Environmental Protection – First Steps to Environmental Sustainability Explained!

With the amount of human expansion in the world today, and population booms reaching levels higher than ever seen, we are consuming the earth’s natural resources in an alarming rate, and essentially killing our planet. There are many ways that each of us can help out, and the first steps to saving the planet begin at home. What better way to start than the use of environmentally friendly lights in your home and office. These lights, also known as CFL bulbs, can drastically reduce your carbon footprint, save you money, and help save the environment as well.

Top 3 Reasons to Use Energy Saving Lights in your home and help save the environment.

1. They reduce your monthly electric bill.

Lower wattage CFL bulbs use approximately 75% less energy and last about 10x longer than standard incandescent bulbs. If you replaced 20 incandescent light bulbs in your home with CFL bulbs, the cost savings would be about $1500 over the lifecycle of the bulbs.

2. They reduce your carbon footprint.

Going back to our above example, if you replaced 20 incandescent light bulbs in your home with energy saving lights, you could save 13,860 pounds of harmful carbon dioxide from entering our atmosphere throughout the bulb lifecycle. That’s the equivalent of taking a car off the road, and adding almost 1.5 acres of forest to the planet.

3. They simply last longer.

It is a simple fact that energy saving lights last longer than standard incandescent bulbs, about 10x longer to be exact. Energy Saving Bulbs usually have a rated lifespan of between 6,000 and 15,000 hours, whereas standard incandescent lamps are usually manufactured to have a lifespan of 750 hours or 1,000 hours. Wouldn’t that be nice to only have to replace your energy saving lights once every 8-10 years?

Every time a light bulb in my home goes out, I am in process of replacing it with a new energy saving light bulb, as I feel that it is my responsibility as a member of this planet to do my part in contributing to saving the environment. In the long run, it’s going to save me a bit of money as well. It is time for each and every one of us to do our part and keep the earth a clean place for us, our children, and our grandchildren. This is the quickest and easiest way to start, so let’s all start now and get to replacing those incandescent bulbs with energy saving light bulbs.

Energy saving lights are a definite step in the right direction for each and every one of us to go green and help save the environment.

What are Energy Saving Bulbs?

Conventional filament bulbs (including halogens) give out less than 20% of the energy they use as light, the rest is heat. Thus, they are not efficient for the purpose for which they are designed. Some people argue that this has hidden benefits, because they contribute to the heating of the room they are in. I think this does not stand up to close scrutiny for two reasons: (a) you often need light in summer, when you do not want heat (b) as most light bulbs are near the top of a room, and hotter air is at the top anyway, they mainly keep the top warm, and little heat gets lower down where it is more useful.

More efficient bulbs (energy saving bulbs) have been available for many years. These have been traditionally compact fluorescents, and these are still the most common form of energy saving bulb. Early types were not so popular, because they were big, took a considerable time to reach full brightness and were expensive. They have been improved, so that they are now much smaller, reach full brightness in a matter of seconds or less, and are considerably cheaper.

The next generation of energy saving bulbs will be ‘light emitting diode’ types (LEDs). These are an order of magnitude more efficient again, but at the present stage of development, they are not bright enough for most lighting. Some LED bulbs are starting to become practical alternatives though; notably those designed to replace GU10 or MR16 halogen bulbs. If you are considering this, you should note that the white LED bulbs have a slightly bluish tinge, which is quite attractive, but may look odd if mixed with other types of light. Another advantage of LEDs is they are available in colours, at no extra cost.

What Types of Energy Saving Bulbs are Available?

There is now an energy saving bulb, of one type or another, that will replace any common household bulb, with the exception of capsule halogens – these are the very small halogens, that look like a capsule. If you want to use energy saving bulbs, avoid light fittings that take this kind of bulb.

Some fittings will take energy saving bulbs only, so you have no choice. Recent building regulations in the UK stipulate that a certain proportion of lighting in new builds must be energy saving. Thus, fittings are put in that will only take this type of bulb. It is unfortunate that these bulbs tend to be more expensive than those which replace ordinary bulbs, probably because there is greater demand for the latter.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Energy Saving Bulbs

The benefits can be summarised as follows:

They use about one-fifth the electricity of filament lamps (less in the case of LEDs).

