Aurora Lighting Decks the Halls of Zero Energy America Home

CLEARWATER, FL, November 29, 2012 (Press-News.org) For one eco-friendly home, the holidays are looking very bright. Atop an LED-lit Christmas tree sits Aurora Lighting's trademark "A," but the festive holiday decor is not the only display of the company's low energy innovations. Aurora, an international manufacturer and distributor of energy saving lighting solutions, is the exclusive provider of all the LED lighting inside Zero Energy America's self-sustainable home.

Located in Palm Harbour, Florida, the 4,500 square-foot Mediterranean-style residence built by nationally recognized builder Marc Rutenberg Homes will have an open house Thursday, November 29th.

When it comes to money spent on electricity, lighting ranks 4th highest for US residences, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. This makes Aurora's energy efficient LEDs invaluable to the home's "zero energy" goals.

Zero Energy America, a national initiative and the subject of a PBS documentary, aims to build "Extreme Green, Zero Energy" homes and educate a nation about sustainable practices in the housing industry. Fortunately, greener, low energy options are increasingly accessible, especially during the holiday season when consumption peaks.

These energy savings are especially evident in lighting as advancements in LEDs are drastically decreasing the average household's carbon footprint. While a traditional incandescent consumes 60 watts and the average fluorescent consumes 14 watts, a normal LED consumes 6 watts, or even as little as 1 watt like Aurora's LED marker lights. These versatile, warm white LEDs are found in the Zero Energy home's bathrooms, bedrooms and lounge area. Not only are the marker lights energy savers, they have an impressive lifespan of 30,000 hours - that's six times longer than traditional lighting technologies.

Aurora's flexible, LED light strips accent the home's design details and a provide a welcoming ambiance throughout the house. Their unassuming presence in nearly every room demonstrates how this low energy solution can be used effortlessly in a variety of applications.

And the sustainable solutions are not limited to the lighting - every detail of the Zero Energy home contributes to its energy independence, the ability to go "off the grid." The lights themselves are powered by solar panels, the home's main source of electricity. Even the refrigerator is energy efficient, using as much electricity as a 100 watt bulb.

The ultimate goal is to make building Zero Energy homes more attainable, so that anyone wants to live green can actually afford it. Although Zero Energy homes do cost about 18 percent more than standard builds, it's an investment that will assuredly pay off in the long run. And in such an uncertain economic climate, it's an investment worth taking.

About Aurora
The Aurora Group is an international manufacturing, distribution, sales and marketing organisation. Since 1999 the Group has been an industry pioneer, providing groundbreaking energy-saving lighting solutions and technologies on a global scale. Differentiating themselves by providing solutions across all four elements of lighting - power, control, lamps and luminaires - the Group offers OEM / ODM services through their "Liteworks" division and project services through their "Mircrolights" division. Please call +1 (727) 524-4270 or visit our website auroralighting.com more more details.

About Zero Energy America and Marc Rutenberg Homes
Zero Energy America is a project by Marc Rutenberg Homes to build homes in the Tampa Bay Area at the extreme of green building, with net zero electric bills. "A smart zero energy home is building a home that first reduces the energy the home uses and wastes ...a home built so well and energy efficient that daily consumption is dramatically decreased. Then, with the use of Photovoltaic (PV), or solar panels, it provides zero energy homes with 100% renewable energy," Marc Rutenberg states. The project is also the subject of a documentary titled "Zero Energy America" set to air on PBS next year.