Challenge #11: Turn off the lights!

Turn off the lights in the room/rooms that nobody is using.

“Keep our future bright, turn off the light.”

-unknown

Hey guys!

The light bulb – such a simple invention that makes our lives much easier and makes it possible for us to see when or where there is no natural light.

Before that, people used candles to light up the room. Can you imagine that? Or going to bed the minute the sun sets down.

We simply can’t imagine our lives without the artificial light, can we? But like when dealing with any other electricity consuming object, we can make sure to use it wisely and economically.

Since people are often in a hurry, we tend to forget to turn off the lights. We often leave them on in rooms that nobody is using for hours. Sometimes we even forget to turn them off when we leave our homes. It’s a common thing that happens to all of us.

This week keep extra attention and make sure to consistently turn off the lights when they aren’t being used. Try and do your best not to use any more of the lights than you really need. Even when watching TV in the evening, try to do it with the light turned off, if possible of course.

“Give light and people will find the way.”

-Ella Baker

Facts about the light and light bulbs

Let us start by taking a look at some interesting facts about the light and light bulbs:

• Visible light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes are able to register.
• Sun emits white color and as such can be seen from the space. It’s due to light scattering in our atmosphere that makes it look colorful.
• In 1879 Thomas Alva Edison created the first commercially practical incandescent light bulb.
• Incandescent light bulbs are surprisingly inefficient, converting up to 90 percent of the electricity they consume into heat.

• Almost half of the electricity used by industry is for lighting.
• In homes, up to 25 percent of our electric bill is for lighting.
• Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and LED lamps are modern more efficient types of light bulbs.
• Incandescent light bulbs are still the most widely used.

Energy efficient light bulbs

Over the years scientists had realized that incandescent light bulbs have poor efficiency and they’ve managed to develop new types of light bulbs.

First, they came up with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) but in the past few years, they’ve also scaled up LED lamps that have even better efficiency.

The fact that makes LED light bulbs so efficient is that they emit only visible light.

Should we all switch to CFLs or even LED lamps?

Here’s a comparison between all three types of light bulbs:

• Watts (equivalent 60 watts): LED: 8; CFL: 14; incandescent: 60.
• Lifespan in hours: LED: 50,000; CFL: 9,000; incandescent: 1,000.
• Cost per bulb: LED: $20; CFL: $3; incandescent: $1.25.
• Annual cost*: LED: $1.46; CFL: $2.56; incandescent: $10.95.
• Bulbs needed for 50k hours: LED: 1; CFL: 5.5; incandescent: 50.
• Cost for 50k hours @ $0.10 kWh: LED: $39.58; CFL: $70.83; incandescent: $300.
• Total cost for 50k hours with bulb price: LED: $59.58; CFL: $87.30; incandescent: $362.50.

(*Assuming 5 hours a day @ $0.10 per kWh.)

You can see, that by switching over to CFL or even LED lamps, which have way better energy efficiency, you save electricity and even money in the long run.

So, yeah, we really believe that we can all benefit by replacing incandescent light bulbs with CFLs or even better – LED light bulbs.

By doing so, there will be less harm done, when you’ll forget to turn off the lights next time. 😉

Which is the best led light bulb?

Here are three top-rated LED light bulbs: Cree 9.5-Watt, Philips LED 425264 and G7 Power Incline.

This week’s extra:

While doing some research for this post, we ran into a useful item: the LampChamp – the USB lamp socket charger. You just place it under the light bulb and you get an additional practical way to charge your phone.

Take-home points:

• do your best to switch off the lights when you don’t need them;

• save energy by switching to CFLs or LEDs;

• save money by switching to CFLs or LEDs.

Have a lovely week!

Warm regards,

Good Earthlings