Life Alternate » Home Energy

Ikea to stop selling Incandescent Bulbs

Wispa — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:58:20 +0000

Incandescent Light bulbs are becoming so last century. With many countries already introducing bans on their sale retail stores are leading the change.

The Giant Retail chain Ikea has started to phase out the sale of incandescent light bulbs in the USA. One cause of this is the Energy Independence Act of 2007 which will stop the sale of incandescent light bulbs which comes in to effect in 2012.

Already many consumers have become aware of the newer Compact Fluorescent Lights and ideally the long lasting Light Emitting Diode and have switched to the energy saving technologies. Many of those consumers are not even aware that the Act is in place and the ban will exist.

For those still living in the dark ages, 2012 will see you forced to change and forced to save money!

These new bulbs, CFL and LED, consume 20 percent of the energy needed to power an incandescent. This therefore means you will save 80 cents in every dollar you currently pay for lighting.

Ikea are one of the giants anticipating the change and no only sell energy saving light bulbs. Along with new innovated lighting designs that were not possible with old style lighting.

Incandescent are very wasteful, while producing the same amount of light as LED’s, they used more energy and this is normally turned to heat. This actually inhibits their use unlike the LED which practically produced no heat. The end result is much more innovation in lighting design and I am sure Ikea will be at the forefront.

Outdoor Lighting with Solar and LED

Wispa — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 07:37:46 +0000

Modern technologies are offering great advantages for home and garden decoration. The combination of solar energy and Light Emitting Diodes can bring any outdoor space or garden to life with ambient displays.

Decorative solar light

Lighting up your spaces used to involve lots of wiring for power and expensive outdoor lights that always seemed too expensive for most of us living on a tight budget. It was always seen as a luxury and we let our outdoor spaces go mostly unused when darkness fall.

The low energy consumption of LED’s that use so little power that a small solar panel can be used to power them. In effect this has made your garden lights portable, no need for complex electrical wiring and if you don’t like the arrangement then they are free to move to a better spot.

Designs are numerous and range from illuminations that can be hidden behind plants to give them an exotic glow in the darker evening all the way to lighting for your patio tables which are idea for that late night barbeque.

Driveways or paths are other areas that might be suitable for lighting. Specifically designed path lights make this as easy with no wiring involved. Just simply place them were you want whenever you want.

During daylight the solar panels on these lights keep rechargeable batteries charged up and this happens constantly and automatically without you having to do anything. As night falls light sensors detect the darkness and the lights turn on even when your not at home.

As the LED Lights use small voltages there is little risk of danger from electric shock. The are even safe around kids and pets.

The savings you will make in energy costs might be around a few hundred dollars a year which is not really much. On the other hand these illuminations do open up the possibilities of creating a pleasuring space or garden that you can enjoy.

Osram Sylvania Joins LED Lighting

Wispa — Tue, 18 May 2010 05:54:14 +0000

Another big name has joined in the race for the LED Lighting market. Osram is scheduled to release a 60 watt equivalent LED Bulb later this year.

There is an increasing choice on the market for the consumer for replacement LED Lighting as more brand names switch over development and production to the efficient LED. These fantastic little devices use just 20% of the energy as the incandescent light bulb. In other words you can run five LED Lamps and still use the same amount of electrical energy as one 60 watt incandescent.

The Life Span is massively increased also,. From having to replace a bulb every 2,000 hours on average you’ll have to wait 25,000 hours now. Instead of lasting just under a year, these LED`s could have you waiting 11 years till it fails on average use . And we all know bulbs usually blow when we need them most.

These are expensive outlays compared to the cheaper traditional bulbs and a hefty US$50 to US$100 might dissuade a lot of potential buyers. But like all new developments the initial price dramatically drops with competition and streamlining of production. With Osram joining the race should make the price drop to affordable levels for all.

