Everyone stresses the importance of changing your incandescent bulbs to an energy-saving alternative, but where there was once one bulb there are now two! In recent years the traditional energy saver bulb, also known as the Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL), has been joined by the Light Emitting Diode (LED) in the energy-saving lighting market.
This complicates the decision-making process a little as you need to weigh up your options. Do you pick the CFL or GU10 Spotlights (the LED equivalent to a CFL)? Which is better? Let's find out.
Wattage
A typical CFL bulb operates at between 9 and 11 watts. This is a vast improvement over traditional incandescent bulbs, making them about 5 times more energy-efficient. However, GU10 Spotlights use even less than this. A typical LED Bulb will use between 3 and 4 watts in power. That is a massive ten times more efficient than old incandescent bulbs and about three times more efficient than CFL Bulbs. That means you will be saving even more money and lowering your carbon footprint even further with GU10 Spotlights.
Light Quality
One of the most frequent complaints about CFLs is the quality of their light. The light they produce is very pale and unnatural. It is neither suitable for ambient illumination or as accent lighting and can cause a lot of eye strain when in prolonged use. On the other hand GU10 Spotlights produce a much better and brighter quality of light. They have been praised in studies for their very natural and dynamic lighting results, particularly the cool white variety which are idea for concentrated task lighting.
Life Span
While CFLs do last longer than incandescent bulbs, anything up to 5,000 hours, the life expectancy quoted on these bulbs usually falls much shorter than expectations. More importantly the brightness of a CFL will diminish significantly long before they have fulfilled their full life expectancy. By about half way through their life span they may have already become three times dimmer than their original brightness. GU10 Spotlights have a massive lifespan of between 30,000 and 50,000 hours. Moreover they remain fully bright for the entirety of the lifespan, only becoming dim a few hours before failure.
Price
GU10 Spotlights do cost more than CFLs, but the aforementioned points should confirm that they are well worth the extra money. Not only do you save more money on replacement costs as you will be changing your bulbs less frequently, you will also save more money on your energy bills.
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