For the last forty years or so, solar power has become more popular in the home. Incentives and tax credits handed out by governments have helped to boost the number of homes with solar panels. If you wanted tips on how to efficiently heat your home, then solar power wouldn’t be the worst one you could receive.
There is a powerful interest in the environment and renewable energy sources today. While hydro and wind power are two of the best forms of renewable and sustainable energy sources, solar is more practical for the average person.
Solar devices are everywhere now. RVs can be powered through solar panels. Camping showers can be warmed with solar power. Watches can run on solar power. And of course, lighting can also be powered through solar energy.
There are a number of very positive reasons that people should switch to solar lighting, and here are just a few of them.
Solar lights can be used outdoors and indoors
There are many benefits to using outdoor solar lighting such as illuminating a garden party or making a walkway visible and safe at night.
Solar lighting outdoors is very common now, but what you may not have considered is that solar lights can be used indoors too. Lights powered by solar energy are not confined to indoor usage, and these can be useful in the event of a power cut, or just for saving energy.
Being able to switch from your regular lights to indoor solar types instead would mean saving energy and precious resources.
There are numerous ways to use solar lights
Solar lights can be deployed in a huge variety of locations, and used in many different ways. Indeed, solar lighting replacements are available for almost all traditional versions.
For instance, there are solar lights for the following uses:
- Driveway lights
- Uplighting
- Deck lights
- Floating pool lights
- Disk lights
- Step lights
- Spotlights
- Garden lights
They can be fitted with simple white lighting or different colors. Some solar lights can rotate through a range of colors to uplight a home, or give ambiance to a swimming pool.
Adding solar disk lights to a pathway can not only light up the garden but add an attractive nighttime feature too. Disk lights are an attractive way to add lighting to a garden, and won’t cost a penny in electricity.
Solar lighting saves you money
Solar power lets you go off-grid completely should you so wish. If you stay with an electricity supplier you can also sell surplus energy back to the grid and gain credit with them.
However you choose to use solar power, you will save money. Simply switching your outdoor lighting over to solar versions will reduce your overall utility bills.
They are easy to fit
While traditional lighting involves wiring and cables, solar lights need none of that type of installation. As they don’t require electricity from the mains to power them there is no wiring to be connected.
Solar lights receive their energy from the panels fitted to them and convert that power to electricity which is stored in a battery. The most work required to fit solar lights would normally be to screw a bracket into a wall.
While there are indeed certain solar lights that require some work to install, such as street lamps or flagpole lights, some require no work at all. Many solar garden lights are simply fitted with a spike to push into the ground.
Solar lights can be used anywhere
Because solar lighting requires no cabling, there are many forms of portable solar lights. There are now solar-powered camp lights and even solar flashlights.
The tiki-style torches found in many gardens can be solar-powered, and these can be taken by the homeowner in the event of a house sale.
Solar lights can provide extra security
Adding purpose-built solar security lights can mean having a safer home with less risk of theft or trespass. Dedicated security lights can come with motion detection, or they can be left on all night.
Simply adding regular garden and driveway solar lights will add extra safety too. You will be able to drive onto your premises with the way lit clearly, and your home will be less attractive to potential intruders.
Plus, modern solar security lights can have very high ingress protection, or IP code, these days. This means that they are suitable for coping with outdoor conditions such as dust or moisture. Generally speaking, outdoor solar lights will normally be waterproofed.
Solar power is eco-friendly
There is some press given these days to the fact that solar power isn’t quite as green as it was originally thought. However, some details need to be made clear in this regard.
China leads the way when it comes to solar power with some of the biggest solar farms in the world. The country has dedicated a huge budget and manpower to bringing solar power to bear. The problem lies in how they have done so.
To make solar panels requires certain minerals, and materials, including lead, iron, silver, nickel, and cadmium. One of the problems with mining for essential materials used in solar panel production is the methods used.
Coal-fired electricity is being used to mine in some places around the world, including heavily in China. There are emissions, water usage, and the dumping of chemicals to be taken into consideration with some manufacturers too. This has called into question just how green, solar power really is.
However, after just a few years of use, a solar panel’s benefits will have outweighed the eco-cost of producing them. Because solar panels use the power of the sun, they are harvesting a completely renewable energy source.
For this alone, they are still more eco-friendly than gas, oil, or electricity.
Solar lights will last longer than your traditional ones
Incandescent light bulbs only last around a thousand hours. This may sound like a lot of use, but it is actually very small when you look at how many bulbs people get through each year.
Look at fluorescent bulbs for instance. It is estimated that somewhere around 670 million fluorescent light bulbs end up in landfills each year just in the USA. That figure doesn’t include the ones that go to recycling centers.
Doesn’t it make sense then to look for lights that last longer? LEDs are regularly used in solar lighting. This type of light lasts far longer than traditional types of bulbs.
Although How To Geek questions whether LED lights really last ten years, they don’t dispute that LEDs last at least 11 times longer than incandescent bulbs. This is a huge difference and a very good reason to switch to solar lights.
Summary
There are numerous more reasons to switch to solar power in general. For example, did you know that a solar-powered watch is likely to be more accurate than most other types? Solar power can bring an energy source to poor areas in the world where there is no electricity. This means bringing hygiene and improving the quality of life for many.
For the home, anyone can switch to solar lighting. The benefits are obvious, and here are eight positive reasons to change over, although there are many more.
