Month: September 2016

Nowadays, savings, at home (which in Europe accounts for 30% of total energy consumption), and in companies, is something that is necessary. Coupled with increased environmental awareness, this makes us opted for more efficient and environmentally friendly technologies, such as LED technology.

LED bulbs that have huge advantages over traditional lighting no doubt, but when choosing your LED bulb … Do you know what is best choice for you? We can find a lot of models and products on the market, so sometimes it is difficult to know what is the perfect bulb for your needs. To know how to choose the suitable bulb, you have to take into account, in addition to your needs, implementing it and look out on basic aspects such as: the type of material of the bulb itself, power and luminous flux, the angle opening of light, color temperature and installation.

WHAT KIND OF LED BULB I CHOOSE?

At the time of selecting a LED bulb it is very important to consider the material from which it is made itself. The more density, more efficient active material is. LED bulb emits more light depends on the amount of this active material that is material that converts electricity into photons. LED bulbsalso differ, among other things, by the LEDs which may contain: from 3 (the most common for domestic use are those of 3 or 5 LEDs) to bulbs 20. Goodwork guarantees high density and high durability.

WHAT POWER DO I NEED?

There is a common mistake to choose the LED bulb for its power, when really what interests us is the amount of light emitted. To discuss this, we have to have two very clear concepts: what are the watts (W) and what are the lumens (lm). Watts tells us what the bulb consumes in terms of electricity, and lumens, the light generated by the light source, the luminous flux. The great advantage of LED bulbs is that they give us many lumens a few watts, this means 80% savings in electricity (that what you pay is the amount of watts consumed).

In Goodwork have a luminaires with a high energy efficiency, 220 lm/w. Our products achieve significant savings and optimize energy greater extent than other competing products with similar characteristics. When we speak of light or energy efficiency, we mean the amount of light emitted in relation to the energy consumed. It is measured in lumens per watt (lm / W). To make it easier to understand we will give you an example:

• An incandescent bulb with 60W produces 800. If we divide 800 from 60 the result is 13 lm/w.
• A fluorescent with 20W produces 800 lumens. If we divide 800 from 20 the result is 40 lm/w. Something more efficient than incandescent.
• An LED bulb with 9W produces 800 lumens. If we divide 800 from 8 the result is 88 lm/w. Twice a fluorescent efficiency and almost seven times more efficient than a common incandescent.

WHAT ANGLE OF APERTURE DO I WANT?

In Goodwork advanced technology and sophisticated optics in LED technology is used, so with just a light bulb can reach a space. Depending on the space and its size and the effect, you want to give the room to illuminate, you must choose an opening angle of light or another. This parameter will guide us to choose the right lighting:

• A low angle (40 °) will give us a more precise lighting. It lights up less space, but will be more focused. For example, if you want to illuminate something specific: a table in a restaurant, a cabinet in the living room, a painting in a gallery, etc.
• A more open angle (120 °) will give us a more homogeneous lighting. For example, to illuminate a room (of normal size).

WHAT KIND OF LIGHT IS BETTER FOR ME?

When a black body is heated, it emits light of different color according to the temperature at which the calentemos. This is how the color temperature is measured in degrees Kelvin, associating a color temperature which should be a black to emit the same color body. It is very important to know that the color temperature associated with a body is not the actual temperature.
LED bulbs are divided according to their 3 types of temperature and Goodwork recommend the use of each color for an application:

• Cold White: 5800K. More intense, ideal for parkings or storage, for example.
• Natural white: 4500K. An average intensity considered “day light”. It improves concentration, productivity and performance. Recommended for offices and workspaces.
• Warm White: 3000K. A fainter light, more shooting, ideal for living rooms or cozy and relaxed atmospheres.

WHAT KIND OF INSTALLATION I NEED?

In our homes and workspaces coexist incandescent, fluorescent, halogens bulbs… is very useful to investigate whether these facilities can replace or re-use part of it to make the switch to LED technology. Keep in mind transformers, if we can re-use or we worth remove them and directly connect the LED lamp to the grid. Also, keep in mind, that if you have dimmable systems (systems that regulate the light intensity) can take advantage if they are compatible with the new bulbs.

Do not hesitate and move to LED with Goodwork.