Lighting units, especially in the home, had to be designed with a user serviceability factor, that is changing the bulb. This does put a constraint on the styles we use but that is not the case any longer. LED Light bulbs currently are designed to fit in as replacements in our current lamps and lights meaning they do come in a certain bulb like style that is familiar. As these can last over 10 years the consumer does not really need to replace the bulb. This will be a boom for designers and for us. The range of cheap lighting devices will vastly increase. How about flat plates that hang on your wall and light your room. Lamps no longer need to dissipate the wasted heat which opens up more doors.

Energy saving is the pushing factor here for LED Lights and the doors of design are just beginning to open.

Solar Powered Air Conditioners

Wispa — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:54:30 +0000

The summer heat is arriving in the northern parts of the world and bringing those hot sticky days that can make us so uncomfortable. The ideal solution on everybody’s mind is a cool dip in the ocean next to some tropical beach. Unfortunately that is not possible for practically all of us and we have to take the second option, The Air Conditioner.

The Air conditioner does bring lots of needed relief but the big down side is that they are energy hungry. As the sun gets higher in the sky more conditioners around the world spring to life cooling our surroundings. This places a large strain on the electrical grid and occasionally can bring the network down just when you need it most. The brighter side here is that hot sticky sunny weather is ideal for solar energy production. It seems like a perfect match.

Solar energy stations can help with the demand and many cities and town add energy to the network with installations on rooftops of homes and businesses. This may take care of the increased demand but there is still the reliability of the grid to consider and we can only pump so much power through those lines before they can’t take any more and fail. The other down side is that you still have to pay for your power supply.

The ideal solution here is a home based solar powered air conditioner. Mostly solar energy has easily applied itself to devices that use just a little power like personal music players and lighting. Those air conditioners take demand to another level and are not ideally suited in their current form.

Reducing your need for cooling is one of the first steps to take. Normally we thing of insulation for keeping the warmth inside, but this can equally apply to keeping the warmth outside and the cool refreshing air inside. Some small and cheap ideas could easily done. Roof ventilation, those attics and roof spaces are heat traps. Gaps, doors and windows opened just a little bit can let massive amounts of cool air escape. Your outside walls could be warming up to much and radiating heat inside your home. Adding some shade could be as easy as planting a few bushes to act as sun blocks.

Ultimately you will still need some form of cooling and as an alternate to refrigeration air conditioning the use of evaporative coolers may be an option. These use the evaporation of water to cool the air and can use much less electricity at around 25% of refrigeration air conditioners. This lower electrical usage makes them more suitable to be powered by solar energy produced in the home. There are a few downsides, they do use water and this in itself is a precious and soon to be costly and in demand resources. As these are based on water evaporation the performance will be reduced in areas of high humidity. If you are lucky to live in the desert then they are ideal but then you will already probably have a water problem.

Reducing power usage and costs using renewable and alternate energies tend to lend themselves to multiple tailored solutions and can not really be just taken out of the box and used. You home and location will have a big say in what will work for you but the solutions are there. Solar powered air conditioning can be done but it might be a little bit more tricky to implement. Anything that could reduce your energy consumption should be investigated if it works the savings could be quite large.

Energy Efficiency Like a Business

Wispa — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:30:01 +0000

Saving the planet is not foremost on the mind of business around the world. Their stock holders have to be repaid and this means making a profit for the company. So why are so many business going green? The simple answer here is to reduce costs. Saving energy or offsetting energy production with renewable sources may come across as a “green company” when portrayed in the media but the real driving force here is money.

Green Living

Competition and cost are the driving forces and while the motive is not to be environmentally friendly the results can often be very green. Reducing waste, cutting energy consumption and being more efficient are good examples of what can be learnt and reused in our everyday persona lives. While we do not really have competitors to worry about we do have costs and that is the motive for many people to turn to a greener life.

Energy consumption is probably the most costly aspect of our lives. From our methods of transport, how we heat our homes right down to the food we eat can be modified or changed where the result still allows us to live a comfortable life or quite often better.

