LED Linklights are brilliant for under-cabinet lighting

The new LED linklights are up in our kitchen and they are every bit as good as the T8 fluorescent tubes and battens that they have replaced. While the total light output is less, it is ALL directed down onto the worksurface, where it is needed. The reflection of the 400-odd LEDs on the black kitchen counters also adds a beautiful, starry sparkle.

I have put before and after photos on Photobucket - click the links to see what you think!

While the fluorescent tubes that were there before used 300 watts of electricity, the new LED linklights are running at just 40 watts. I'm delighted with them and the family are happy that I have stopped turning the lights off all the time - even when they were in the room.

Ecolightstore.com were very helpful in getting me all the right clips and connectors and, at just £150 for 4 metres of lighting, the new lights will pay for themselves in around 4 years.

I had always believed that fluorescent striplights were energy saving. Perhaps they are, compared with tungsten filament tubes, but I learned from using a wireless electricity meter (The Owl) that they were the single biggest use of electricity in my home lighting circuit.

Replacing them is also my first step to meeting the 10:10 commitment to reduce my CO2 emissions by 10% during 2010 and will save around 160kg of CO2 each year. Another step is to increase my loft insulation. I am fitting the new polystyrene and chipboard storage panels from B&Q, to double the insulation under all the stuff I've got stored up there. I am also topping up the Warmcel over our bedroom with Knauf 170mm mineral wool at just over £1 a square meter.

Hopefully, all this will get me my 10% reduction next year. I'm also helping others to reduce their energy usage and, frankly, that's going to make more difference than I can achieve alone!