Tips to Light Your House in a Green Way
Know how to provide lighting to your house in a green way
In today’s age, the idea of going green seems to have become passion for many people. There are many questions that people ask about going green. Many people are trying to lead a more environmentally friendly life by recycling, composting and organic gardening. However, one of the most consuming activities that our society still engages in is consuming energy.
In America alone, more electricity is consumed per capita than in any other part of the world. People use electricity for lights, toys, and many other things. Lighting, however, is the biggest offender.
Many people prefer the incandescent lights because of their warm tones and cozy colors. Furthermore, many fluorescent lights have had a negative reaction with people causing them not to be popular. There are several ways that you can use fluorescent lights and other low energy consuming lights to light your house without the headaches of conventional fluorescent lighting.
Fluorescent Bulbs
In the past, fluorescent lights were those long cumbersome glass tubes that needed special fixtures that had ballasts that sometimes burned out. Now, however, you can get fluorescent bulbs that fit right into the conventional light socket that is made for incandescent light bulbs.
These fluorescent bulbs are not only compact enough to screw into a normal incandescent light socket, but the ballast is built into the base of the bulb, so there is no modification needed to do to the light socket. Furthermore, these lights are also different from the conventional fluorescent tubes despite the fact that they use the same kind of gaseous plasmas that conventional fluorescent lights use.
If you think that these fluorescent bulbs will give off that same kind of light-green lighting that the fluorescent tubes give off or buzz like the conventional fluorescent tube lights do, you will be delightfully surprised. Many of these compact fluorescent bulbs also have the proper filtered glass that can make the bulb give of the same light color as your conventional 100 watt incandescent light bulb.
These compact fluorescent bulbs are a very low wattage and light bulbs hong kong give off much more light than an incandescent light of the same wattage. For example, a compact incandescent light of 15 to 20 watts will give off the same amount of an incandescent light of 60 to 100 watts. Furthermore, the compact fluorescent bulbs last much longer than your average incandescent bulb.
LED (Light Emitting Diodes) Lights
Another way to light your house or your landscape is with LED lighting. LED lighting is the newest in lighting technology. LED lights are lights that are composed of tiny little bulbs. Some LED lights are composed of many LED bulbs and can be almost as bright as a regular light. LED lights are very good because they require very little electricity and can even be used together with solar power.
For those of you who have a lot of sun, for your landscape lighting, try using solar lights with LED bulbs instead of regular low voltage lighting. You can save on your electric bill and each solar landscape light has its own solar panel. Many of these solar landscape LED lights are designed to generate and store electricity during the day and then when it is dark enough, they turn on and stay on all night.
The only drawback to solar LED landscape lights is if you live in the more northern regions, the lights might not work properly in the winter months when the days are shorter and the sunlight is not as strong. Overcast days can also affect the power of LED solar lights.
LED lights can also be used inside as accent lights. LED lights burn much cooler and consume much less electricity than a regular halogen light. LED lighting technology is still in its infancy and the newer LED lights are much brighter than the earlier LED lights.
Compact Fluorescent Bulb Safety
Many people have concerns about compact fluorescent bulbs. What happens if one shatters after it falls? Is the gas or the powder on these compact fluorescent bulbs toxic?
Though these bulbs are great at saving energy, the material inside the glass tubing is mercury based and these bulbs should be handled with care. Like handling a thermometer, these bulbs should be treated the same way. Try not to drop these bulbs, but if you do drop one and it breaks, tips to clean it up are as follows:
1. Before cleaning up the mess, you should make sure that children and pets are away from the area where the bulb broke. Small children are of special concern because glass can cause cuts and the toxic contents can then get into their bloodstream.
Furthermore, when the current is off, the content of these bulbs is toxic when inhaled. For this reason, you should turn off the heat or air conditioner if it uses forced air, turn off fans and other air ventilation to prevent the spreading of the toxic powders throughout the house.
2. If a bulb breaks on a hard surface, do not sweep with a broom or vacuum sweeper because this can cause the powder to spread around in the air making it easier to be inhaled by everyone.
The best way to clean up the mess is to take a stiff piece of paper or cardboard and carefully pick up the glass and powder and place it into a glass jar and close the lid. Once you have picked up all the pieces, you should take a damp rag and pick up the remaining powder and put in the same glass jar.