lot of
people are finding the new compact fluorescent light
bulbs anything but simple.
Consumers who are using them for the first time say
they sometimes fail to work or wear out early. Irritation
seems to be mounting as more consumers try CFLs and

SHOULD YOU
vociferous complaints are posted on the Internet, signs
A high price tag

E
ven in the 21st century,
the 19th century’s light
bulb has yet to touch
the lives of several mil-
lion people in some vil-
lages in India. In European Un-
ion (EU) countries, however, this
son is with the incandescent
light bulb. You can well imagine
how dramatically energy-effi-
cient LED lighting must be—and
the direct savings in your elec-
tricity bill month after month.
Cut your monthly bill
broken mercury thermometer at
home. Fortunately, LEDs are
much more environment-friend-
ly and easier to dispose of.
Light and easy style
Expect the impact of LEDs on life-
that the bulbs are found lacking.
For all its goodness, lo- Bulb manufacturers and promoters say the overall
cal Indian retail has quality of today’s compact fluorescents is high. But they
hardly stocked up on also concede that it is difficult to prevent some problem
LEDs so far. Attribute this bulbs from slipping through. Experts say the quality
to the rather steep price. problems are being compounded by poor instructions.
Some bulbs can cost be- Using the bulbs incorrectly, such as by screwing low-

SWITCH TO LEDs?
ordinary light bulb will progres-
sively be banned from retail
shelves from September. A new
EU directive aims to cut the CO2
emissions that contribute to the
greenhouse effect and focus
more on energy-conscious living
by banning the incandescent
light bulb.
CFL unscrewed
Chic, energy-efficient and high-tech LED-based Surprisingly though it may seem,
bulbs and lighting are gaining popularity. Expect the the compact fluorescent light, or
CFL, increasingly used in homes
transition to gain momentum in the next few and buildings across Indian cit-
ies and towns is not the answer
months in India. By NIYAM BHUSHAN either. Indeed, expect the swish
and the techno-chic to unscrew
those sometimes awkward-look-
ing CFLs and replace them with
the latest in lighting: light-emit-
ting diodes, or LEDs.
Here’s why. LED lighting gives
you significantly more light for
every watt of electricity than
CFLs. In turn, that’s what is said
about CFLs when the compari-
SYLVANIA LED COLOR-CHANGING NIGHT LIGHT
Unlike most night lights that need to be plugged into a wall socket, this
large spherical ball of light runs on button-cell batteries and switches
on with a mere press of the ball. It can display up to eight static colours
or automatically transition between them.
Price: $6.99
From: online at smarthome.com. Also check local stores.
C CRANE GEOBULB PHILIPS LIVINGCOLORS
At 7.5 watts, this direct replacement bulb gives Four types of LEDs within this distinctive-looking lamp offer you a
as much light as an ordinary 60-watt bulb and
comes in three colours.
rich palette of 16.8 million colours in which to bathe your room
interiors. A sleek remote control allows you to dynamically change
Price: $119.95 colour and saturation to capture the mood you want.
From: online shopping at www.ccrane.com Price: £119.99, with an estimated street price of £79.00
From: Amazon.co.uk
GET LISTEN
CONNECT
For example, an incandescent
light bulb with a 60-watt rating
can be replaced with a CFL of
13-15 watts, reducing your bill to
one-fourth the original amount.
Yet an LED of just 6-8 watts will
give you the same amount of light
and reduce your bill to one-tenth.
Keep these figures in mind as
India, with its significantly larger
population, moves into yet an-
other summer with power de-
mand exceeding supply.
Long lasting
The average light bulb has a life-
span of around 1,000-1,200
hours. A CFL may have a life-
span of about 2,500-8,000 hours
but an LED lamp shines on for
around 30,000-50,000 hours.
CFLs actually contain mercury,
which is highly toxic both for
your health and the environ-
ment. Disposing of a CFL re-
quires the same caution as a
PHAROX 40 WATT LED LIGHT BULB
REPLACEMENT
This bulb is 90% more efficient than a traditional one and
produces a claimed 230 lumens of light. It operates with
universal power supply from 120V to 230V.
Price: $32.95
From: online at www.eaglelight.com
PRINT
style and culture to be a lot more
dramatic. First, LED home light-
ing comes in an immense variety
of shapes and sizes, and has
enough variety to fit into any
standard of bulb-holder or sock-
et—from bayonet or screw-in
bulb-holders to halogen-fit sock-
ets and beyond. Second, it ema-
nates a cooler and softer glow
that is aesthetically pleasing.
Some of the most exotic models
can be tuned to change their col-
ours and tones at the touch of a
button. Imagine being able to
change the mood and ambience
of a room at your whim. Last
week, I picked a specific LED
bulb that looked like an ordinary
light bulb and hurled it to the
floor, much to the shock of pas-
sers-by. They were even more
startled to see it just bounce
around without breaking—and
when I picked it up and reinsert-
ed it into a bulb-holder, it
seemed to glow with amusement.
tween Rs500-4,000 each. end bulbs into fixtures where heat is prone to build up,
You might find cheap and can greatly shorten their lives.
unbranded Chinese imports Consumers should be able to protect themselves by
selling from a starting point of buying bulbs certified by the government. But experts
Rs90. I bought one but found its and some environmental groups complain that stand-
quality rather disappointing and ards are weak, permitting low-quality bulbs with too
its light a dim bluish glow. Some high a level of mercury, a toxic metal contained in all
upmarket home stores located compact fluorescents.
in snazzy malls do sell a scant “The standard essentially establishes a floor which
few models of LED bulbs from sorts out the junk, with the expectation that the rest is
popular home-lighting brands, good,” says Michael Siminovitch, director of a lighting
but expect each unit to sell from centre at the University of California, Davis. “It’s not.”
Rs350-425 and beyond. The on-
line shopping world, in contrast,
The government, which will begin enforcing tighter
specifications this year, says it must seek a balance
is abuzz with the excitement and
abundant variety of LED bulbs.
between quality and affordability to achieve its goal
of getting millions of additional consumers to install
However, be careful while or-
dering online—most bulbs ship
the bulbs.
The truth is, light bulbs are getting a lot more com-
for 120V, while India is stand- plicated. In a guide they
ardized on 220V. wrote, lighting experts at
the Rensselaer Polytech-
nic Institute, New York,
declared that compact
fluorescent bulbs require
“a little insight and plan-
Write to us at ning”. That may be an
businessoflife@livemint.com understatement. While
research suggests that
compact fluorescent tech-
nology has improved over
the last decade, the bulbs
PHILIPS IMAGEO LED RECHARGEABLE do not replicate the per-
CANDLE LIGHTS formance of incandes-
cents, the light bulbs to
It mimics the look of a candle in a glass, and you may be forgiven for which most consumers
mistaking it for the real thing. A base station charges a set of four for are accustomed.
up to 20 hours of use. Just shake the glass to switch them on and use Below are some high-
them both indoors and outdoors to recreate the ambience of lights from various guides
candlelight without the risk of fire or hot wax. on using compact fluores-
cent bulbs, including tips
Price: £29.99, with an estimated street price of £19.55. You may prepared by Rensselaer’s
also spot them at upmarket Indian retail outlets for about Rs3,500. Lighting Research Center,
From: Amazon.co.uk, but also check Indian outlets. the US government’s Ener-
gy Star programme, and
experts from the magazine
Consumer Reports:
• Look for bulbs with la-
bels which indicates they
have passed at least
If you break a CFL, minimal performance
requirements.
take precautions to • Be aware that com-
pact fluorescents can
avoid mercury take 1-3 minutes to
reach full brightness.
exposure. Open a This is not a defect.
• The place where peo-
window for at least ple are most likely to use
compact fluorescents,
15 minutes if closets, may be a poor
choice. Experts warn that
possible and avoid turning the bulbs on and
off frequently shortens
vacuuming their lives, and recom-
mend using them in fix-
tures that are used at least 15 minutes at a time or sever-
al hours a day.
• The bulbs do not do well in hot environments with little
airflow, such as recessed ceiling fixtures. They are ideal for
DO use in table lamps. For recessed fixtures, specialized heat-

