Lady of the CFL Lamps

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The Lady of the Lamps

Jennifer Mc Clurg is from South Africa and has been living in Ireland now for 7 years. She has a real interest in the environment and sustainable energy. She runs a very helpful and highly ethical small business called Avocalite, situated in the village of Avoca in County Wicklow, selling CFL and LED low powered and environmentally friendly light bulbs. (Hence the title) I found Jennifer to be very open, honest, and communicative about her business, something that is not common enough in the business world today. AvocaLite is a business whose time has come.

Jennifer’s light emporium offers very good prices indeed, better than most stores in Ireland, a high quality product, and additionally offers advice and assistance. That is why I am happy to focus this Blogs little positive spotlight on AvocaLite.

I recently spoke to Jennifer and asked some question about her business and how she felt about the recent Greenish Irish Budget.

Here is the outcome of that conversation:

Q. Jennifer can you tell me a bit about how you got into selling CFL bulbs?
A. Firstly perhaps I should draw your readers attention to the fact that you and your blog have no association whatsoever with AvocaLite. We do however share a concern for the environment and of course the need to conserve energy and dwindling energy resources.

You asked how AvocaLite came about. Well - after moving into our house in Avoca village my husband and I began replacing the old bulbs with CFL bulbs. Our rationale for the change was to benefit from reduced energy consumption and the resultant drop in electricity costs. Interestingly enough, we found it hard to buy bulbs that looked good, functioned well and were reasonably priced - so we started AvocaLite.

That was easier said than done as reliable suppliers of good quality, affordable products had to be put in place, as well as a mechanism for distributing goods to buyers. Fortunately CFL and LED bulbs are a lot more robust than conventional bulbs so delivery through the mail allowed us to save on more traditional retail distribution methods. With time and research we have managed to secure a line of bulbs that are of excellent quality and give an instant light.

We have tried hard to inject good old-fashioned values into the business which gives us a great rapport with our customers, many of whom, especially in the accommodation arena, have proved themselves very aware of the ever increasing costs of electricity and the need to conserve power.


Q. How do you feel about the latest Budget and especially the banning of filament bulbs by January 2009?
A. We are of course very pleased about the recent announcement in the budget. First of all the timeframe, which some may see as overly generous, does allow consumers a good amount of time to exchange their lightbulbs to energy efficient bulbs. Secondly it demonstrates a growing awareness on the part of officialdom that something does need to be done at top level to protect our environment. Electricity production is a huge drain on our resources and any move to reduce consumption is to be welcomed. And in the case of lightbulbs, which in the conventional form are only around 5% effective, the end saving, both to the economy as a whole as well as to end-users, is likely to be significant.

Q. Why do you believe CFL bulbs are so important?
A. Compact fluorescent light bulbs up to 15 times longer than the traditional incandescent light bulbs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs use only 20% of the electricity that a traditional light bulb does, 5% of the energy that a traditional light bulb uses is translated into light. A shocking 95% of the energy that is paid for is wasted.

EDITORS NOTE: Green Party’s Mr. Gormley said, CFL lighting will save ESB customers some €185,000,000 in electricity charges per year, and also result in carbon emissions being reduced by up to 700,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and all that from household lighting alone.

An average house with say ten 100watt bulbs going for say 8 hours a day during the winter would cost roughly €33.00 in a month. By fitting all CFL bulbs that electricity cost would be reduced immediately to only €6.60 a month a saving of €26.40 a month.

10 CFL bulbs, with the same light as 100watt ordinary bulbs, would cost from Avocalite €3.75 each or a total of €37.50. You would have the cost of fitting CFL bulbs back in energy savings in about 6 weeks of winter lighting costs.

Given that these CFL bulbs last between 6 and 15 times longer than ordinary bulbs, your savings will increase still further on the replacement cost of bulbs. On top of that, you will save the time, work, and hassle of buying and fitting bulbs every few months.

Q. Any final remarks about the Budget or CFL Bulbs?
A. Remember when changing lightbulbs make sure that the correct bulb is selected, taking into account the shape and size that is needed as well as the correct base. Avocalite sells globes with the Edison Screw Cap base and the Bayonet Cap base. Some lamps or chandaliers may require a smaller base size - referred to as a SES (Small Edison Screw) or SBC (Small Bayonet Cap). These are also readily available which means that any of the traditional shaped incandescant globes can be replaced without difficulty. The costs of replacement, so often looked on as a reason for not doing so, are not that significant and generally can be recovered after a few months use of the replacement CFL bulbs which also have the added advantage of a considerably longer in-use life.

As our response to the budget announcement and as a way of extending Season's wishes to your readers we would like to offer a 5% discount on all products bought up until the end of December 2007. Use the discount voucher code HappyChristmas




Jennifer also has high power 30 watt CFL bulbs that give the same light as 150 watt filqament bulbs, CFL spot lamps, and there are the new Micro CFL bulbs which are very compact and suitable for special lamps and other fittings.

There you have it folks top quality CFL bulbs at bargain prices and a 5% discount for readers of this blog.




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