Home & Garden Do It Yourself

Check Out Full Spectrum Energy Efficient Lighting

The merit of using full spectrum lighting and the new natural light fluorescent lights is a move in the right direction for the planet and for your pocketbook.  Lighting utilizes approximately 17% of all electricity consumed in the United States. Reducing energy consumption saves money and reduces the amount of emissions that contribute to climate change, acid rain and smog. In fact, upgrading your home lighting system from incandescent lighting is one of the easiest and most cost effective measures you can do to save money in your home and protect the environment.
New developments in fluorescent lighting provide high quality, flicker-free light without the humming and gray colored light associated with older fluorescent bulbs and tubes. High quality phosphors used in contemporary lamps, such as lamps manufactured by Ott-Lite, provide high color quality and electronic ballasts that have eliminated the flicker and hum.
Other than giving us basic illumination, artificial light should meet our needs for visibility, health and safety, mood, comfort, socializing and aesthetic appeal. Since today’s contemporary society spends significant amounts of time indoors, it is important that indoor lighting provide a positive home and office environment. When setting up your own home lighting environment, your consideration of the occupants in the lighted space is needed. For example, as our eyes age they undergo optical and neurological changes that require increased light levels because of the aging eye’s reduced ability to perceive contrast and color saturation.
The Way Electric Lights Work
In incandescent bulbs, electricity heats a wire filament inside a glass bulb causing it to glow and give off light. 90% of the energy used is given off as heat and 10% as light.
In fluorescent lamps the electric ballast alters the electric current flowing between electrodes inside gas filled glass tubes activating the gas to produce Ultraviolet (UV) light. The UV light excites the multi-phosphor coating on the inside of the glass tube and causes it to glow and produce visible light - 60% of the energy used is given off as heat and 40% as light.
Lighting Characteristics
Color Temperature - The relative "color" of a light source expressed in degrees Kelvin. Generally, sources below 3200K are considered "warm" (more yellowish) and those above 4000K are considered "cool" (more bluish). Of course, fluorescent lights are included in the latter.
Therefore, if you want to have an excellent, affordable source of good lighting with accurate color rendering, that will lessen eye strain and improve visibility as your eyes age, change your lighting to full spectrum natural manufactured lights and lamps. The new fluorescents are worth the research, and their benefits can be taken to the bank.


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