Did you know that World Environment Day is June 5? This is a United Nation’s celebration that started in 1974 and has grown to become a worldwide event recognized by over 143 countries. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness about environmental issues and cause people to both make changes and take action to protect our planet.

World Environment Day is focused on advocacy, outreach, and education. As such, one important part of the day is learning about new ways that we can all help to protect the environment.

With that goal in mind, today we’ll be talking about LED (light emitting diodes) bulbs and ways that they are good for the environment and your family, electrical services are a way to help our planet!

Health Benefits of LED Lights

LED lights are up to 80% more efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs or CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs. In an LED light, 95% of energy is converted into light and only 5% is wasted.

In contrast, in incandescent bulbs, 90% of energy is released as heat, and in CFL bulbs, 95% of energy is released as heat. In addition, they are longer lasting – about 10 times longer than CFL bulbs and as much as 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs, which decreases their carbon footprint.

But in addition to these environmental benefits, did you know that LED lights can also be safer for your family? Incandescent bulbs can lead to eye damage, which in some cases can be serious. As a result, when using these bulbs it’s important to use shades or decrease the brightness. In addition, CFL bulbs have higher outputs of UV rays, which are associated with a number of harmful health effects.

Minimizing UV Light

This World Environment Day, focus on making the sun your only source of UV light. While some UV rays have health benefits, getting too many can lead to a number of health problems including harmful effects on the eyes, skin, circadian rhythm and immune system.

LED bulbs give off very minimal UV rays, and there are even some that give off no UV rays at all. As a result, using LED bulbs is a good way to minimize your exposure to dangerous UV rays and to limit this exposure to those rays from the sun.

Mercury Free

An additional benefit of LED bulbs for both you and the environment is the fact that they are mercury free. Not only can mercury be dangerous for you, but its presence can also contaminate the earth, especially if light bulbs end up in a landfill. Eliminating this toxic element of light bulbs is one easy way to protect the earth and your family from dangerous elements and ultimately toxic waste.

As World Environment Day approaches, we will keep researching and learning about additional things that we can do to help protect the environment. We hope that you’ll do the same. If you have any questions about ways to be more energy efficient or if you’re in need of any electrical upgrades, call us today at (260) 493-2596.