resistant compact fluorescents are available.

• Not all compact fluorescents work with dimmers or in
SwitchEasy, a manufacturer of iPod accessories, has released Onkyo has released an entry-level home theatre, the HT-S3200 Want to clean up your printed copies of Web pages and remove Adding an iPod jack to your car’s system may take some time, three-way sockets. Be certain to check the label.
• Learning about “colour temperature”, which is printed
the ThumbTack ($13), a mini microphone for the iPod Nano 4G ($380). The 660-watt package comes with a 5.1-channel AV the extra lines such as page number and Web address? In most money and effort, but the wired connection usually sounds con- on the label of high-quality bulbs, can help consumers
or Touch 2G that is shaped like a tack. It plugs into the iPod’s receiver with 110 watts per channel, three HDMI (high-definition browsers, you can turn off the sistently better than an inexpensive add-on such as an FM avoid disappointment with the colour of the light. The
warmest-looking bulbs generally have a colour tempera-
headphone jack and immediately brings up a voice-recording multimedia interface) inputs, DTS and Dolby Digital surround pro- space-hogging information in transmitter. A number of iPod kits are available for car stereo ture of less than 3,000 Kelvin, while the harshest bulbs
application that is built into every iPod. The system can record cessing and five loudspeakers. It also has four digital signal pro- the Page Setup or Print box. systems. One place to see what’s are usually above 5,000 Kelvin.
audio at MP3 quality directly to the free space on the iPod. It cessing sound modes that adjust the system’s settings for rock, Look for the settings for out there is Apple’s own page at • Compact fluorescents contain mercury and should not
be disposed of in the trash.
comes in black, red sports, action and role playing (as in computer games). The Onkyo Headers and Footers. apple.com/ipod/carintegration. The • If you break a bulb, take precautions to avoid mercu-
and white and also HT-S3200 is now available for the recession- Instructions for many browsers page has links to manufacturers ry exposure: Clear people and pets from the room and
open a window for at least 15 minutes, if possible.
works with third- friendly price of $380. ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES are at snipurl.com/doww3 and with iPod connections in their cur- Avoid vacuuming. Scoop up larger pieces with stiff pa-
party audio-record- tips for customizing header and rent models, as well as a lengthy per or cardboard, pick up smaller residue with sticky
ing applications footer information in Internet list of after-market solutions. Your tape and wipe the area with a damp cloth. Put every-
thing—glass, clothes and cardboard—into a plastic
available on the Explorer 7 at www.uwec.edu/ options vary depending on your car bag or sealed glass jar. In most cases, this can be put
iTunes App Store. help/IE_7/headfoot.htm equipment. in the trash.
©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES LEORA BROYDO VESTEL AND TOM ZELLER JR
©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES
©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES