Hi Guys,

I hope that you have had a good day.

I did not include lighting as a way of cutting down on your energy consumption in my previous post as I felt that it was best to look at it as a subject on its own.

Lets face it if you are planning a new build you would be looking at day lighting, sunpipes and rooflights. Measures to bring in as much natural light into your home.

You will also be looking at the function of each room in the house as each has its own particular lighting need or requirement.

You would consider: -

• The general lighting of a room;
• Localised or task lighting i.e. concentrated light for activities such as reading, sowing and cooking
• Accent or mood lighting to create atmosphere or to focus attention on certain objects or areas;
• The type of lighting best suited for the task;
• The type of light bulbs required for the job; and
• The energy requirement for the lighting.

Light bulbs:

What can I say about light bulbs without opening a can of worms?

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post I have installed LED light bulbs in some areas of the house. I have also replaced some 60W incandescent light bulbs with 11W energy saving light bulbs. However the energy saving light bulbs come with all sorts of restrictions one of which is that it cannot be used with a dimmer switch. I also have a compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb in one room. CFL’s are being pushed as the lifesaver when it comes to saving energy.

I find myself at odds with governmental policies to ban the energy-inefficient but electro-magnetically clean incandescent bulb in favor of the energy saving light bulbs, CFL’s and LED’s. Surely it should be up to you to choose what you use. But then we live in democracies don’t we?

If energy-inefficient but electro-magnetically clean incandescent bulbs are to be banned surely they should also ban light bulbs that produce radio frequency pollution and high frequency radiation.

Some CFL packages have a warning about the radio frequency pollution of these lights saying that the light may interfere with radio reception.

This is something that you can test with a portable radio on AM. As you bring the radio close to an energy efficient bulb that produces radio frequencies the radio will begin to buzz. This electromagnetic interference (EMI) will be of concern to anyone using wireless technologies such as mobiles or wireless computers.

CFL’s have also been found to produce high frequency radiation, which travels around household electrical systems and causes radiation throughout homes (and other premises). Because the high frequencies travel along the wire you can can also be exposed to them in other rooms of your home including the room that contains the CFL.

However, the real problem is that these frequencies are making people ill. Three independent organization in the UK that include the British Association of Dermatologists, the Migraine Action Association, and Epilepsy Action, have all reported illness among their members who have tried CFL’s. The most common symptoms are headaches, including migraines, fatigue, confusion, dizziness, ringing in the ears, eyestrain, nausea and skin irritations.

Not only do we have human health problems associated with exposure to these compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)there is also the environmental problems these bulbs pose due to to the fact that they contain mercury, a neurotoxin that can cause kidney and brain damage.

As long as the mercury is contained in the bulb, CFLs are safe from the environmental aspect. But eventually, any bulbs – even CFLs break or burn out and most consumers simply throw them out in the rubbish where they will end up in landfills and this poses a huge threat to the environment

And its just too bad if you should accidentally break one these new eco-bulbs. One study in the USA found that “immediately after the bulb was broken – and sometimes even after a cleanup was attempted – levels of mercury vapor exceeded federal guidelines for chronic exposure by as much as 100 times.

So much for eco-bulbs. Obviously those legislating are unaware of the ecological and environmental problems associated with these bulbs or they are part and parcel of the climate-industrial complex and care more about money than the lives and environment of those that they represent.

This is not to say that you should reject CFL’s out of hand but rather be aware of the risks associated with some of these light bulbs.

After all, not all energy efficient bulbs are the same. They do not all contribute to dirty electricity and produce radio frequencies. Those that don’t include some CFL’s, some LED’s and some halogen bulbs.

Unfortunately a considerable number of bulbs on the market will make people sick.

So before replacing your old incandescent bulbs for energy saving ones consider your lighting requirements and spend a bit of time reading about the replacement bulbs you want to use and before buying the product read what it says on the box.

I hope that I’ve given you something to think about.

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As always, I wish you everything I wish myself.

Until the next time.

Alain

Check out my review of the top 3 products for renewable home enegy solution
Check out my review of the Home Made Power Plant product
Check out my review of DIY Power System product

Hi Guys,

I hope that you have had a good day today.

Today I’ll be looking at calculating the cost of your existing energy consumption as an initial step to design your renewable home energy system as well as reducing your current energy needs.

If we wish to use renewable energy for our home then it would be a good idea to know what our current energy usage is. Basically carry out an audit of your energy usage in order to establish a base point from which to calculate your load requirement for your solar panels and wind power.

Consider each appliance in your home and its energy use. Some appliances like kettles, toasters and the like draw a considerable amount of power when used but at the same time are used for a short time each day.

Once you know what your current energy usage is you can take steps to start reducing the amount of energy you use.

For instance, I know that it’s a lot less hassle to dry our clothing in a tumble dryer than on a washing line. However to dry a single load can take up to between 70 minutes to 140 minutes. Assuming that, like us, you have on average of 7 loads in a week, therefore with a 3.3 kWh/cycle (my current tumble dryer energy consumption), assuming a 12-hour constant tumbling time per week, you will be using an approximate 2059.2 kWh a year. This costs me around £186.77 per year.

I can probably save up to half the cost by putting the washing on the washing line and spend the money on myself instead.

One of the changes that is relatively easy to make concerns the illumination of your home.

When considering the illumination of your home you should consider the following:

• The general lighting of a room;
• Localized or task lighting i.e. concentrated light for activities such as reading, sowing and cooking; and
• Accent or mood lighting to create atmosphere or to focus attention on certain objects or areas.

For instance I in parts of my home I initially reduced eight 50-watt lights to 25 watt and then reduced them even further to 2-watt LED lights. For one thing the 50 and 25-watt lights needed replacing regularly whilst I have yet to replace a single LED light.

A simple calculation shows the savings made by doing these changes:

Running the 50 watt lights for 3 hours a night I would be using 1200 watt hours per night i.e. 438 kWh per year. Using the 25-Watt bulbs I automatically halved that. However, with the 2 Watt LED light bulbs my energy use for this room has dropped to 17.52 kWh a year; a cost saving of £38.14 at current electricity prices i.e. £0.0907/kWh. Now it might not sound like a lot but one should bear in mind that this was for just one room.

As appliances need replacing they are replaced with appliances with better energy rating. I look at the energy rating of the appliances as well as the price when comparing new appliances. For instance I had to replace our condenser tumble dryer and I opted for a vented tumble dryer as there was a 0.5 kWh difference per cycle.

Each of these small savings add up in the end and can make quite a difference to you pocket over time.

Each small saving made this way reduces the load requirement of your renewable energy, which in turn means less solar panels, and energy storage requirements.

As always, I wish you everything I wish myself.

Until the next time.

Alain

Check out my review of the top 3 products for renewable home energy solution
Check out my review of the Home Made Power Plant product
Check out my review of DIY Power System product