I'm trying to chose some new ceiling lights, and a lot of the fittings use G9 halogen bulbs (25w and 40w). I'm guessing these are less efficient than the 16w low energy light bulbs.

How does a 25w halogen bulb compare for brightness with a conventional 40 / 60 / 100 w bayonet fitting bulb?

Confused from Perthshire 🙁

a really good 25W one might be nearly as illuminating as a 40W normal bulb, but hard to compare as it's a beam instead of an even spread

well as they are all measured in watts that will tell you how much power they are using – + energy efficient.

You mean light output in say lumens and that takes too long and someone more knowledgable than me – GEEK- to explain.

Why did they invent another type of lamp, you usually only find them in table lamps of modern chandaleirs. Anyway they're halogen and 25W so the same as any 25W halogen lamp, possibly different colour but a lot more money.
I assume you're fitting surface mounted ceiling lights? Watch out for some of those shallow lights as they require wiring in the loft/void.

I'm going fire rated reccessed GU10/240V and fitting High power LED's when possible.

No. They have a higher output per watt than tungsten filament bulbs, but they're not a patch on fluorescent or LED. The other problem is that people tend to fit gazillions of them – my house had 9 x 50W halogen spots in the kitchen! I changed them for fluorescents…

Depends what type of cable you deliver the electricity by… 😉

Halogen bulbs are roughly twice as efficient as normal incandescent bulbs.
However, florescent and LEDs can be about 10 times as efficient.

They're also meant to be only fitted to open fittings.

I assume you're fitting surface mounted ceiling lights? Watch out for some of those shallow lights as they require wiring in the loft/void.

4 of these and another 2 suitable for a bathroom – GU10s are looking good at the moment.

I'd stay away from Halogen ceiling lights. They generate loads of heat, and you end up with 3-400W of lighting power in your room. You can get LED lamps for ceiling fixtures which consume a fraction of the power and last a long time to boot. When we had halogens in a rented hosue they were always going.

If you're serious about lumens per watt, LEDs are the way to go.
Light spread/beam patterns may vary.

Thanks folks – looking at LEDs now.

have a look at some of these…

http://www.aurora-lighting.com/ProductPages/LampProductDetails.aspx?g=6225&c=79&b=51&oc=79

Some of them are very nice, you get 10 000 hours life per lamp, they are graded as being the most energy efficient lights around, plus they give a very good light. And not very expensive. Ive been fitting loads of them…

I can confirm that those Low Energy GU10 firerated are very good. However though they are GU10 the body is long to take the low energy lamp therefore if you did re fit with normal GU10s they'd sit right up inside the body and look a bugger.
Good LEDs are going near the £15 mark lamp only at the moment. I've been doing a room at a time, use warm white if you go this way. Cool white looks like you've got a BMW hanging from your cieling.

Remember that all the heat from a halogen is not necessarily wasted – I dont need a heater in my kitchen as the lights sort it out

A google shopping search using terms “gu10 led” shows Hammerjack has them at £6 with postage.

I think I need to get some too!

I was forever changing the GU10 ones in my previous apartment as they lasted about two months each. Led ones are expensive and don’t have the same kind of light (it’s generally blueish and quite dim as the light isn’t as penetrating)