Believe it or not, a lot of people drive to their health club. If everybody took a step back here and had a good look at what they were doing they could see how to cut costs here and still have the same outcome, that is benefits of exercise. You could instead of driving, use a bicycle. That would cut the cost of fuel for your car and thus a saving. But keeping on the same line of thought all those bicycle journeys would make you a lot fitter and then why would you need to go to the health club. This would bring an extra saving the high cost of the fitness club membership.

While I do not suggest that everybody gets on their bike to cut costs, these ideas can be used in the home. Most people need some form of heating in their home and maybe they will look at renewable energies to reduce their utility costs. This is a good idea by itself but this is not the first step your should take.

Reducing energy usage is much more profitable. Insulation works just as well for keeping warm as for keeping cool. A properly insulated home can have a dramatic effect on energy usage, this along with keeping the draughts out should be the first steps anyone should take and extremely cost effective.

A second step householders can take is reduce your energy usage is your appliances. You can be sure inside all those business and factories the commercial sector has removed all its old energy guzzling machines and replaced them with more efficient devices that work just as well. This is your next step to take. Fitting compact Fluorescent Lights (CLF) and best of all Light Emitting Diodes (LED) lighting can reduce your energy usage for lighting down to 20% of what it was before. That is the costs for lighting are now just one fifth of what it was before. This in itself will not amount to much of your now insulated homes energy cost, but its a start. As your other energy using appliance start to age or fail then your aim is to replace them with extremely efficient replacements. Here every little bit helps and soon your home will be using much much less fuel and still be as comfortable as before.

Now that you have reduce your energy usage you can think perhaps going solar. As this is your last step your solar installation will need to produce much less power than before your efficient adventure. This is where most people start and find they cannot produce enough power to supply their home or the cost of a large solar photovoltaic array can be too expensive. You have the advantage here by already reducing your power requirements. Your costs will be lower and installations will be smaller and less obtrusive. Not just solar, if your are lucky to have a location for wind power or even home hydro the same benefits can be had with smaller cheaper installations.

Those large business who are installing renewable energy sources will have already become energy efficient and this is a good example for the home too. Diving straight in at the deep in and being totally green without using your business head will no doubt end up costing your more than you need to pay.

Solar Energy Security for Home Owners

Wispa — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 10:04:28 +0000

Solar Energy seems to be bucking the trend on the downturn of the economy. As the world jumped into recession in 2009 everybody was looking to tighten their belts and save money. A possible positive effect of this was solar energy. With homeowners faced with reduced incomes and rising prices many have turned to home solar energy installation as a means to cut costs.

Rooftop Solar Panel

On rooftops and in backyards across the USA solar installations have become more commonplace. In fact in 2009 the amount of clean energy produced by homeowners has doubled the amount produces in 2008. Whether this is just a natural increase in take up of the technology or a sudden shock caused by the economy the end results are ultimately beneficial in the long term.

In the political aspect energy security is beconing a big issue as countries scramble to find more imports of rare resources or ultimately look towareds renewable energy that can be produced on their own soil. Homeowners also have gained more energy security with less reliance on the ever increasing cost and ultimately scarcer utility supply and have made a noticeable saving in their monthly spending costs. Should the unstable economy affect the homeowner with job losses then they will be assured that at least they will have a free supply of clean energy.

Manufacturing improvements and the technological advances have brought down the cost of photovoltaic panels to a price where even in good economic conditions they are affordable by many owners. In these bad time of insecurity then the advantages they offer like a source of nearly continuous electrical energy that will cost you nothing to produce.

For those not convinced and there are probably many there are enticements available in to form of tax credits or government grants that can even bring down the cost of installation even more.

There is no doubt that the year 2010 will see another rise in the amount of energy produced by rooftop installations as awareness of the benefits become common talking points around your community as those already enlightened start to enjoy their cleaner free and secure energy supply.

General Electric Switches on LED Lighting

Wispa — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:58:13 +0000

The General Electric company have plans to market their brand of ,the latest energy saying innovation, the LED light bulb.

Light Emitting Diodes have already made headways in our lives in the form of traffic lights and signage, now the home is the battle ground and already a few different companies have stated to market their own led bulbs.

