Lighting Tips & Options

Tip --- Save Money & Energy

• In recent years there has been pressure --- even from the government --- placed upon people to switch to more efficient lighting sources, the current leading candidate of which is fluorescent bulbs. Incandescent bulbs operate in 85 percent of the world's homes and waste 80 percent of their energy as heat rather than light. All this wasted energy adds up. Fluorescent bulbs can save an enormous amount of energy as they are up to 75 percent more efficient than incandescent bulbs. Over time, this added efficiency can lower the electric bill.

Option --- Go Solar

• An alternative option that doesn't receive the front-line attention of fluorescent bulbs, is the solar option. Individual solar lights can commonly be found utilized as outdoor lights. These lighting units consist of a bulb, a solar panel that converts the sunlight into electricity, and a battery that stores the electricity until it needs to be used. These units create completely free electricity; however, they can be limited in winter time by as much as 50 percent.

Tip --- Avoid Constant Replacement

• Changing light bulbs comes as an irritant and usually at the most inconvenient times. A solution to this problem is to utilize any bulb that isn't "incandescent." The reasoning behind this falls upon incandescent bulbs' short lifespan --- usually maxing out at 2,500 hours. Compact Fluorescent Lights, also known as "CFLs," last for up to 10,000 hours and fit into the same sockets as the common incandescent bulb. Although they might cost three or four times as much, the savings in replacement bulbs alone makes them a worthwhile investment.

Option --- Halogen Lamps

• Let's just say you can't find a way to part with the luminosity of incandescent bulbs. There is one way around this problem --- halogen lamps. Like incandescent lighting, halogen lighting operates off of a tungsten filament. Halogen lighting contains reflectors to point light in the required direction and also work to recycle as much of the lost light as possible, making them more energy-efficient than the common incandescent light. Generally, halogen lamps are used as recess, track, desk or lamp lighting.