How green are low energy bulbs?

The EU has ruled that ordinary 40W / 60W / 100W incandescent lamps will be banned from 2012. The decree is that domestic lights will be replaced with ‘energy saving’ lightbulbs (or, more correctly ‘compact fluorescent lamps’ or CFLs) in the interest of energy saving and reducing our carbon footprint. It is claimed that these CFLs use 25% of the energy and last eight times as long as the equivalent incandescent lamps – and so will help “save the planet”.

To understand more, some key things to know about are apparent power, real power and the power factor. Apparent power is the amount of energy an electricity company needs to supply to produce the real power required by a component or a piece of equipment. Electrical equipment where the apparent power is the same as the real power has a power factor of 1. If a piece of equipment requires more apparent power to produce the real power, it has a power factor of less than 1. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that equipment with a power factor nearer 0 is not as ‘green’ or ‘environmentally sensitive’ as an electrical component with a power factor nearer 1.

Knowing this, I’ve tested several CFLs with surprising results: taking a sample 60W light bulb as a reference against the equivalent 13W CFL, the CFL used more than twice as much apparent power as real power. Compared with ordinary incandescent light bulbs, CFLs have a poor power factor because they require more than the minimum apparent power to supply the real power.

My tests have shown that the CFLs use half the power of a 60W lamp, not quarter as stated and that’s before taking into account the extra power the supplier must generate.

The power difference between the real power consumed by the CFL (in the case of the Osram, it’s almost 15 watts) and the apparent power is wasted in more ways than one. The electricity supply becomes less efficient because it senses the difference between the real and apparent and becomes unbalanced by the redundant currents swilling around. The result is that it must generate more power than is really being used and the system needs to be upgraded to handle it. The cost of generation goes up and so the cost to the consumer goes up with it. The net result of using CFLs is that there is no saving whatever… quite the opposite; the electricity supply system has doubled its output and doubled its carbon emissions. The more people use CFLs, the worse the problem will become. And that’s before we’ve even talked about the fact that CFLs use mercury in their construction, which leads to more issues in their disposal. Utter stupidity… isn’t it better just to switch off a few lights?

What has all this got to do with your system? Hi-Fi and Home Cinema systems contain transformers and often have a low power factor. A 100W amplifier can demand up to 100 amps from the electricity supply for a millisecond to reproduce a drum transient. The lower the power factor, the less current is available to accurately reproduce the dynamics of your music – it’s effectively being used as ‘apparent’ power. And the more CFLs you fit, the worse the situation becomes. Me? I’m going back to candles!

The concensus view

I recently read a very interesting article by Ruth Lea in The Daily Telegraph. It was titled 'The consensus view is frequently very wrong indeed'. It struck a cord with me straight away as the consensus view in the Hi-Fi industry finds it hard to accept my philosophy on Hi-Fi.

The Hi-Fi Establishment believes that getting good sound is all about choosing the best hardware. My view is that the infrastructure is more important than the hardware. The Hi-Fi Establishment advises spending 90% of your budget on the hardware and 10% on all the rest. I can show that that is completely the wrong way around!

The article in The Daily Telegraph I came across looks at consensus views from the past and just how wrong they also turned out to be. Click on the link below to see the article:

'The consensus view is frequently very wrong indeed'

Sound Solutions

My new book - Sound Solutions: The Definitive Guide to achieving a more musical Hi-Fi system has been printed and is available to buy now! Sound Solutions gathers together the five information booklets that we've published in the past - completely updated - into one handy book, and sets out my philosophy on upgrading your Hi-Fi system.

It explains the reasons why it's important to upgrade your Hi-Fi system in a particular way, and highlights some of the upgrading pitfalls so that you can avoid them.

Sound Solutions has 120 pages packed with tips and practical advice - perfect for Upgrading your Hi-Fi system, whatever its cost. What's more, much of the advice is still valid whether you use Russ Andrews or Kimber's cables or those from any other manufacturer. Just £9.95, click here to view it or to buy it!

Mains cables & recording studios

I was contacted recently by someone who was questioning whether our mains cables really do work. He stated that he'd worked in recording studios and claimed that they didn't spend money on mains cables so why should anybody else?

Well, my reaction was one of amusement, as it shows just how little this guy actually knows. Any work you do on the mains supply of your Hi-Fi equipment improves the sound quality. And by the same token if recording studios upgrade their mains - the quality of recordings will be better. I know studio managers and producers that know this and the recording studios they work at do use our cables: if he wants to find out from recording professionals whether our products really work he should contact Phil Taylor who is studio manager at David Gilmour Music: or Ken Nelson who produces Gomez and Coldplay.

Or maybe he should take a look at this article - working at the Astoria

Hi-Fi News show next week

If you are attending the Hi Fi News Show (at the Renaissance Hotel at Heathrow) on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th of September, make time to take in some of the Seminars. I mention it because I am one of the Keynote speakers!

My topic is 'The Mains: So what's the problem?' I'm lecturing in the York Theatre both mornings at 11am.

As part of our twentieth anniversary celebrations, we're officially launching our new products - the PowerMax mains cable; my Desktop Audio range of equipment; Crystal-24 speaker cable; and Platinum Ultra Purifier. The sales team (and me when I'm not lecturing) will be on hand to answer your questions and take your orders… look out for the special Show Discount and Free Gift when you place your order. Plus there will be a number of competitions running and some very special prizes!

If you're a Russ Andrews customer, you'll be pleased to hear that we've negotiated with Hi-Fi News to give us free tickets to the show (saving you GBP 8!) Your free ticket will be arriving with your brand new catalogue any day now! If you have had problems receiving your ticket, contact us.

If you need more information about the show, go to www.hifinews.co.uk/show2006

YellO Power's replacement

Sadly we have discontinued our entry level mains cable YellO Power. It has been a casualty of the new RoHS regulations outlawing some cable colour pigments (you may have read about it in some of the Hi-Fi magazines).

There's a replacement, however: it's called PowerMax™ and we'll be shipping it later this month. And the good news is that we've maintained the price - it's still only £29.95 for a 1m length. You can pre-order it online at russandrews.com ; click on the image to see it, or click here

A visit from Hi-Fi News magazine

Hi-Fi News Editor Steve Fairclough (plus photographer) made his way North to Kendal recently to interview me about my career in the industry. He was keen to hear my system so we burnt some midnight oil whilst sipping whisky and listening to an eclectic mix of music on my Hi-Fi and AV systems. I'll keep you posted about when they'll be publishing the article, so watch this space!