On Jan. 1, 2011, the Golden State became the first state to phase out standard incandescent light bulbs. A new federal efficiency standard for lighting will be put into place starting in 2012, but California opted to jump first and ban the selling of these inefficient fossils.

If you’re a devoted fan of incandescent bulbs, fear not-the bulbs will still be available. But when they’re gone from the shelves of your favorite light bulb store, they’re gone. That’s it. You’ll have to “settle” for the much more efficient incandescent halogen, compact fluorescent (CFL) or light-emitting diode bulbs (LED) for your energy-efficient lighting.

Get used to it, though-this is becoming the new standard, if it hasn’t already.

Any light bulbs that are made this year must be 28 percent more energy efficient than their predecessors. For example, that 100-watt bulb you have? It’ll now be a 72-watt model, at the most.

According to consumerreports.org, “The new standard will allow consumers to choose from a wide range of available products including incandescent halogen, compact fluorescent, and light-emitting diode bulbs,” said Adam Gottlieb, a spokesman for the California Energy Commission.

By becoming the leader in the lighting efficiency world, California also became a test market for the rest of the country. As the most populous state in the nation, it’ll be interesting to see how Californians react.

IKEA is also joining the light fray. The Swedish furniture and dcor goliath announced that starting Jan. 4, 2011, their American stores would cease stocking incandescent bulbs altogether.

IKEA’s gradual phasing out of these bulbs actually started in August 2010 with a stop-selling target date of January 2011. Instead, they’ll be happy to sell you halogen, CFL and LED bulbs.

Pay now, save later

RICS Global, a United Kingdom-based organization involved with land and property, recently commissioned a study to determine how much more energy-efficient dwellings-both private homes and commercial buildings-would sell for than those with higher energy costs. The organization sought to determine what correlation there was (if any) between energy performing certificates (EPC) and a home’s economic value.

After looking at 175,875 home sales (energy-efficient homes presented EPC documents) in The Netherlands from January 2008 to September 2009, the study also added a number of factors that could potentially increase the value of a home, like dwelling age and quality and previous energy bills. After the dust settled, the total price of a residential building crept up by an average of just 2.52 percent.

There are many benefits of energy efficient light bulbs and a lot of people are sceptical about whether they are genuine or not and the answer is: yes! Many researchers have tried, tested and improved the energy saving lighting over the past 30 years; the most popular being CFL lights. This lighting hugely reduces electricity bills by 10% thus saving you money and reducing your energy usage.

CFL lights are the most popular energy lights and have been approved by the Energy Star program, despite this they are always attempting to improve them further. It is recommended by experts that energy efficient lighting should be used wherever possible in and around your home and workplace. They use 1/3 of the power that the regular incandescent lights use and last up to 10 times longer which reduces the amount of recycling needed for bulbs and saves you many trips to the supermarket for more.

Many cases of areas of energy saving bulbs becoming more popular in the world have been recognised by the media and published in an attempt to encourage others to begin using them too; one of which is the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball. Phillips has been the Times Squares’ light bulb suppliers for over 12 years and it populates over 32,000 light bulbs which glitter up the square. In 2012 they plan to replace these bulbs with more energy efficient sources of light thus primarily saving 80% more energy.

Another case of replacing regular bulbs with energy efficient bulbs is San Francisco Long Beach airport where they have upgraded 75 lights. Initially they had metal halide and fluorescent bulbs and all of these have now been changed to ultra-efficient LED bulbs which again use 80% less energy.

It is obvious that there is a new revolution when it comes to light bulbs and many people are realising this and joining in themselves. You can expect to see many more businesses and popular land marks replacing their bulbs with energy efficient in the next few years ergo providing a better world for all of us. If researchers can do this with bulbs then technology advances in the future may be changed completely in order to provide all of us with a much more energy saving lifestyle. Do your part in changing and saving the world and purchase some of these life-changing bulbs.

You may also notice how lighting impacts your budget. Lighting accounts for 5% to 25% of American power bill costs each year. That’s a substantial amount of money you might be making use of elsewhere, if only you could come up with an approach to more efficiently use light. Attaining energy efficiency in your own residence is doable, just by following these general and simple suggestions.

There are two ways to save the energy utilized to light your home. The first of the options available to you is to consider lowering the usage rate of your house’s light bulbs and fixtures. Consider purchasing light bulbs of a lower wattage, for instance. This involves replacing existing bulbs or, in some circumstances, entire fixtures with those that supply similar or even increased amounts of light but that end up reducing the total of electricity actually used. A good start in the right direction consists of changing inefficient incandescent bulbs with incandescent halogen or compact fluorescent bulbs.

You can become more energy efficient a second way by decreasing the duration of time that the lights in your residence are used. Simply use dimmers or timers to manage your consumption. When it is not absolutely necessary to have lights on to begin with, set a good example for other members of your family by explaining the significance of shutting off lights.

