DIY Cut Monthly Electricity Costs on Lighting
This article is the first of a list of practical things you can do to save lots of money on your monthly electric consumption bills with DIY cut monthly electricity costs. You and your family could enjoy some new green products or even a small vacation.
Compact Fluorescent Lamp aka CFL or circular fluorescent bulb. Incandescent bulbs generate light differently to a CFL bulb.
Thomas Edison was the inventor of incandescent light bulbs and since his invention the general principle of them is still the same. When electricity is connected to both of the sides of a carbon filament, it gets hot and light is produced. Normal fluoro tubes and CFLs have a closed glass tube that has a fluoro coating which glows as current is applied to the mercury vapour and argon inside.
Although you may have heard how these bulbs work, no matter how cheap they are, if you are turning them on more than about twice a year you are wasting your money. Green products will help you save money. One of the newer Energy Star compact fluorescent light bulbs saves around 75% in costs over the equivalent incandescent bulb. In a period of 6 months A CFL bulb will pay for itself and save you about $30 per bulb over the period of its lifetime!
The CFL bulb has come a long way these days giving us a much wider choice of light spectrum that is omitted. This can really enhance the mood of the room, home office or family room. You can choose CFL colors varying from a warm yellow to a daylight blue. If you like the mood that incandescent light bulbs produce then going for a warmer CFL light would suit you better. A good thing to remember is that the bluer light can be quite harsh and have negative effects on light sensitive people.
Take a look on the packaging for a number that ends in K which stands for Kelvin, it gives you the temperature of the bulb. A Kelvin rating of 2700K-3000K means it’s a warm/yellow bulb. A cool white bulb would be a Kelvin rating of 3500K-4100K. And a Daylight blue bulb is a rating of 5000K-6500K.
To replace 40 watt incandescent bulbs, use 9-13 watt CFL bulbs to get the same results. Use a 13-15 watt CFL to replace a 60 watt incandescent. Use an 18-25 watt CFL to replace a 75 watt incandescent bulb. And if you want to replace 100 watt incandescent bulbs look for the 23-30 watt CFLs.
Please remember to recycle all compact fluorescent bulbs. Some states forbid mixing used bulbs that contain mercury with solid waste trash. They do this as about 5 milligrams of mercury is in each CFL bulb.
If you want places to recycle your used CFL bulbs and other green products you can take them to places such as IKEA, (OSH) Orchard, ACE Hardware and Home Depot.
If you are looking for decorative lights, Energy Star qualified light emitting diode bulbs (LED) are a great alternative. These LEDs use up to 90% less energy than the same incandescent bulbs to produce exactly the same amount of light! It takes the same amount of energy to power up one 7 watt incandescent bulb as it does to power up to 140 LEDs!
Give the CFLs a try for inside and the LEDs for the outside. The bulbs will help the environment and keep lots of money in your pocket at the same time.
Recent Comments