Was Sweden better before it relied on electricity?

Don’t forget to unplug the power cable from the outlet, turn down the room heating, and turn off the lights.

Every kilowatt hour counts when Sweden has to conserve electricity to avoid a power crisis. Swedish Energy Agency (Statenth Enagi Mindigget) said in a new campaign to promote energy conservation.

Earlier this week, several Swedish media reported that some municipalities will limit Christmas lights in December to save electricity.

Turning off the lamp gives a distinct impression that you are using less electricity. But how much difference does it really make?

LED lamp

Lighting consumes less of a household’s total electricity consumption than anything else, especially since many people in Sweden use energy-efficient LED lamps.

The largest electricity consumption items are often residential heating and water. When it comes to household electricity, the most important electrical items are ovens, saunas, and hair dryers. It doesn’t take an hour to reach 1 kilowatt hour (kWh).

Lighting doesn’t consume much power, but it depends on how many lamps you have in your home and whether they are LED or regular bulbs.

To reach 1 kWh, a light bulb (40 W) only needs to be on for 25 hours. For an LED lamp (1W), 1kWh takes about 1,000 hours.

At the same time, regular bulbs are becoming increasingly scarce as they are being phased out of the market as per the EU decision.

“In the past, it was mostly light bulbs, so lighting was a big part of our household’s electricity consumption. says Helena Holm of the Energy Agency.

More People Want Energy Efficient Lighting

High electricity prices are therefore an incentive to move to LED lamps. Kras Olson and Ergiganten, who no longer sell the old type bulbs, have both noticed an increase in sales of his LED lamps.

In September, Clas Ohlson’s LED lamp sales increased 7% year-on-year. At Elgiganten, sales soared by 82%.

Mikael Nyberg, who runs lamp shop Elektriska Svea in Stockholm, has noticed that more and more people want to replace all their lamps with LED lamps to save electricity.

“Demand will likely increase as electricity prices rise,” he says.
Nyberg estimates that around 98% of the lamps sold at Elektriska Svea are now LED lamps, but there are still customers who want the old bulbs.

As long as the bulbs are on the market, they will remain part of the store’s selection.

Drawbacks of LEDs

On the other hand, LED lamps have drawbacks. Usually it can be slightly dull light. LED lamps are not as color reproducible as conventional bulbs with more pleasant light.

“At the same time, it’s a matter of taste, and younger generations raised with LED lights may not respond to differences in the same way as generations raised with older bulbs,” Nyberg added.

However, some LED lamps produce light similar to that of regular light bulbs.

“But even if you put them next to a light bulb, you would still see a difference in both the quality of the light and the lamp itself,” says Nyberg.

A single lamp doesn’t use much power, but there are usually many light sources in the home. Therefore, according to Helena Holm, lighting can ultimately contribute to an increase in household power consumption.

Intelligent electrical solutions such as turning off lights when you’re not at home, installing digital timers in lights, or installing motion sensors in outdoor lights in driveways can help reduce power consumption.