These methods of energy conservation were probably before now in the back of your mind. Due to their extended life spans, the increase in cost of buying more energy efficient light bulbs is absolutely gained back. The variations between particular sorts of energy efficient light bulbs and fixtures can be explained by any hardware store employee. There is no reason not to apply a more efficient lighting plan now in your house. Plus, the extra income you save on your utility bill can certainly come in handy.

Compact Fluorescent lighting also referred to as CFL’s just happen to be the least expensive on the market. These bulbs last around ten times longer than incandescent and even consume around 2/3 less energy than incandescent.

Halogen bulbs are incandescent bulbs that use halogen gas and offer a bright light; these on the other hand are not as energy efficient as they only consume around 10 percent less than incandescent bulbs.

No matter which type of bulbs you decide to use you can save energy just by installing a sensor lighting system. The system can be used in most lighting options and will only be used when needed. The way these systems work is that the device has a motion sensor that will turn the lights on when motion is detected and after a few minutes with no activity, the lights will be turned off automatically. This is one of the best ways to save money on your electrical bill as well as conserve energy. Instead of using options that are not bright enough, just install sensor lighting and your problems will be solved.

There is a tremendous opportunity to save energy costs associated with lighting in those new homes. On average, there are 47 medium based sockets in a US residence. Assuming 2-3 hours of use per day, that could amount to at least $300 to $400 of energy costs for those sockets alone, depending on the kWh rates in the region. In most cases, LED lighting could save the homeowner up to $300 annually.

Many regional utility companies make rebates available to homeowners for the purchase energy efficient lighting. These can vary from state to state. However, there are no incentives being offered directly to the builders to install energy efficient lighting in a new home up front. The homebuilder is really the decision maker on what lighting goes into those homes initially, not the homebuyer. Outside of California, where energy efficient lighting is legislated, few builders have pioneered it. There is certainly a significant cost consideration to offer energy efficient lighting in new home construction, a business where managing the cost per square foot is very important, and where the builder does not get the ultimate advantage of energy savings products since they will not own the property. Today, the benefit to the builder is primarily a marketing one as they can offer greener homes and communities which are differentiated from the competition. However, this cost is generally prohibitive to most.

As a source of both ambient and task light, recessed downlights (“cans”) are widely used in American kitchens. These fixtures push light down and away to light an area and a work surface at the same time. To enable the homeowner to add ambience, they’re often controlled by a dimmer switch.

For homeowners motivated to make a small investment to reduce their electricity use and/or carbon footprint, a simple light bulb retrofit in their existing kitchen fixtures is a smart and easy strategy. Simply remove the existing high wattage (commonly 65-90 watts) bulbs, and insert lower wattage eco-friendly lamps which yield equivalent light output (lumens). But since there are two types of lower cost energy-efficient lighting options from which to choose, which is preferable in this application?

High-Efficiency Halogen Lamps Beat Compact Fluorescent Lamps

We’ve looked at this question from many angles and have concluded that screw-in (self-ballasted) CFL reflector lamps, for many the obvious choice, are an inferior, energy-efficient lighting solution. Very few consumers are familiar with the new high-efficiency halogen lamps (“HEH”) which have hit the market in the last few years. The best of these models already exceed the energy efficiency requirements for incandescent reflector lamps scheduled to take effect in July 2012.

Here, we cite nine reasons why we believe high-efficiency halogen lamps, controlled by a pre-set dimmer switch, offer overall superior, energy-efficient lighting value to CFLs starting with the most important factor for electric light sources, whether energy efficient or not: light characteristics.

Reason 1 – Great Light:

Halogen light is legendary for being white, bright, crisp, and punchy and making colors appear vivid.
The light cast by CFL reflectors, while typically warm white, is average at best.

Reason 2 – Superior Illuminance:

“Illuminance” describes the amount of light on a horizontal surface, measured in “foot candles.”
High-efficiency halogen lamps, especially those with a PAR (Parabolic Aluminized Reflector) configuration, throw concentrated light downwards measurably better than CFL reflectors.
The result? Much more artificial light where it’s needed.

Reason 3 – Effortless Dimming:

No artificial light source dims better than an incandescent lamp. High-efficiency halogen lamps use improved incandescent technology and don’t require special dimmer switches.
Dimmable CFLs cost more than non-dimmable versions. But dimmable doesn’t translate into impressive dimming performance.

Reason 4 – Dimming = Longer Lamp Life:

Dimming any lamp is an energy-efficient lighting strategy because it reduces electricity consumption and harmful gas emissions. There’s an added green benefit when dimming high-efficiency halogen lamps: it extends the lifetime of the lamp.
For example, constant dimming by just 15% (a pre-set dimmer enables this) will triple the life of the bulb, thereby reducing landfill waste and replacement costs.
For premium high-efficiency halogen lamps, this translates into 9,000 to 12,000 hours, roughly the same as the average rated life of an Energy Star rated CFL reflector (whose projected life is static even if dimmed).

