Читать книгу The Self-Sufficiency Handbook - Alan Bridgewater - Страница 41

At the beginning of the twentieth century, governing bodies in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe set standards for lighting public buildings. For example, in 1910, 30 lux (meaning one lumen per square meter times 30) was a good lighting standard. In 1920, they raised the standard to around 200 lux; in 1940, it was more than 300 lux; and so on until the standard climbed to around 1,500 lux. The illogical thing is that a measurement greater than about 350 lux means that we are subjected to too much light. Our forebears were straining their eyes as they tried to read by flickering candlelight, and we are now straining our eyes as we try to read under the glare of millions of light bulbs. Some people even have to wear sunglasses indoors, simply because the lighting levels are too high. If we were to settle for a much lower lighting standard, sticking with the recommended level of about 350 lux, we could cut our electric lighting energy consumption by two-thirds.

An energy-saving compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb.