Home lighting and heating

Home lighting

Today in India at least 80 per cent of electricity at household level is wasted because of the kinds of lamps and bulbs we use for lighting our homes. By following simple tips, such as the following, enormous energy can be saved at household level.

• Turn off lights when not in use
• Clean the dust accumulated on tube lights and bulbs and its fixtures regularly.
• Use ISI marked electrical appliances and equipments
• Place your tube lights and bulbs in positions where the light is not obstructed.
• Use CFLs and LEDs to save energy. They use less energy as compared to incandescent bulbs and provide the same lighting.
• Use light-coloured, loose-weave curtains on windows to maximise daylight inside.
• T5 lights can be used in place of conventional tube-lights to save energy.

Advantages of using CFLs

Advantages of using Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs)

• Use of CFLs reduces electricity costs as they consume less electricity and do not produce too much heat.
• A CFL bulb gives five times more light than conventional electric bulbs.
• CFL burning hours are more than 8 times the normal ones.
• Instead of using 60 W bulbs, if you would use 15 W CFL bulbs; you can save at least 45 W electricity consumption per hour. Per month you can save up to 11 units of consumption. You can hence reduce costs. CFL bulbs last for at least 5 to 8 months.

Advantages of using Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

• An ordinary bulb is an extremely energy inefficient form of lighting with just 5% of the electricity input converted to light. Efficient light bulbs like Light-emitting Diode (LEDs) consumes only one-tenth of energy used by ordinary bulb to provide the same or better light output. Consumers electricity bill will reduce by about Rs. 160-400 per year with each LED, thus making the cost recovery lesser than a year. This will lead to savings in electricity and lower consumption of fossil fuels thus benefiting the environment.
• Unlike incandescent bulbs, LEDs do not have filament that is heated to create light. These are illuminated by the movement of electrons in a semi conductor material (diode). Since electricity is directly turned into light, LEDs waste less energy as heat.
• Lumen intensity of LED vs incandescent bulb - LEDs have no gases, filaments or any moving parts to fatigue. A 7W LED gives the same and in most cases better lumen intensity and brightness than a 60W Incandescent Lamp. The lumen output of a 60 Watt incandescent bulb is 450 lumens. Whereas, the lumen output of a 7 watt LED bulb is 600 lumens. The proportion of lumens that falls in an area from an LED light source is greater than that of a conventional light source.
• Safety of LEDs - They are completely safe and do not represent any hazard to the human eye. When compared to CFLs, LEDs do not have mercury and therefore, have no negative impact on environment. The LEDs procured under the DELP scheme are run through series of stringent quality tests
  
• A LED lasts three to five years. Long life makes it a fit-and-forget fixture, saving cost of maintenance and replacement.

Support from Power Ministry to promote Energy Efficiency in Lighting Sector

• Light Emitting Diode (LED ) are emerging as the most energy-efficient source of lighting, with a LED bulb using 1/10th as much energy as a normal incandescent bulb and half as much energy as a Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) to produce the same amount of light. However, the major challenge has been its high cost.
• BEE together with EESL (Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture of 4 power sector central PSUs) have worked with electricity distribution companies to develop a business model under which EESL procures LED bulbs in bulk and sells them to households at Rs.10 instead of the market price of Rs.400.

For more information: PIB

Source : Portal content team