Reason 5 – Instant On:

Just like non-halogen incandescent bulbs, halogen lamps reach full brightness with the flick of a switch.
State-of-the-art CFL reflectors will start instantly but take 30 seconds to a minute’s time to reach full brightness (depending on the ambient room temperature).

Reason 6 – Mercury-Free:

High-efficiency halogen lamps operate without the use of mercury.
All CFLs contain mercury which must be vaporized to create ultraviolet energy and subsequently, visible light.
Since mercury is a toxic substance, this necessitates proper recycling at the end of a CFL’s life.
Further, while breakage in a recessed can is a low probability risk, an accident would cause mercury to contaminate the area below.

Reason 7 – Reliability:

High-efficiency halogen lamps don’t contain any electronic components.
Unlike a screw-in CFL, which contains a precise electronic component called a ballast, neither frequent on/off switching, nor trapped heat will affect the performance or lifespan of these energy-efficient lighting solutions.

Reason 8 – Lumen Maintenance:

Lumens are the measure of the amount of light emitted by a light source. High-efficiency halogen lamps maintain their initial lumens for as long as they operate.
CFLs, using different technology, will gradually dim by about 25% over their lifetime.
Why does this matter? Studies have shown that at age 65, the eyes need three times more light to see as well as at age 20.
With CFLs in a kitchen, vision needs and light output are moving in opposite directions as time passes.

The Rest of the Story – High-Efficiency Halogen Lamps Are Greener

Reason 9 – Better, REAL Energy-Efficient Lighting:

The commonly used metric for comparing energy-efficient lighting is lumens of output per watt of electrical input. This method is appropriate for omni-directional bulbs such as traditional A-shape lamps and spiral CFLs.
Directional lamps (floodlights, spotlights) are different. Their job is not to glow, but to throw light into a defined area or onto a specific surface.
Compare the measured light (illuminance) on a horizontal surface from two floodlights, a 16 watt CFL BR30 (630 lumens) and a 34 watt HEH PAR30 (1) (612 lumens).
The CFL has 39 lumens per watt vs. 18 for the HEH. Thus, by conventional measures the CFL is more than twice as energy efficient.
Measured illuminance tells a very different story: the CFL floodlight casts just 15 foot candles of light onto the work surface in this demonstration. The HEH? 51 foot candles.(2)
Therefore, at 1.5 foot candles per watt, the HEH bulb is 60% more efficient in real terms than the CFL (0.9 foot candles per watt).
Or viewed another way, using typical recessed downlight fixtures, to produce an equivalent amount of light on a kitchen countertop or table, where important tasks such as food preparation and schoolwork are performed, a 54 watt CFL floodlight would be needed.
Not only would such a lamp be more expensive to purchase, it would cost 36% more to operate and generate 36% more air pollution than the high-efficiency halogen lamp.

Notes for Previous Example

1. A 40 watt model was dimmed by 15% to reduce lumen output from 720 to 612.

2. Measured distance of each light source to the surface of the light meter instrument was 50 inches.

Illuminating the Perks of Energy-Efficient Lighting

Impressive consumer value is sometimes found where it’s least expected. We’re all for selectively installing energy-efficient lighting around the home and place of business because it leverages the fact that the cheapest and cleanest kilowatt of electricity is the one that’s never produced in the first place. But if light bulb buyers only paid attention to the popular media or followed Energy Star prescriptions, they would only know to consider CFL reflectors as an affordable, energy-efficient lighting solution for their oft-used recessed downlights.

The public has not been able to purchase products at high prices because a huge part of their salaries and incomes have been taken away by electricity bills. Many businesses have even come to an end due to these reasons; even people have lost jobs as many companies had to shut down business or adopt measures to reduce cost. People have not been able to properly save money and they have ended up spending more than they should; this is mainly due to increase in the tariffs of electricity bills.

Currently Compact Fluorescent lighting has been replacing Incandescent lighting system; this is because CFLs do not waste energy and help save energy. This can even aid in decreasing electricity bills for those who use this system. Currently researchers and manufacturers are giving importance to LED lighting. This form of lighting is believed to be more energy efficient than CFLs and incandescent lighting system. It even does not promote air pollution and keeps the environment clean.

The new and energy efficient lighting system needs to be considered by people and businesses in order to solve recession and the issues created by shortage of energy. If manufacturers use these new systems they will be able to lower down their cost and will be able to produce goods and services at low prices; thus the public will be persuaded to purchase from local market and this will result in economic growth. When economic growth takes place; businesses revive and people find new and plenty opportunities for employment. If households start using the new lighting system; they will be able to save more money and conveniently spend on other necessities.

