Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: lighting for common house

[truddick (truddick]

Good ideas so far: here are two more-

Re: compact fluorescents: they're improving year by year.  CF bulbs are now
made in full-spectrum varieties, which will provide a comfortabler light
atmosphere for most eye.  For max. energy savings, use the type of bulb that
matches the use of the space.  Fluorescents take more energy to turn on
intiailly but then use far less while in operation, so you want them for
most of the lighting in the common house.  But bathrooms and pantries and
other places where the lights will go on and off frequently should use
incandescents or halogens.  Personally, I find that mixing the type of bulb
in a room (mostly CF) does wonders for my seasonal affective disorder.

Re: overall design.  I am just a little light-sensitive, and sitting in
places where I can see a direct light source-e.g., an unshaded bulb of any
kind-is misery to me; I have suffered through many conference panels where
the hotel placed those cheesy decorative "flame" bulbs in wall fixtures
directly behind the speakers, I have fallen asleep during amateur theatrical
performances due to the strain of squinting through poorly placed
floodlights.  There are people who are far more light-sensitive than I, and
friends with partial blindness I've known  have told me that such little
bright light sources as a single candle can effectively cancel out what
vision they might normally enjoy.  Consequently, whatever bulbs you choose,
make certain their light is diffused in some way-I greatly prefer indirect
lighting, so that the light is reflected from a ceiling or other surface
rather than traveling straight to the eye.

___
  !    _    Thomas E. "TR" Ruddick
  !   !_)   Nunquam Vadis Levis!
      !  \