The light bulb revolution is on

If you have gone into your favorite home improvement store lately, you will notice that the light bulb aisle looks completely different. Starting at the beginning of 2012 standard 100 watt incandescent light bulbs were no longer able to be manufactured for sale in the United States. By the beginning of 2014, that also included wattages down to 40 watts. This was enacted under the Energy Independence and Security Act. What this means is that higher efficiency lighting has to be used. Incandescent bulbs use a lot of energy and only turn a fraction of that energy into light. Most of the energy is given off as heat. The two most common replacements are either Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) or Light Emitting Diode (LED). CFLs have been around for a while and are a good alternative. For instance a 26 watt CFL can produce that same amount of light as a 100 watt incandescent light, but uses 74 less watts to do it. Lets assume you change one commonly used 100 watt bulb to a 26 watt CFL. Lets also say that light is typically on 5 hours a day. 5 x 74 = 370 watts/day that you would save. That is over 135,000 watts per year for just one light bulb. Now you may or may not agree with the government’s involvement with this act (that is a discussion for a different blog), but what is clear is the energy and ultimately the cost saving for all home owners. Lighting manufacturers have made it very easy to make the transition from incandescent lighting by using the same base for CFL and LED lights as incandescent. That means you can take the old one out and screw the new one right into the same socket. To learn more about lighting and how it effects Air King’s bathroom exhaust fans and kitchen range hoods, visit www.airkinglimited.com.

A breath of Fresh Air – IAQ

You generally do not hear people tell you to go inside for a big breath of fresh air, yet this is where we spend a good portion of our lives.  If you live in colder climate areas you probably look forward to that first warm day of spring when you can open the windows and feel that rush of fresh air come into your home.

You hear the term Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) being thrown around but what does that encompass? There are all kinds of filters and gadgets on the market today that make a multitude of claims. While a lot of these help, they are still just recirculating the existing air within the home. Exchanging the stale air within the home with fresh air from outside is still the most effective way to ensure your home’s indoor air quality.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has done extensive research and work, including developing design standards to ensure indoor air quality. With the introduction of the new design standard known as ASHRAE 62.2, ASHRAE requires a continuously operating exhaust fan to exhaust the stale air within the home and replace it with fresh air from outside the home.

Air King offers a quick calculator to see how much ventilation you need for your specific home as well as energy efficient ventilation products including exhaust fans and kitchen range hoods designed to meet and exceed the ASHRAE 62.2 standard. To learn more, please visit the ASHRAE 62.2 learning center on the Air King web site for more detailed information.