Lighting is a factor of the home and work environment that involves our life in several ways. Lighting allows us to go on and perform our daily tasks and acts as an important decorative item within a home’s design. Another main purpose of lighting is to ensure safety and security. It is even used simply for aesthetic purposes. But most of all, the consumption of electricity linked to lighting affects our financial position both in the home and office. The Department of Energy indicates that we spend an average of 5 to 10 percent of our electric bills on lighting in our households. In a number of regions in the United States this quantity can be as much as 25 percent where air-conditioning is a modest part of the bill. It’s about time we start conserving energy with light fixtures.
Conserving energy with light fixtures is actually pretty easy to do today. First, let’s get to know what to expect when considering saving energy on our lighting systems. Saving lighting energy calls for either minimizing electricity used up by the light bulbs and light fixtures or minimizing the period of time that the lights are on. This can be achieved in two ways.
First, you can simply cut down the period of time that lights are on. This can be done by utilizing dimmers and other lighting controls as well as teaching family members to switch off unnecessary lighting. Next, you can reduce wattage, which calls for replacing bulbs or whole fixtures with bulbs and fixtures that give off similar quantities or more quantities of light with but with lowered electricity usage. These days, this can be done most simply by replacing wasteful incandescent bulbs with incandescent/halogen bulbs or compact fluorescent bulbs.
Whether your just trying to keep within the budget or if you are trying to be more eco-friendly, you may want to explore alternative greener lighting choices. It is approximated that compact fluorescent light bulbs utilize 75 percent less energy compared to previously designed light bulbs. This means more savings on your electric bill. Moreover, these bulbs generate considerably less heat and are therefore safer for your home too. They save more energy and endure longer than previous lighting designs. You may use compact fluorescent light bulbs in your bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, garage, utility rooms, family rooms, living rooms and patios fixtures. They are available in such a variety of sizes now that you can even use them in your most decorative fixtures such as your antler lighting.
Another good option is LED lighting. LEDs are ideal for several applications within and outside the house or apartment. LEDs generate brighter light that is usually comparable to that of natural daylight, but at the same time burn with little to zero heat. They are usually very small and are very dependable and enduring regardless of the weather and temperature. LEDs are particularly nice for outdoor lighting, task lighting, utility rooms, track lighting, recessed lighting, desk lighting and nightlights.
With all these considerably new lighting fixtures, your options are endless. We can now provide more light to our lives while saving more energy, more money and of course, the environment.
Content Provided By: Julia Ritzenthaler