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Be Power Smart and Save Energy
Before people can be informed on the options that they have when it comes to turning their house into an energy efficient household, they need to know why it is so important to save energy. Unfortunately, most of the time, due to the fact that...
Color Theory - Choosing Your Website Colors
Is the choice of colors for your website and print materials more than just a matter of personal preference? Does it really matter what color choices you make? Will your audience really feel differently because of the color ...
Ecology: 10 Ways To Fortify The Environment For Under $10
America’s beautiful landscape represents the natural brilliance of a nation founded on truth, freedom, and the well-being of all its citizens. As technology progresses, America’s ecosystem suffers the greatest toll. Automobiles, industrial parks,...
Growing Plants with LED's
In some dictionaries life is defined, as a power that demonstrates a purpose to feed, process matter into energy, grow, and reproduce. Life means existence, a state of being. No matter how we look at the definitions, one thing is clear: life is the...
Guide to Choosing A Sleeping Bag
Guide to Choosing a Sleeping Bag
There are many types of sleeping bags available. Things you will
need to consider when deciding on what sleeping bag to buy:
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Solar residential outdoor lighting is becoming the product of choice for millions of consumers
Residential outdoor lighting is a billion dollar a year industry
in the United States. It is getting so popular, there is now a
corporation that franchises individual businesses dealing only
in exterior landscape lighting design, supply, and installation!
Line voltage systems used to be the only option for outdoor
lighting but in recent years, low voltage lighting systems and
solar powered lights have made exterior decorative lighting
available to every home owner -not just the rich ones.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 67% of adult Americans are
homeowners (2004 statistics). Renovation, remodeling and home
improvement are massively popular activities that only reflect
the priority that consumers give in making their property as
comfortable and pleasing as possible. Gardening has always been
a past time homeowners enjoy in beautifying their property, both
for themselves and to raise the "curb appeal", but up until a
decade ago, beautifying the nightscape was not a mainstream
idea.
Hotels, resorts and similar type commercial properties have
always used light to create beautiful atmospheres on their
grounds, but given the cost of an outdoor lighting system,
residential lighting applications were mostly limited to basic
security needs. Landscapes were enjoyed during daylight hours
but when the sun went down, the outdoor portion of a homeowner's
property was not used.
Low Voltage outdoor lighting systems
Low voltage lighting systems and solar powered lights are
changing this. A low voltage lighting system plugs into a
transformer and takes household current down to 12 volts. This
means real energy efficiency and eliminates the building code
requirements for burying cables 18 inches for line voltage
systems. The lights can be used for any outdoor lighting
application, although they still need to be wired together.
Trenching and some cable burying will also probably be required.
Additionally, the capacity of the transformer must be sufficient
to cover the combined power draw (watts) of every light in the
system.
The Solar landscape lighting option
Solar powered lights are not wired to anything and require no
transformers. Installing them is as easy as sticking them in the
ground, or mounting them wherever you need them. The draw back
is that the photovoltaic charging panels (usually mounted on the
top of the light fixture) that capture the sun's energy need
direct sunlight during the day to charge the batteries that
provide power to illuminate the light at night. And in higher
latitudes where the period of darkness is longer in winter
months, there is a good chance that the lights will not get
enough sun during the day to be able to illuminate for the
entire period of darkness.
Even so, solar powered landscaping lights are becoming extremely
popular although this was not always the case. Up until two or
three years ago, solar lights were not as bright as many
consumers wanted, didn't illuminate for long periods and too
often, did not operate longer than a year or two before becoming
defective. Today however, solar lights are bright enough for
almost any outdoor application, will illuminate for the entire
night and -provided you
get quality models - will last 20 years
without maintenance or defect.
These dramatic increases in solar outdoor lighting reliability
are due to recent advances in two areas of technology:
photovoltaic cells and the introduction of the Light Emitting
Diode (LED) bulb.
The photovoltaic cell is the technology that "captures" the
sun's energy. In the 1980's, these cells could absorb only about
5% of the sunlight they were exposed to. Today this figure is
moving past 15% and as further development of the compounds used
in these cells continues (they are now silicon based but other
compounds are being studied) they will only get more efficient.
Perhaps even more exciting has been the introduction of the
solid state LED bulb. This technology involves manipulating
electrons and moving them in a certain direction so that photons
are produced. This creation of photons is the visible light.
Unlike the traditional incandescent bulb, there is no excited
gas, no burning filament, and therefore next to no heat
production. Almost all of the energy produced is used as light.
The bulbs last for 10,000 hours, require no maintenance and draw
on average only three to five watts.