They last at least six times longer than filament lamps (much more in many cases).

They run cooler, so do not damage light fittings as much as filament lamps, so higher light outputs can be used, e.g. a lampholder which takes a maximum of 60W filament lamp, will take an 18W or more low energy bulb, giving the equivalent of 100W or more lighting.

Over the lifetime of the bulb, there will be considerable savings on electricity bills, and thus carbon emissions associated with electricity consumption.

Possible drawbacks are:

Usually they are more expensive to buy in the first place, but this cost is quickly recouped.

Compact fluorescents are not available in clear, only white or coloured.

Most (but not all) are bigger in size than conventional bulbs.

Cannot be used with dimmer switches (except the new type of dimmable compact fluoescents).

Most security light manufacurers (with PIRs) advise against their use, but with modern CFLs I have used them in security lights with no ill effects; they take a little longer to come on, but this is not usually a problem unless a couple of seconds is important.

Typical Savings

These figures are based on typical UK costs of 8p per unit of electricity (a kWhr) with a bulb on for 4 hours per day average and a bulb lifetime of 8000 hours, compared with 1000 hours for a conventional bulb. (You can get longer life bulbs of both types, but they cost more). I have taken a 20W low energy bulb and an equivalent 100W conventional bulb. The costs of the bulbs have been taken from the author’s website.

Running costs alone save £9.34 per year.

Running and replacement costs over lifetime of the low energy bulb (5.5 years) £53.18 – this is equivalent to a saving of about one-quarter of a tonne of CO2 emissions.

And this is just for one bulb. Imagine the savings if all your bulbs were replaced.

Good for your electricity bills and good for the environment.

There are numerous ways to make our office energy efficient and save more energy as a result. Are you looking for some energy saving products or appliances? Or perhaps you are thinking about installing some energy saving products. Either way, this article will be helpful for you and decide what products are best for your business.

Energy saving products can save money on monthly electric bill. Besides using less energy it reduces discharge of carbon dioxide and harmful pollutants from power plants that burn less fossil fuels to meet the lesser energy demand.

Energy saving products have the ability in them to use less energy to make the same amount of light output with the same performance and quality. As technology has advanced, there are many energy saving products which have improved the energy efficiency of ballasts and lamps by 60% resulting in lower electricity bills and reduced environmental issues. Moreover, lamps with long life require fewer substitutes, reducing the need for raw materials and lowering the necessity for recycling costs.

While buying these products, consider stores which are well-known and where you can get a huge benefit from the wide range of selections also find the right products you require for your office. Look for a store where you will get products with excellent quality at a reasonable price. Appropriate energy devices are a good start for helping environmental problems. The online stores offer different types of products in different ranges and models, choose the correct devices which is essential for your business.

Today world is experiencing energy revolution. Environmental problems are catching up and with the increased pressure given on protecting ecosystem. We all should play our roles in saving energy. Through energy saving, we might surely take a positive step in preserving the non renewable sources of energy and in fighting for the climatic change. Numerous industries are now providing customer-focused energy devices for examples E-Cube refrigeration saving device, vending miser, water saving devices, energy monitoring system, T5 adaptors, airco saver and many more. A variety of products are now placed in the shelves of the store and which can help in energy revolution and preservations. Using these devices we can help preserve energy and replace non renewable sources with renewable sources of energy.

Nowadays, you would find out a range of green appliances or products in the market. Green appliances consist of energy saving products for your office and household appliances made out of eco-friendly resources. For example, fluorescent light bulb is light saving products which use less amount of energy per watt. All these energy saving appliances positively reduce the environmental impacts and decrease electricity expenses. In addition, they even lessen the discharge of harmful waste in the long term.

There are many benefits of using energy saving appliances like; it utilizes 80% less utility and less dependent on coal and petroleum. Also, it reduces the electricity expenses and lessens the gasoline. In addition it helps in global warming and works well for a longer time. So, when we are inclined to these matters, why not lead the way to conserving energy.