Local LED Lightbulb

I've been thinking quite a bit about domestic lighting recently.  I've read industry and European documents about the phase-out for incandescent bulbs, and talked to both shops and home-owners about the different kinds of lightbulbs. 

I was surprised so many people are relying on halogen bulbs for coping with the phase out until I started this exercise.  Compact fluorescent bulbs use around 1/8th the power of a standard incandescent (as opposed to halogen's 70%) but have a bad reputation because the early ones weren't very good.  They're better than they were, especially the branded ones, and come in more compact shapes for a wider variety of fittings - but they last long enough that most people haven't seen the improvement.  They also aren't bright enough for elderly people, especially in their existing fittings.  Even though they cause less mercury pollution than comes from using more power for incandescent bulbs,  it pushes the job of safeguarding against the pollution into the home.   Meanwhile, shops sometimes struggle to get in the ones they need.

I still advocate replacing incandescent bulbs immediately and only using halogen bulbs where a CFL won't do, but I'm also now convinced that the sooner LED retro-fits for normal fittings become widely available, the better.  They currently cost between 12 and 20 pounds.  I've bought an 8W "60W equivalent" - the highest rating - in a mid-range price as a sample, and I'm pleasantly surprised with the result.   If anyone wants to see it, with kind permission of the priests, I've left it in the porch of Christ Church Morningside, since that's often open - step inside the front door, try the "passage overhead" lightswitch, and take two steps forward...