Light's Labour's Lost: Policies for Energy-efficient Lighting
Light's Labour's Lost: Policies for Energy-efficient Lighting
OECD | July 2006 | ISBN-10: 926410951X | 558 pages | PDF | 5.35 Mb
OECD | July 2006 | ISBN-10: 926410951X | 558 pages | PDF | 5.35 Mb
In these days of rising energy costs, this study is timely. It offers many ways to improve the efficiency of lighting. If you have ever wondered about whether less could be spent on indoor and outdoor lighting, then the suggestions here might be very helpful. The biggest problem tackled is that incandescent lighting is typically four times more wasteful in terms of power consumption, compared to fluorescent lights.
The book describes aspects like human factors in lighting. Accompanied by recommendations for illuminance levels. But perhaps the most compelling section of the book is where it does a comparison between an incandescent lamp and a compact fluorescent lamp. The table on page 121 may be the most important for the average reader. It shows that a CFL is 3 times cheaper than an incandescent lamp, when all costs are factored in. While many commercial buildings have switched to CFLs, individual households are lagging. Here is where both individuals and society could benefit from a very simple change.