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The Benefits of Low Energy Lighting |
If you were offered an
investment with a guaranteed return of 900% a year or
10,000% over its lifetime, with no tax to pay, and which
had a positive impact on the world, you would snap it
up, right? Well this is the sort of return you can get
by installing low energy lighting inside and outside
your home.
Let’s look at some of the figures. Energy saving bulbs
now cost from around £1 each. If you replace a bulb that
you use for around 3 hours a night, then you save about
£9 a year on your annual electricity bill. Because they
last much longer, according to the Energy Saving Trust
each low energy light bulb can save you up to £100 in
electricity bills over its lifetime. If you add up all
the light bulbs and fittings in your house, this adds up
a surprisingly large saving.
Plus the benefits aren’t only financial. Something as
simple as using low energy bulbs can have a big impact
on your personal contribution to Climate Change, by
reducing the carbon dioxide emissions you are
responsible for. Each bulb on its own will save up to
half a ton over its lifetime. If you replace 10
old-style bulbs in your house that you use for 2 hours a
day with low energy bulbs, you will save around a
quarter ton of carbon dioxide each year.
Finally, low energy light bulbs save you time and
effort. Because they last around 10 times longer than
normal bulbs, when you switch to low energy bulbs you
won’t have to get the ladder out so often to replace
bulbs that have blown.
So why isn’t everyone making the change to low energy
bulbs? Sadly too many of us are creatures of habit,
and just carry on buying the same bad bulbs we always
have. But now with the wide range on offer, and recent
developments which have made low energy bulbs perform
just as well as old-style bulbs, it makes sense to
change all your bulbs straight away.
It does take a little effort to make the switch at
first. First you have to go round your house and write
down a list of the bulbs you currently use – including
wattage (60w, 100w etc.), type of fixture (screw,
bayonet etc), size and color (e.g. are they toned?)
Next you have to work out the wattage for a low energy
bulb that matches the wattage of your current bulbs (for
example a 20 watt low energy bulb gives off the same
light as a 100 watt old-style bulb). You can find simple
tables that can help you do this on the Internet at
sites like downwithco2.com.
Once you have worked out the bulbs you need to buy, you
can then go shopping. There are many retailers of low
energy bulbs on the Internet, or now they are commonly
available in supermarkets or hardware stores.
Plus you can also save a lot of money by installing more
energy efficient lighting outdoors. Just a few outdoor
lights left on each night can double your household
lighting bill and your greenhouse gas emissions. The
best solution is to fit daylight and movement sensors so
outdoor lights switch on when they’re needed, but don’t
waste electricity. This also improves your home’s
security, as you can tell when someone is approaching
the house.
For outdoor lights that must stay on for long periods,
use energy efficient, compact fluorescent or LED lamps
and choose the lowest wattage lamp that gives enough
light. In the garden, you can now buy solar powered
garden lights that use no mains electricity and so
produce no emissions when used. Plus you don’t need to
wire up your garden to get lighting.
So now you have seen all the benefits of low energy
lighting, it really does make sense to make the switch
as soon as you can.
Alex Perry is a founder of DownwithCO2.co.uk, which
helps people cut their personal contribution to climate
change through providing information and contacts.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alex_Perry
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