For years homes have been light by the incandescent light bulb, these can be cheaply manufactured but have a down side of being very inefficient at converting electricity into light and have a very low lifespan. LED lighting can reduce the energy used by up to 80% and still provide the same quality of lighting. The additional bonus is that these new light bulbs last a long long time.

The GE light uses 9 watts of electricity but produces the equivalent light as a 40 watt incandescent bulb, so that is means changing all your lighting could reduce your electrical consumption by over 75%. Nobody can argue that is quite a large saving. This along with the reliability, you will still have to replace the bulbs and have spares under the sink, but this chore can easily forgotten as the bulbs last up to 25 times longer. In situations where reliability of lighting is important this can be a major factor.

The downside, at the moment, is the cost. GE estimates their bulbs will cost around US$40-US$50 which is quite a massive price hike compared to the cost of incandescent light bulbs and might put a lot of people off the idea.

Before the idea fades away, you might need to take another look. Around the world legislation is being introduce or in place to stop the manufacture and sale of the old inefficient light bulbs. While this may seem like a blow to a person freedom of choice we cannot over look the need for a worldwide reduction on energy use. Going LED would make a small saving but a noticeable one.

Compact Fluorescent Lighting is a viable alternative to LED at the moment but it may be the case that this form of lighting may have a short life and LED becomes the standard for all forms of lighting.

This authoritarian direction on efficient lighting will force innovation and efficiency in the design and manufacture of LED light bulbs. The lighting capacity will improve and probably most important for the consumer is the cost. Even at the moment those who have insight can see the benefits and savings of changing to efficient lighting but having to pay such a large increase in price for a light bulb will be a large hurdle for many people to overcome.

Inage: GE

Led Lighting Innovation not just a Light Bulb

Wispa — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:51:50 +0000

The year 2010 could just be the year the Light Emitting Diode (LED) Light bulb comes of age.

LED Lighting has been slowly progressing through our town and homes slowly replacing the inefficient incandescent light bulbs that were invented so long ago by a Mr Joseph Swan. Not the name you thought, well history does not always tell the correct story.

Technology and Environmental ideals are pushing the old bulbs out and replacing them with the LED. Your home is full of lighting that can be replaced with more energy efficient bulbs that will save you large amounts on your lighting costs. But that is just the start. Simply replacing a bulb for a bulb is not enough for innovators and designers they want to make your life better.

A hint of what might be can be seen from Yanko Design Segmented LED Light Bulb Concept. Just being energy efficient is not enough here. Instead of lighting up all the room, the design allows just parts, or segments to be illuminated. As well as being able to add ambient lighting effects to your room this would massively lengthen the life of the bulb. LED lights already have a much longer lifespan. Less wasted lighting also means less energy cost. If you thought you were saving a bundle then you could save even more.

Low energy lighting lends itself to lots of uses that will soon be commonplace in this decade. You could imagine Yanko Design taking this a step further. Maybe a pair of house slippers tracking your movement around the home. If its 3am in the morning and your slippers feel your feel slide into them then its a good chance that you might be going to the bathroom. Maybe the lights should be turned on automatically for you. Or it’s just approaching 9pm and you are tracked from the kitchen to the sofa in the living area. How about some nice cosy TV lighting without even thinking about it.

Some day these ideas might come to fruition but in the meantime go and save yourself a bundle and convert your lighting to LED.

Images: YankoDesign

Solar Powered Attic Fan

Wispa — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:37:37 +0000

Keeping your loft or attic cool and well ventilated is another task where Solar Energy cant step in with the Solar Powered Attic Fan.

As the outside weather and temperature varies over the day, a poorly ventilated attic can slowly build up problems with condensation witch in the long run may cause mould and rot in your lost space. To prevent this most homes come with good ventilation as standard, but as time goes on this may prove out not to be enough. To prevent long term problems caused by condensation installing an attic fan will help reduce any nasties that may show themselves.

