Thursday, 13 June 2013

Tips For Energy Efficient Lighting Displays

By Odessa Edwards


When preparing for a holiday season, intricate lighting displays can significantly add to the energy costs in a home. Rather than a home owner altering his or her decorative plans in order to save energy, it is advisable to try alternative lighting technologies. Energy efficient fiber optics and LEDs (light emitting diodes) can help in saving energy, time and money, while still getting an attention-grabbing and bright holiday display.

LEDs are made using semi conductor material that is coated and emits light when charged. For long time, they have been used for various applications, including exits signs and alarm clocks. Despite the fact that they were initially thought to be incapable of producing sufficient light output for decorative lighting, modern technological advances have improved the quality of brightness and light they can produce.

LEDs are available in a wide variety of shapes, colors and styles. They can be utilized in several applications, while at the same time offering a number of merits when compared with traditional technologies for holiday lighting. The advantages include increased energy efficiency, as LEDs utilize 100 times less energy than the C7 bulbs traditionally used in the past and a tenth of miniature lights energy.

Other advantages include lasting long, as LEDs are capable of lasting up to 100 000 hours, contributing a lot to alleviating replacement costs. They are constructed in a solid-state manner, making the durable water and weather resistant. Additionally, their safety has been improved during manufacture, making them cool to touch and hence reducing fire risk through contact of flammable surfaces.

Miniature incandescent bulbs and C7 are the most popular when it comes to decorative holiday displays. However, although they provide high-quality and bright light, they cost a lot more to operate and require frequent replacement than LED lights. Although LED lights are more expensive to purchase than traditional bulbs, their less operating costs definitely provides return on investment over the lifespan of the bulb. Additionally, their durability and longer lifespan can reduce replacement and maintenance costs.

Convenience and variety of decorative holiday displays can be added by fiber optic holiday trees, as setting them up as well as removing them is easy. Illumination of each tree can be done with a single bulb of 5 to 50 watts rating. From the one bulb, light can be transmitted to hundreds, or even thousands in some cases, of fibers, producing light all the trees branches. Since transmission is for light only, the fibers are cool to touch, decreasing the fire hazard risk that is associated with holiday trees, while at the same time saving energy.

When fiber-optic trees were first introduced they used incandescent bulbs only. Nowadays, numerous retailers sell trees with LED lights located at the base. As is the case with other options for a decorative holiday, the LED versions last longer and are more energy efficient. Depending on their size, the prices of fiber-optic trees vary widely, and are generally more expensive when compared to incandescent models.

When preparing to set up lighting displays, it is of great importance to follow the instruction specified by the manufacturer concerning storage, safe maintenance and operations. This reduces accidents and hazards.




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