C for comfort. Do you see a glare? Does the light feel too hot? E for economy. In other words, what is the most affordable lighting solution for your needs? Artificial light sources Incandescent light, which Thomas Edison invented around 1879, is where an electrical current heats a thin filament in the bulb, and so produces light. Halogen lights are a type of incandescent but have a more directed light so are better for task lighting. Pros: Incandescent light bulbs have perfect colour rendering, are cheap to produce and work well on alternating or directing a current. They are commonly used in households, commercial setups, portable lighting, for decorative purposes and in advertising lighting. Cons: Incandescent lighting is hideously expensive as a lot of power is required to produce the energy – one light bulb only lasts roughly 1000 hours.The heat it generates makes them too hot to touch and so they are dangerous in certain situations. Incandescent light bulbs are gradually being replaced in many applications by sources that produce more light but use less electricity, such as fluorescent lighting. Fluorescent lighting uses electricity generated through gas discharge – in a nutshell, a tiny amount of mercury in a phosphor-lined glass tube emits ultraviolet (U.V.) light. The phosphor absorbs the U.V. light and re-emits it as light the human eye can see. Wall in Resene Coast with circle headboard in Resene Seachange and side table/stool in Resene Twizel. 36 |