Solar Powered Attic Fan

Normally you would need to source some electrical energy and this means wiring trailing across your attic but if your think solar power then you can forget about all that and still keep your attic healthy by using that free energy we all know comes from the sun.

Your solar powered attic fan will come as a complete unit and nothing extra is needed for it’s installation. A little bit of construction is required here, the fan needs a hole cut in the roof and properly mounted to keep the Weather out. As this involves actually working on your roof hiring a professional contractor is preferred and will probably work out much cheaper than the cost of renting the safety equipment yourselves. Those experts will take no more than a few hours to complete the work. This might also be an ideal time to think about your loft insulation and perhaps even installing photovoltaic solar panels and solar hot water system as both of these usually involve working up there on the roof.

Just the Attic Fan itself is a worth while investment, not only are you reducing the possibility of roof damage in the future which may cost many thousands of dollar to fix, but the operation of the fan is completely free. Energy saving does not need to be on the large scale, having lots of little solar powered and energy efficient gadgets around your home can all combine to large savings on utility bills. Some like the Attic fans can help safeguard your home from expensive problems in the future. The remote solar devices also eliminate the need for electrical installation which makes them more versatile in their use and location.

Adaptations of the Attic Fans can be used for all sorts of applications and modern electronics that allows temperature sensing combine to provide efficient control over our environment. These self contained solar powered devices can be found not just in your Attic but also controlling the heat in greenhouses and installed in yachts or recreation vehicles.

Solar Powered Christmas Lights

Wispa — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:40:22 +0000

With the festive season approaching and your planning begins, it might be a good idea to have a think about those old fairy lights and consider Solar Powered Christmas Lights instead.

The combination of two modern technologies, Solar Energy which is always free and LED Lighting which are very energy efficient compared to traditional incandescent light bulbs make Solar Lighting the natural frontrunner when choosing new decorations. The added aspect of being much more safe then normal lighting allows your Christmas artwork to be used in many more locations and being solar powered there is little need to find suitable electrical outlets nearby.

Light Emitting Diode, LED, lighting is a new technology, but its not some fad that is going to disappear in a few years. Already we have LED Television Screens and signage in the form of traffic lights, car indicators and light bulbs for the home. Decorative lighting is a natural step to take. While your neighbours are blowing fuses trying to keep their holiday lighting shining you can show your displays using the low energy LED Lighting without the fear of causing any power failures or very costly energy bills.

Multi-coloured, flashing, strings, ropes, displays, intact all the traditional Christmas lighting can be had with LED and more. Combined with solar power, some designs can power themselves through the holiday season and you do not even have to throw a switch.

Either light sensitive switches turn the lights on when darkness arrives or they can be timed to turn on and off are whatever hour you desire. Charging themselves up through the daytime on solar energy the efficient LED can last the whole night giving off bright displays.

Having trees or bushes in the garden means your can literally throw a string of lights over your foliage, orientate the small solar panel towards the sun, turn on and forget all about them. When darkness comes your garden will illuminate while next door your neighbours are still trying to find a electrical cable to stretch down to the garden gate.

For indoor Christmas decoration solar powered led lighting is still suitable but here we need to make sure the solar panel is placed suitably near a window. Hanging ropes of lights around the window frame would be the ideal situation but if you wish to decorate your tree or hearth on the other side of the room then solar power may not be ideally suitable. You can still use the energy efficient LED lighting but this would mean having them powered by a mains wall outlet. Well it is the holiday season and its a time for forgiving so using a little energy is better then using a lots.

Brighten up your Christmas with LED lighting and remember these low power lights are much safer and this is especially important at this happy time of the year.

There is a saying that a puppy is not just for Christmas, well we can say the same about Solar Powered Christmas LED lighting, While your flashing reindeer may not be suitable for all year, your other lights can be used for parties or just for having a nice garden display. Strings or lanterns along paths or on tables can add a nice effect to summer evenings. Solar energy is around all year and shouldn’t you also have the pleasure of energy free lighting whenever you want. You can.