New eco bulb invention fills the downlight gap

Carly Gooch

September 4, 2017 • 9:30am

A former Nelson man is behind a new development in the eco bulb which is putting a new twist on downlights.

Eco Bulb managing director Chris Mardon is using Nelson as a launch pad for the self-installed.

Mardon said Nelson was the perfect place as it had the "biggest problem, and it's my home town". 

The city had more downlights than anywhere in the world, next to Tauranga, he said. 

"Nelson went through the building boom of the 90s and they just stuck those in left, right and centre. Then a few years later everyone realised how bad these were and they stopped installing them.

He said downlights were inefficient and "they get really, really hot, they've got big holes so all your heating in the winter goes straight out the roof".

The new eco bulb takes away the cost of replacing downlights with a specially designed bulb which screws in and fills the entire downlight space. 

Now you can "change the downlight like you change a lightbulb", Mardon said.

The new design uses less than 10 watts and gives out more light than the spiral compact fluorescent lamps.

The original downlights cost an average of $25 annually to run compared to $2 for the downlight replacement, Mardon said.

While the self-installed downlights cost $40, Eco Bulb has teamed up with energy supplier Mercury to supply households with any combination of up to 20 LED lights when they join Mercury. 

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