Pic via Ovacen 

We all have an internal biological clock located in the brain, which maintains the order of the rhythms of our body. Circadian rhythms (from the Latin circa, meaning “around” and dies, meaning “day”) describe the behavior patterns that exist in most of those who inhabit this planet. We do not refer only to people and animals, we can also find this behavior in most of plants and organisms. However, humans, whether because of bad habits or the need to work to make our world continue to function, disturb the natural balance between day and night.

A circadian rhythm is a circumstance that is repeated every day, at the same time, that is, it is repeated every 24 hours. There is a hormone called cortisol that begins to work at sunrise, reaches its highest activation around 9 a.m. point and then begins a slow decline until around 6 pm, with the sunset. And so every day. Daylight favors the production of serotonin and dopamine, substances that activate attention and stimulate the activity; and when the sunlight decrease, the production of melatonin, sleep-inducer increases. So, a circadian rhythm is the need to go to sleep when it’s dark and get up to do things when there is light. It’s a chemical response. We require light in order to function and darkness serves as a time to rest. If you don´t have a firm habit of sleeping every day at the same time, your circadian rhythm will end up losing its balance.

There are a series of common characteristics circadian rhythms:

• They are endogenous. They Persist without the presence of temporary keys
• They exhibit spontaneous oscillation with a close to 24 hours period under constant conditions
• They have mechanisms for temperature compensation, so that temperature changes almost nothing
• They are susceptible to environmental rhythms having a value of approximately 24 hour similar to the cycles of light and temperature
• The rhythm is disrupted under certain environmental conditions such as bright light

It is shown that  ambient brightness has a clear influence on our life cycle and can cause daytime sleepiness and nighttime insomnia. 30% of the world population suffers chronic insomnia and other physical diseases, including cancers, because of inadequate lighting. Blue light and white light  computer screen alter sleep patterns when we are exposed to them in the hours when we should be relaxing. Fluorescent lamps cold light for example, whose predominance are blue and have flashing frequencies 50Hz, create stress, heart disease,  an increase in temperature, destroy neurons and increase headaches, migraines, eye strain, produce digestive disorders, menstrual irregularities… And the fact that we are so sensitive to blue light has to do with photo pigment called melanopsin that is particularly sensitive to this wavelength (460-485 nm). Throughout the day, our eyes not only process the images we see, but also values the light itself, especially, the amount of blue light present in the environment. Our retina is mainly made up of rods and cones, but other cells are intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion (ipRGC). And it is these cells and the pineal gland, which tell us when it’s time to go to bed. Once the number of drops of blue (480 nm) is below a certain level, the pineal gland begins to secrete melatonin levels corresponding to each system.

LEDs are help us to more correctly relate to circadian rhythms, without causing so much trouble at bedtime. With LEDs, one can adapt the intensity and the dominant light color and regulate it with the passing of the hours. Apart from when we are asleep, all our metabolic functions are directly or indirectly influenced by the presence or absence of light. Therefore it is extremely important that we make proper use of lighting, both in our homes and work environments, as in our cities; where often there is no balance or brightness control. In this modern and demanding society in which we live, the day-night natural cycle has been altered by the abuse of artificial light that could create discomfort in our brain and our body. Goodwork is very concerned about your health and we use the most advanced technology to illuminate and provide a higher quality to your days.

Do not hesitate and move to LED with Goodwork.

Pic: “The midnight sun” by Anda Berczky

Today, September 1st, 2016, is the day chosen for halogen bulbs to have a better life. Following the European legislation that promotes improved energy efficiency in the EU before the year 2020; we will no longer be able to buy halogens on market. The objective and the commitment is to invest in increasingly intelligent and efficient technologies for ourselves and for the environment.

The EU has been gradually removing the lamps considered to be more toxic and least efficient as happened with incandescent bulbs that definitively disappeared in 2012.

The Spanish Association of Manufacturers of Lighting (ANFALUM) states that today halogen technology represents only 10% of total lighting sales. Despite having better yields than traditional bulbs, halogens lamps, are still far from the results of the LED, the most efficient lighting in the market with savings of up to 80% compared to other types of lighting. This measure will encourage consumers to turn to LED technology which is capable of much higher performance in terms of quality, efficiency, reliability, safety, durability and ecology. These are advantages which we have talked about here before.

We will continue to find halogens lamps in shops until the stock finish (it is estimated that this will happen in six months approximately), but their manufacture and ordering is prohibited from today on. For this reason, if you want to save energy and help sustain the environment; do not hesitate and move to LED with Good Work.

Pic via OCU