Get to know the best Eco-friendly lighting options to help you save money!
In our last blog post, we talked about ways to save and go green at home. One option was to switch old light bulbs to their more efficient counterparts. The old incandescent light bulbs consume a lot of energy to produce light and much of the energy (approximately 90 per cent) is given off as heat. Not only is that not efficient and potentially dangerous, the lost energy is money that is literally being thrown away.
So what bulbs can help you with your home energy bill? Let’s explore the Eco-friendly light bulbs!
Three of the common efficient lighting options available to us are halogen incandescents, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and light emitting diodes (LEDs).
A halogen incandescent bulb contains a capsule inside that holds gas around a filament to increase bulb efficiency. These bulbs meet the minimum energy efficiency standard and, although they will help you save money, there are now even more efficient options.
CFLs are the curly versions of the long tube fluorescent lighting you often find in industrial spaces. A CFL can use a quarter of the amount of energy and last ten times as long as a regular incandescent bulb that emits the same amount of light. A CFL uses about a third of the energy that a halogen incandescent uses. These bulbs come in a wide range of options from shape, size, and colour. Remember that these bulbs contain trace amounts of mercury and should always be recycled.
LEDs are a kind of solid-state lighting, semiconductors that convert electricity to light. The technology behind LED lighting is one of the most efficient and fastest developing. These bulbs only use 20 to 25 per cent of the energy and last up to 25 times longer than the traditional incandescent bulbs!
Do yourself a favour: switch to efficient lighting and transform your home!
(Image via Pixabay)