Lighting In Homes
Most of the energy that is used in homes is to provide lighting for the home and therefore if there are ways to reduce energy consumption for lighting it will help you to reduce the energy bill by a substantial amount. For many decades we have been dependent on the incandescent lamps for out lighting requirements and as everyone knows, they consume a lot of energy and produce a lot of heat. The energy that is required to light up a house is generally more than what is required to run your heating or air conditioning system and if you have a large house then the number of lights used will also increase thereby increasing your energy bill. There have been alternative lighting solutions that have been introduced in recent years and are gaining in popularity as they consume a lot less energy than the traditional incandescent bulbs.
Compact Fluorescent Lamps
Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) is a lamp that has been designed to replace the incandescent lamps and can be used in any light fitting where the traditional light bulbs are used. The CFLs has electronic ballast that screws on to the light fitting and will have small tubes that are curved or spiral that will be fitted onto the ballast. CFLs are now very popular among people as they are able to produce the same light while consuming less energy and therefore are a very good option. May governments are now emphasizing on the use of CFLs is slowly removing the traditional incandescent bulbs off the shelf.
Benefits Of CFL
- CFLs consume about 60 to 70% less energy than the traditional incandescent lamps for the same amount of Lumens that it produces.
- The life of a CFL is about 10 times more than that of incandescent lamps and therefore the need to change lamps often does not arise.
- The quality of light that is given by CFLs are much better than the yellow light of the incandescent bulbs and will improve sighting.
- The heat that is produced by CFLs is a lot less than incandescent lamps and therefore will not affect the air conditioning effect in the room.
- CFLs are more energy more efficient than the traditional lamps and that can be identified by the less heat that is produced by the CFLs when compared to the other lamps.
- CFLS can be recycled and that is great news as it will not lead to pollution
Choosing The Right CFL
CFL is ideal to be used in areas that are often frequented and choosing the right CFL is important to ensure that you are able to make the most of the advantages that CFLS have to offer. While choosing the wattage of CFLs use the 4:1 ratio and use the right color temperatures for he locations. If you are replacing a 60W incandescent lamp, then you can opt for a 13W or 15W CFL bulb in its place and if you are using it in your living room, you can opt for the soft white CFL that has about 2700K color temperature. Using the right wattage and the right color temperature CFL will help you in saving energy and providing the light that you need.
