Friday, October 2, 2009

Reduce Monthly Electricity Costs on Lighting


By Steve Brodie

This DIY cut monthly electricity costs article is just the beginning when it comes to easy ways to save you money on your power bills. You could purchase some new green products or maybe even use the extra money to buy yourself a little vacation.

The abbreviation CFL stands for Compact Fluorescent Lamp, sometimes known as a circular fluorescent bulb. A CFL does not generate light the way incandescent bulbs do.

Thomas Edison was the inventor of incandescent light bulbs and since his invention the general principle of them is still the same. After electricity is connected to both sides of the carbon filament it gets hot and the outcome is light. In CFL bulbs, as with older fluorescent tubes, a closed glass tube is coated with a fluorescent coating that glows when current is applied to the argon and mercury vapour inside.

You might've heard how the incandescent bulbs work but if you are using the bulb more than a couple of times a year, your money is being wasted, no matter how cheap the bulb was. Green products can help you save your money. Compared with an incandescent bulb the newer Energy Star CFL bulbs can save around 75% in costs. 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!

CFLs have been out for several years and as far as the different light omitted they have come a long way. 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. Choosing a warmer colored light would be the right choice if you prefer incandescent bulbs. Some people are sensitive to bright white light so it's a good idea to remember that when choosing bulb colors, the bluer lights can create this harshness.

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. 3500K-4100K Kelvin rating will get you a cool white bulb. And if you wanted the Daylight Blue bulb look for a Kelvin rated bulb of 5000K-6500K.

If you are looking to replace 40 watt incandescent bulbs, use 9-13 watt CFL bulbs. For a 60 watt incandescent bulb use a 13-15 watt CFL. Replace a 75 watt incandescent with an 18-25 watt CFL. And look for the 23-30 watt CFLs if you want to replace 100 watt incandescent bulbs.

Always recycle all your old fluorescent bulbs where possible. Some states forbid mixing used bulbs that contain mercury with solid waste trash. The reason is there is around 5 milligrams of mercury in one 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 wanting decorative lights, consider Energy Star qualified light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. These LEDs use up to 90% less energy than the same incandescent bulbs to produce exactly the same amount of light! It has been said that you can power 140 LEDs with the power required to burn one single 7 watt incandescent bulb!

Give the CFLs a try for inside and the LEDs for the outside. They will save you some good money and reduce your carbon footprint.

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