Cut Down On Expenses By Increasing The Energy Efficiency Of Your Home

By Author: Jo Alelsto
Total Articles: 405
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With all the recent natural calamities and melting of the polar ice caps, no one can deny the dangers posed by global warming. There are those that accuse Greenpeace, Leonardo Di Caprio and Al Gore of being alarmists, but the data, facts and evidence are there and it is clear that we should do something to try to stop or slow down the damage at least.

Most people are unaware, but one of the top sources of greenhouse gases ravaging the earth is the energy consumption for heating and cooling of our households and our workplaces. The combination of the gases and electricity used-up by heaters and air conditioning makes up over 32% of the total power the U.S. consumes in a year. In 2005, an excess of 885 metric tons of carbon dioxide was unleashed on our atmosphere and this is just from household energy consumption alone. Numbers from industrial and building emissions are much higher.

Fortunately, the Obama administration recognizes the moral and economic importance of lessening the damage we're causing and have started several programs and introduced incentives in the form of tax cuts to companies that ‘go ...
... green'. These efforts by the government are far from being enough, of course. We can do our part by starting with our own homes to make a significant difference to the earth's damage control.

Increasing the energy efficiency of our dwellings is the best thing we can do to help lessen the emission of greenhouse gases in the air and to cut down on cost at the same time. Since solar panels are still expensive to manufacture and are likewise beyond the reach of the average household, making minor changes in our daily habits concerning usage of gas and electricity in our houses is the best thing we can do at the moment. Doing things like switching a room light off upon exiting can do wonders for your wallet and it can even reduce environmental damage. Making it a habit to avoid using more light, heat or air conditioning that's necessary can also be the proverbial stone you can use to hit the two birds.

A lot of appliance companies have come out with products that can make a big difference in improving your homes energy efficiency, but as with anything new on the market, they're still a bit pricy. If a new refrigerator or microwave is still out of your budget, the replacement of any incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent or even halogen ones can make a big difference. True, they cost a little more than those old school yellow bulbs, but the money you save by cutting on energy consumption and fewer bulb replacements (incandescent bulbs burn-out faster) is well worth paying extra.

Regular yellow light bulbs though cheaper, are not very big on efficiency. With normal usage, they have a lifespan of 800 to 1,000 hours. Halogen bulbs on the other hand, have a lifespan of thrice as much as those of regular light bulbs. The tungsten filament in halogen bulbs last longer because the gases around it (argon, krypton or xenon) react chemically with tungsten particles that have broken away from the filament. This chemical reaction causes the tungsten that would normally get deposited onto the quartz envelope of the halogen bulb, to return to the filament rod- prolonging its life. Regular light bulbs lack halogen gases and thus blacken-out faster, resulting in the need for frequent replacement.

Halogen bulbs although more expensive, are also brighter than ordinary incandescent light bulbs making it possible to use just one instead of three or four regular bulbs. The electricity one saves using halogen light bulb offsets its cost.
Fluorescent and halogen bulbs are not free from the usual problems of burn-out, mind you, but using dimming switches which prevent sudden surges of current to the filament rods can prevent this and prolong their lifespan.
Jo is a writer for ‘Litelec' (http://www.litelec.co.uk), a UK firm that specializes in the supply of electric light bulbs, light fittings, electrical accessories and related products for domestic and business purposes which they sell at especially competitive prices. If you wish to cut down your electricity charges and also play an important role to the protection of the environment then begin by utilizing G10 Light bulbs at home and if you have other electrical products and accessories requirement then check out Litelec.