CNET has an interesting guide to indoor lighting of the future…
A new era of lighting is dawning, designed to meet the needs of a power-hungry and resource-challenged 21st century. There have never been so many options for illuminating the indoors.
“My crystal ball says that in five years, the home is going to be a mix of incandescents, LEDs and fluorescents,” said Michael Siminovitch, director of the California Lighting Technology Center at the University of California at Davis.
As prices drop for alternative lighting in the coming years, consumer options will proliferate. Today’s technological innovations make Edison’s work look like the stuff of a middle-school science fair. Compact fluorescents are looking lovelier, white LEDs last a decade, organic LEDs make ceilings and countertops glow, and fiber-optic tubes can pipe true sunshine from roof to cellar.
“The lamp aisle in stores is already a mile long,” said Siminovitch. “It’s gonna be confusing.”
What are you using in your home? Have you made the switch to LED’s or compact fluorescents.
We’re slowly switching all our bulbs to fluorescents in our townhome. I also try to open the blinds in the daytime to let more light in when it’s needed. Just be sure you open the right side of the house. You want to let some light in but keep the heat out.
Perhaps this lighting movement will also make its way outdoors.
Most outdoor lighting is very ineffecient, misdirected and wasteful. Millions if not billions of dollars is wasted in the US annually on inefficient lighting solutions.
http://www.darksky.org