Asda, Tesco and others are massively subsidising their energy saving light-bulbs, and even if you can’t get out to a store there are online retailers like Energysavers Direct, who are popping them out at just 99p.

More accurately called Compact Flourescent Lamps, these replacement bulbs outlive ten of their conventional equivalents and save around £7 a year on average UK electricity bills, as they use only a fifth of the energy of a regular bulb. Install five and you’ve saved enough to finance a month’s top-range satellite TV subscription.

Perhaps more importantly, they’re also far more planet-friendly. As The Guardian explains,

…the International Energy Agency estimated last year that lighting accounts for 19% of total global electricity production, resulting in emissions equal to 70% of global car emissions.

The good news is that low-energy bulbs are better now than ever before. They come in warmer colours, and they achieve 95% brightness in less than a minute, so you don’t get that slow fade in that once seriously dented their popularity.

But there’s a problem. The most profitable place to use them is in fittings that are working non-stop for lengthy periods, such as lights activated by a timer and left on all night. So it’s frustrating that the advice on the side of each box specifically advises against putting them into timer-controlled sockets.

We at Blagger set out to find out why, so asked lighting manufacturers to clarify the position. Philips was first to reply, and among other things explained that:

The electronic switch (and similar switch) still issues a small current to go to the lamp and trying to switch on the lamp. The electronics inside the Energy Saver lamp is under a continuous strain to start up the bulb and therefore damages the electronics inside the Energy Saver.

A normal switch does not emit such a small current, but gives the normal full blast to the Energy Saver to power up normally.

So, it would seem that when used in a timer switch the bulb is – in effect – permanently active, which will shorten its working life.

GE was next up, and while less detailed it had a similar story to tell:

Our energy saving lamp cannot be used with dimmers, sensors or electronic timers. The reason for it is that the electronic part of the dimmers, sensors or electronic timers ay be incompatible with the electronic parts of the lamp, resulting a shorter lamp life.

But it seems that’s not always the case. That was GE’s UK rep, but Matt Prescott of Ban the Bulb, which campaigns for an end to all non-energy-saving light bulbs, pointed Blagger towards a very different story on GE’s north American site, where some bulbs and some timers can indeed play nicely together. As it states on its FAQ:

Be sure to check the lamp package, which will indicate if the lamp is not intended for use with electronic timers or photocells… To find out if an electronic timer or photocell is compatible with compact fluorescent bulbs, check with the manufacturer of the timer or photocell.

The last reply came in from Osram, and it was both the most comprehensible, and the best news of the lot. Steering clear of technical jargon, Osram’s answer was overwhelmingly positive.

Yes. But only if the timers are rotary mechanical type that have pins or tabs which are either pushed in our pulled out for switching the lamps on and off.

If your timers are electronic type possibly with digital display, then DO NOT use the energy saving lamps with them.

Electronic timers have a component called triac and they are mostly rated to 4 Amps. The surge current is higher for the lamps and this will cause the timer to be destroyed. In the process, a lamp may also be destroyed.

So the answer – technically – is that yes, you can use a long-life bulb in a timer, so long as your timer is of the right kind. Mechanical, not digital; pins, not buttons.

Ban the Bulb‘s Prescott tells me that he’ll be meeting with the EU lighting industry’s trade body later in the week, and that he’ll be urging them to bring timer- and dimmer-compatible bulbs of the kind produced for the north American market to our continent soon. That should make things far simpler as it will open up a much wider choice for consumers. Let’s hope his call, and the weight of his campaign, is enough to make them sit up and listen.

Related posts:

1. Are energy saving light bulbs dangerous?
2. Petition for a greener planet
3. Can you save money while charging your phone?