Understanding the Lighting Battle

Lighting used to be simple, relatively speaking, and inefficient. Every other month, a light bulb would go out and you would simply go down to the hardware store and pick up a new incandescent bulb. The only variation came in the wattage, color, and shape, and figuring out how you were going to properly dispose of the spent bulb without shredding your garbage bag. Of course, if you're replacing an energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulb (CFL), you need to dispose of it properly to prevent the release of mercury into the environment.

Today when you take a stroll down the aisle at your local hardware store you're confronted by a wall of 10 billion lighting options. Great?

Lighting in the last five years has come a long way and it is arguably one of the most important aspects of planning out your next construction or painting project, and ultimately becoming more energy efficient.

In order to keep this write-up short, and not lose your attention, I am going to blast you with a quick array of information in the battle between halogen (aka incandescent), compact fluorescent (CFL), and LED lights, which should give you some ammo in the battle of picking lights out.

• Halogen & incandescent lights use the same technology - and are a waste (basically) - and what most people who don't give a hoot use.  That old halogen light you have in your house uses 1/10 of the energy it consumes to actually produce light and the rest is burned in heating up the filament.  Yes, they are cheap and have an average life of 8 months, if you are lucky.  Average cost $.66.  Pro's - The kelvin range (measure of lighting tonal range) is warm, soothing, and complementary.

• CFLs are three times more efficient than halogen lights and fairly inexpensive at an average of $5.98 per bulb.  Earlier CFLs had a less than desirable kelvin range that offered more of a stale (bluish) hue that left you feeling like you're in an office; today's CFLs offer an nice tonal/color temperature range.  However, there several cons to consider when making the change.  CFL's contain a higher level of mercury that studies have found are slowly released into your home as they are used.  They tend to have a delayed start up time in reaching there full brightness and do not coupe well with cold environments (cold weather bulbs are available).  Expected average life time is just over 7 years and requires hazardous waste disposal.

• LEDs are new to the market and offer an unprecedented life span of 23 years, and large pay back towards your energy saving plan.  They emit a fraction of the heat that other bulbs put out and contain no mercury which allows them to be disposed of in your regular house hold trash.  However, the Philips Ambient LED (A-19) goes for an average of $21.97 per bulb and it looks slightly odd as they had to wrap the bulb in a yellow finish to achieve a 2700 kelvin range to match the look of warm incandescent lights.

With everything being considered, the Philips (A-19), hands down, gets my vote as I just changed out all of the lights in my family's house and VT Pro has been encouraging our clients to make the change; take this with a grain of salt though as new products are bound to be reviewed and have flaws, but Philips does offer a long warranty.