There are many benefits of energy efficient light bulbs and a lot of people are sceptical about whether they are genuine or not and the answer is: yes! Many researchers have tried, tested and improved the energy saving lighting over the past 30 years; the most popular being CFL lights. This lighting hugely reduces electricity bills by 10% thus saving you money and reducing your energy usage.

CFL lights are the most popular energy lights and have been approved by the Energy Star program, despite this they are always attempting to improve them further. It is recommended by experts that energy efficient lighting should be used wherever possible in and around your home and workplace. They use 1/3 of the power that the regular incandescent lights use and last up to 10 times longer which reduces the amount of recycling needed for bulbs and saves you many trips to the supermarket for more.

Many cases of areas of energy saving bulbs becoming more popular in the world have been recognised by the media and published in an attempt to encourage others to begin using them too; one of which is the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball. Phillips has been the Times Squares’ light bulb suppliers for over 12 years and it populates over 32,000 light bulbs which glitter up the square. In 2012 they plan to replace these bulbs with more energy efficient sources of light thus primarily saving 80% more energy.

Another case of replacing regular bulbs with energy efficient bulbs is San Francisco Long Beach airport where they have upgraded 75 lights. Initially they had metal halide and fluorescent bulbs and all of these have now been changed to ultra-efficient LED bulbs which again use 80% less energy.

It is obvious that there is a new revolution when it comes to light bulbs and many people are realising this and joining in themselves. You can expect to see many more businesses and popular land marks replacing their bulbs with energy efficient in the next few years ergo providing a better world for all of us. If researchers can do this with bulbs then technology advances in the future may be changed completely in order to provide all of us with a much more energy saving lifestyle. Do your part in changing and saving the world and purchase some of these life-changing bulbs.

Lighting your home with LED lights is only just emerging but why wait for it to become main-stream when you can enjoy the benefits and savings today. Domestic LED’s is still somewhat of a novelty for most people but once you make the conversion others will see how easy and cost effective LED Home Lighting really is. For example a house of standard incandescent bulbs will cost around $1200 over 5 years, compact fluorescent tubes will cost $220 and LED fixtures will only cost an astounding $60 over 5 years.

It is clear that lighting with LED’s is far superior to any other light and will save you substantial amounts of money regardless of how these savings actually match your own circumstances. LED lights can be used everywhere around your home for numerous different applications.

Use battery operated candles to safely create glamorous settings with authenic candle flicker.
Say goodbye to incandescent bulbs and welcome LED Replacement Bulbs
Get Cool with LED Fixtures
Discover the brilliance of LED Desk Lamps
Be safe and calm darkness fear with LED Night Lights
Light up your childrens rooms with fun Kids Lighting
Add light to your shot – Billiard Light
Reduce eye strain when at your computer, get some Computer Lights

Along with the current global warming and energy crises, the lighting industry is pouring huge amounts of resources into developing cheaper home lighting and the domestic LED light seems to be the way of the future as they produce no heat and require only a tiny amount of electricity to operate.

Sketching a Blueprint

Getting the most out of your outdoor light fixtures begins with creating an efficient design. Begin by sketching a rough blueprint of your outdoor lighting needs. It doesn’t have to be the best drawing as long as the measurements are accurate. This way, you can take you sketch to the nearest garden lighting store and ask for some hands on advice as to what lighting solutions are best for your yard. Make a few copies of your blueprint and you can pencil in your own designs until you find a happy medium between your needs, wants and budget.

Low Voltage

Low voltage lighting is a great way to get an energy efficient lighting system in your yard or garden without sacrificing on lighting needs. Low voltage lighting is perfect for walkways, garden paths, decks and sidewalks. These ground, railing and lamp post low voltage lights can be hooked together in multiple arrays to allow for a wide variety of controlling options. Some low voltage controllers offer timers, photosensitive switches and motion detectors to activate the lighting, saving on precious energy. Low voltage lighting fixtures are also easy to install yourself making them an affordable investment as well. Low voltage outdoor lightings biggest drawback is that it can be tough to get a powerful spotlight or security lighting without going up to a full voltage unit.

Solar Lighting

With the advent of modern technology, solar panels have increased in power absorption and decreased in size and cost, making solar powered outdoor lighting the lights of choice for outdoor areas seeped in sunshine. Solar powered lights are typically thought of as weak or dim, but many newer solar powered spot lights or lamp posts can burn brightly all night long on a single charge. Solar panels are commonly set in an area where sunlight is at its maximize exposure throughout the day while the actual light is placed where it is needed most. The only drawback about these solar powered security spotlights is that if your solar panel power cord isn’t long enough to reach the spotlight, then it’s not going to work efficient enough to justify its purchase.