Greetings Energy Hero's!
Carbon Recall is back again bringing you another energy conservation tip to assist you in your quest to achieve a zero electric home.
In our last article, we talked about improving lifestyle practices by turning off unused appliances and lighting when not in use. In this article, we will help you lessen the impact of leaving those lights on, should you forget occasionally!
Enter, the LED light.
First developed back in 1963, most of us are now pretty familiar with LED lighting. They are everywhere from our homes and offices and are even standard on most new cars. In fact, almost all Christmas decoration lights sold are now LED, and as a fun fact, the New Year's Eve ball drop that takes place in Times Square each year contains approximately 32,000 LED lights!
But what are LED lights, and why are they so much more efficient than incandescent light bulbs?
LED stands for Light Emitting Diode, and they differ from the traditional incandescent light bulb by not heating up a wire to eventually produce light. According to statistics, the lights in our house account for roughly 15% of your utility bill, and LED lights can save up to 90% of that, equating to a couple of hundred dollars each year.
In addition to costing less to operate, LED lights also last up to 25 times longer than traditional light bulbs, which helps to offset the slightly higher initial cost that LED lights have. This equals roughly 35,000 hours of light. To put this into perspective, if you installed a brand new LED light in your baby's room when they are born, that single light will last them all the way through high school until they move out for college!
Picking the proper brightness of an LED light is slightly different than purchasing a traditional light bulb. For LED lights you will need to consider the lumens produced instead of the wattage of a bulb. For most family settings you will need 3-4000 lumens, such as the kitchen and dining room where more light is needed. For places with more intimate settings, you will only need 1-2000 lumens, such as your living room & bedrooms.
You can also use LED for mood lighting as there are now, there are a lot of manufacturers that make color-changing LED lights for a variety of settings that can be changed with the switch of a remote.
For those interested in more information on LED lights, check out this great YouTube video: LED Basics
Until next time Energy Hero's!
Carbon Recall York
Daniel@CarbonRecallYork.com
803-306-6380 (NET0)
コメント