Emergency Lighting

This is an idea that I borrowed from one of my email buddies.  There was no author shown, and research didn’t turn up any originator either, so I’ll publish it under my byline with apologies if I stepped on someone’s idea.

If you experience a power outage at your house at night, the first thing you do is get out the candles or a flashlight or some other source of light.  If a light source isn’t available then you sit in the dark hoping the lights will come back on soon. And let’s face it; we have become very dependent on lighting in our lives. Even on a dark and stormy day we sometimes depend on indoor lights, so loss of power is a big deal.

Here’s an idea! Use outdoor solar lights inside when the current is off.  You can stick them in a jars or bottles. Then place them on a table or counter to serve as your emergency lighting. When the emergency is over and the power comes back on, just put them back outside to recharge.  If the outage lasts several days, just keep recharging them outside during the day and bring them in at night. They are safer than candles to use and cheaper than batteries. 

 

If you know a storm is coming, the sky is dark and you fear loss of electricity, you can even bring your solar lights inside and charge them with your indoor lights.  That’s right, they don’t really require sunlight to charge but work equally well with incandescent or even fluorescent light as the charging source.

The light can be removed from the post used to stand it in the  ground and will fit into a small water bottle.  They also fit into most of the larger liter bottles.  You need a weight in the plastic bottle to keep it from tipping over. You can put in a few of the pretty "flat marbles" that are made for aquariums and vases.  (You can also use sand, aquarium gravel; whatever you have available.)

There are all types of solar lights available.  I noticed that Target had some on sale for $11 for a set of six that normally cost $30. So I went to Target and found that they also had individual solar mini-lights for $2.  However, after using one of the mini-lights, I determined that they aren’t bright enough to read by. They will allow you to get around without tripping over furniture, but they are more like a night light than a regular wattage light bulb. 
 

My recommendation is that you purchase a solar light about the size of a regular light bulb.  Some are even marked "Bright" on the label, so they are the best choice.  Also, don't figure on using one light per room.  Two or three would be better, and if you plan to read a book or magazine by solar light, you'll need one right up close, no more than a foot or two away.

Solar lights will keep glowing for at least 6 hours if fully charged, plenty of time to take you through an evening outage.  They are great decorative lights that will serve in a storm or other power outage. When not in use as emergency lighting the solar lights make nice sidewalk or driveway lights, so they never go to waste. They look nice and they do not attract flying bugs like the outdoor lights around the doorways.

Isn’t this a great idea!