Today's solar lights are excellent value
One of the biggest critiques of solar lights in the past has
been the intensity of brightness they produce. This was a fair
comment, but today's solar lights are much brighter. Many
mistake the term watt as a measure of brightness, which of
course, it is not.
A watt is the measurement of the power required to operate
something. If talking about only one type of light bulb, then
there is a relationship; a 40w incandescent bulb will not be as
bright as a 60w bulb. But when dealing with different
technologies, this comparison is not fair. Indeed, one LED bulb
drawing between three and five watts will produce the same
brightness as a 40w bulb. And many solar lights are now
manufactured with multiple LEDs, therefore producing light much
brighter than the glow of a traditional 40w incandescent product.
More and more consumers are realizing that outdoor accent
lighting really does have an enormous effect in creating a
beautiful nightscape environment. Some prefer a low voltage
lighting system because they will illuminate for the entire
period of darkness and are reliable and energy efficient. Other
consumers prefer the solar outdoor lighting solution because
these lights are now just as reliable, are far easier to install
and can be moved around at whim when trying different effects.
There is also a satisfaction in getting free energy from the
sun! But whatever the choice, there is no denying that
residential outdoor lighting systems are becoming a standard
feature on millions of properties.
About the author:
Kavar Peter is a successful freelance writer with a strong
interest in renewable energy issues. He writes regularly about
solar powered
products including ga
rden lighting and pathway lighting solutions. Copyright Kavar Peter 2005
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| Department of Energy - Homepage |
| Governmental department whose mission is to advance energy technology and promote related innovation in the United States. |
| www.energy.gov |
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| Department of Energy - Page not found! |
| US Department of Energy information for consumers, business, and communities. Links to many energy pages of the DOE. |
| www.energy.gov |
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| Energy Quest Room |
| California Energy Commission's energy and environmental education site for students, parents and teachers. Includes information, Q&As, projects, ... |
| www.energyquest.ca.gov |
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| The Energy Story - Introduction |
| Detailed guide explains what energy is and where it comes from. |
| www.energyquest.ca.gov |
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| EIA Energy Kids Page - energy facts, fun, games and activities |
| Features various sections about energy including what it is and the forms it comes in. Find out how humans use energy through quizzes and a 'fun facts' ... |
| www.eia.doe.gov |
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| Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy ... |
| Section of the US Department of Energy (DOE) providing statistics, data, analysis on resources, supply, production, consumption for all energy sources. |
| www.eia.doe.gov |
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| Energy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Free encyclopedia article explaining the scientific notion of energy. Includes units of measure, energy transformation concepts, types of energy, ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| Department of Energy - Homepage |
| U.S. Department of Energy Awards Contract for Management and Operation of Ames ... The Energy Star label is the government's seal of energy efficiency. ... |
| www.doe.gov |
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| Home : ENERGY STAR |
| US EPA Energy Star programs and products help save the environment and save consumers money by using less energy through advanced design or construction. |
| www.energystar.gov |
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| National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Home Page |
| Facility of the US Department of Energy (DOE) for renewable energy and energy efficiency research, development and deployment. |
| www.nrel.gov |
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| European Commission - Energy - Home page |
| Welcome to the European Commission's "Energy" website ... A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy ... |
| ec.europa.eu |
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| DTI - Energy - Introduction |
| The DTI’s Energy Group deals with energy-related matters, ... UK energy statistics are provided, including production, consumption and prices. ... |
| www.dti.gov.uk |
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| U.S. DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Home Page |
| US Department of Energy web site for information on energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. |
| www.eere.energy.gov |
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| Energy for America's Future |
| Provides an overview of President Bush's energy policies. |
| www.whitehouse.gov |
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| International Energy Agency |
| Energy Security, Growth and Sustainability through Co-operation and Outreach. |
| www.iea.org |
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| energywatch: Home Page |
| Independent gas and electricity consumer watchdog, providing help to domestic, commercial or industrial energy (gas and electricity) consumers. |
| www.energywatch.org.uk |
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| EnergyAustralia - Home |
| Details of one of Australia's largest and oldest gas and electricity supply companies. Includes information on accounts, energy saving tips, appliance sales ... |
| www.energy.com.au |
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| U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources |
| Has jurisdiction over energy policy, regulation, and research. Also deals with energy and mineral conservation, ports used for energy transport, irrigation, ... |
| energy.senate.gov |
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| bloomberg energy prices |
| www.bloomberg.com/energy/ - Similar pages |
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| Energy Bulletin |
| A clearinghouse of information concerning the peak in global energy such as oil and gas. |
| www.energybulletin.net |
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