When it comes to green homes, lighting systems play a major role in achieving sustainability. LED lighting is often a prerequisite for achieving LEED certification, as it can contribute to other green building initiatives such as reducing water use and improving indoor air quality. The green lighting design adapts the amount of quality of light to the function of a space, and lighting sections for different areas or functions must be in separate controls. Work lights should be installed where needed and ambient light should be reduced elsewhere.
Occupancy sensors that automatically turn lights on and off as needed can reduce energy consumption while having minimal impact on building occupants. Natural lighting opportunities must be maximized while controlling glare and unwanted heat gain. How we light up the places where we live and work has a big impact on how we feel, as well as on the environment. Conventional incandescent bulbs convert only five to ten percent of their energy consumed into light, with the rest turned off as heat. To make lighting greener, start by looking for lamps made from natural, recycled, or reused materials such as metal, glass, plastic, felt, fabric, or wood.
Interesting lamps that use recycled materials include those made with traffic light lenses and those made with wine bottles. Power adapters, or wall warts, draw energy from the wall all the time, so disconnecting them from the wall when not in use or connecting them to a power strip and turning off the entire switch when not in use can help make lighting greener. When looking for new equipment, keep an eye out for lamps made from natural, recycled, or reused materials. Lights made from recycled materials include metal, glass, or plastic, and natural materials can include felt, fabric, or wood. Interesting lamps that use recycled materials are those made with traffic light lenses and those made with wine bottles.
Also, don't hesitate to borrow ideas to reuse them in your own projects (see DIY). Power adapters, or wall warts, as they're affectionately called, are those clunky things found in many electrical wires, including those connected to lamps and some light fixtures. You'll notice that they stay warm even when your device is turned off. This is because they draw energy from the wall all the time. One way to make lighting greener is to disconnect warts from the wall when they are not in use, connect the lights to a power strip and turn off the entire switch when they are not in use, or to have a smart power strip in your hands that knows when the device is turned off.
We always encourage people to take matters into their own hands. Much of the great ecological innovation occurs when people create things they can't find elsewhere. Lighting is an especially accessible and rewarding thing to tackle. For inspiration, check out the Cholesterol lamp made of plastic cartons for discarded eggs and the recycled Tube Light. Strawbale construction pioneer Glen Hunter made some LED fixtures when he couldn't find any he liked on the market.
Eurolite, the company from which he bought the lighting components, liked his designs so much that they decided to sell them. Whether or not you seek LEED certification for a building, following the guidelines is a great way to ensure that the building is designed for sustainable lighting. These programs make it possible to render lighting within a 3D model of the building and provide information on intensity levels and other qualities of light. You want enough light to make inhabitants comfortable but not so much that it's overwhelming and distracting. Low cost is one of the most important factors of sustainable lighting; reducing the number of bulbs purchased certainly reduces expenses. For a building to be sustainable it must have a low impact on the environment; one of the best ways to do this when it comes to lighting is to reduce it to a minimum.
External shelves are more effective at providing shade than interior shelves but a combination of both will work better to provide even lighting. One of the ways a building can earn points is through sustainable lighting specifically in the “Interior Lighting” category. LEDs are an energy-efficient and long-lasting technology that allows for extremely energy efficient bulbs; they even come on faster than regular light bulbs (which could save your life if there are LEDs in car brake lights). Having green lamps and light fixtures is key to making your lighting greener. A key aspect of sustainable lighting is knowing where to place lamps as efficiently as possible. When looking for new equipment keep an eye out for lamps made from natural recycled or reused materials such as metal glass plastic felt fabric or wood.
Interesting lamps that use recycled materials include those made with traffic light lenses and those made with wine bottles. Power adapters or wall warts draw energy from the wall all the time so disconnecting them from the wall when not in use or connecting them to a power strip and turning off the entire switch when not in use can help make lighting greener. We always encourage people to take matters into their own hands; much of the great ecological innovation occurs when people create things they can't find elsewhere. Lighting is an especially accessible and rewarding thing to tackle; for inspiration check out the Cholesterol lamp made of plastic cartons for discarded eggs and the recycled Tube Light. Whether or not you seek LEED certification for a building following its guidelines is a great way to ensure that it's designed for sustainable lighting.
