DIY Cut Monthly Electricity Costs on Lighting
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 get yourself some new green products or even take you and your family on a mini vacation.
CFL is what’s called a Compact Fluorescent Lamp or a circular fluorescent bulb. A CFL does not generate light the way incandescent bulbs do.
Incandescent light bulbs essentially work the same way Thomas Edison invented them. 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 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 6 months of usage a CFL will pay for itself saving you about $30 per bulb over its lifespan!
The CFL bulb has come a long way these days giving us a much wider choice of light spectrum that is omitted. The mood of the rooms in your house, office or any other rooms can be greatly changed. The CFL color choices vary from a daylight blue to a warm yellow. Choosing a warmer colored light would be the right choice if you prefer incandescent bulbs. Be aware that the daylight or bluer light comes across as very harsh white light and can have negative effects on people that are sensitive to light.
If you look at the package that the bulb comes in it should have K for Kelvin rating, which gives you the “temperature” of the bulb. If you see a K rating of 2700K-3000K you will be getting a warm/yellow bulb. 3500K-4100K Kelvin rating will get you a cool white bulb. And a 5000K-6500K Kelvin rating would give you that Daylight blue look.
If you are looking to replace 40 watt incandescent bulbs, use 9-13 watt CFL bulbs. Replace a 60 watt incandescent with a 13-15 watt CFL. For a 75 watt incandescent use an 18-25 watt CFL. And to replace 100 watt incandescents use 23-30 watt CFLs.
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 looking for decorative lights, Energy Star qualified light emitting diode bulbs (LED) are a great alternative. They produce the same amount of light as an equivalent incandescent bulb and use up to 90% less energy! I have heard that the power needed for only one 7 watt incandescent bulb could be used to power up to 140 LEDs!
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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