Fluorescent Light Fixtures

Energy efficient lighting is an excellent way to save electricity, save money, and help the environment while satisfying your home decorating itch. People often overlook the importance of lighting their homes with fixtures that reduce the number of watts spent on keeping the indoors (and outdoors) bright. A good way to get away from the old, inefficient incandescent bulbs is to look into lighting your home or office with fluorescent lights.

As the interior decorating world wises up, more and more lighting manufacturers are catering to the eco-friendly, green market by developing more creative energy efficient fluorescent lighting. Whereas even just twenty years ago fluorescent lamps were frowned on as ugly and boring, now designers have found ways to embrace this green technology without sacrificing style, elegance, and imagination in their art. No longer are fluorescent lights relegated to the dismal confines of dusty warehouses and gloomy office buildings, now you can illuminate your home with chic contemporary lighting fixtures, not bare, cold fluorescent tubes.

Fluorescent lighting fixtures are great energy savers when it comes to designer lighting. A fluorescent light is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite mercury vapor. The mercury atoms create short-wave ultraviolet light rays that then cause a phosphor to "fluoresce", producing visible light. A fluorescent lamp changes electrical power into useful light more efficiently than an incandescent lamp through this method. The lower energy cost of fluorescent light fixtures typically offsets the higher initial cost of the lamp itself.

  

The fluorescent light fixture is sometimes more expensive because it is necessary to install a ballast to regulate the current through the light, but the life of a fluorescent bulb is typically much longer than a traditional bulb with a life span that is 10 to 20 times longer than a regular incandescent fixture. The compact fluorescent light bulb is also less likely to create a glare and covers a larger area with light without concentrating too much of it on one point. In this way you can light an entire room with only one or two fixtures. (Ultimately saving you energy through the number of light fixtures as well as the amount of electricity used to light them)

It’s important to note, however, that fluorescent bulbs still contain trace amounts of mercury so you must dispose of them in special fluorescent bulb recycling programs. Mercury can find its way into streams and rivers, and therefore fish and drinking water. The most common way we are exposed to mercury is by eating fish or shellfish that are contaminated with mercury, but this can be prevented by careful disposal of fluorescent light bulbs through official recycling programs developed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Fluorescent lights can be placed anywhere in your home. In bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and living rooms, fluorescent ceiling lights are a great way to brighten up the entire room with a soft, clean glow. Outdoor fluorescent lights are also a great, environmentally friendly choice for your landscape and outdoor lighting decor. The possibilities for fluorescent lighting have greatly expanded in just the past few years and anyone interested in interior design can see the benefits of fluorescent lights, environmentally, financially, and aesthetically.