What to consider when purchasing solar flood lights

In a world that increasingly values sustainable alternatives, solar flood lights stand at the forefront of innovation in outdoor lighting. It’s the simple and genius solution of harnessing the sun’s power to generate light and create security.

What are some of the most important factors to consider when purchasing fixtures for your property?

LOOK AT LUMENS, NOT WATTS

Traditionally, wattage has been the standard metric for measuring the brightness of light bulbs. But when it comes to solar flood lights, lumens are a more accurate indicator of brightness. Lumens measure the total amount of visible light emitted by a source, providing a better gauge of a light’s actual brightness. For outdoor spaces, consider higher lumen values for increased visibility and security. Look for solar flood lights that provide sufficient lumens to meet your specific illumination needs.

CONSIDER COLOUR TEMPERATURE

Beyond brightness, consider the color temperature of the solar flood lights. Color temperature is measured in Kelvins, with lower values (around 2700K) producing warm, yellow light and higher values (5000K and above) delivering cool, bluish-white light. Our new solar flood lights have high values of around 6000-6500K to deliver clear visibility.

SELECT MOTION SENSOR DESIGNS FOR ENHANCED SECURITY

Many high-quality solar flood lights come equipped with motion sensors, enhancing security and energy efficiency. Motion sensor lights activate when movement is detected, providing an added layer of safety, and discouraging potential intruders. When purchasing solar flood lights, consider models with adjustable sensitivity and duration settings to tailor them to your specific requirements.

CHECK FOR ROBUST MATERIALS

Outdoor lighting faces exposure to various weather conditions, so it’s important to choose solar flood lights designed for durability and weather resistance. Look for lights with an IP65 or higher rating, indicating protection against dust and water ingress. Additionally, consider the build quality, materials used, and any certifications for durability in challenging outdoor environments. The newest solar floods are crafted from ABS, PC, metal and anti-UV materials.

UNDERSTAND THE ADVANTAGES OF LIFEPO4 BATTERIES

The type of battery technology used in any solar flood light has a huge impact on the fixture’s performance and lifespan. LiFePO4 batteries (lithium iron phosphate) are gaining prominence for their superior characteristics. These batteries offer a longer cycle life and can endure more charge-discharge cycles. They’re also known for their impressive thermal stability and safety profile, reducing the risk of overheating or thermal runaway. The LiFePO4 batteries found the newest solar flood lights are one of their major selling points with homeowners, architects and project managers alike, recognizing their superiority.

OPT FOR MONOCRYSTALLINE SILICON PANELS

Another standout feature of these fixtures is their monocrystalline silicon panels. Their benefits are numerous, ranging from high efficiency because of their single-crystal structure to their compact size. They also perform superiorly in low-light conditions. With a longer lifespan, exceptional durability, and the ability to harness energy even in less-than-ideal weather conditions, monocrystalline silicon panels make flood lights a robust and efficient outdoor lighting solution.

THINK ABOUT ADJUSTABLE MOUNTING

Consider the flexibility of mounting options when selecting solar flood lights. Lights with adjustable brackets or flexible mounting arms allow you to direct the light exactly where it’s needed. This adaptability ensures optimal coverage and illumination of specific areas within your outdoor space.

So, while there may be a great many flood lights on the market, these handy tips will help you make a wise selection, to ensure both longevity and performance. Happy buying!

Source: Leading Architecture

Can I still increase the rent by 7 percent?

What are the pertinent laws, rules and regulations governing the lease of residential units.

For one, we have Republic Act (RA) 9653, otherwise known as the Rent Control Act of 2009. Insofar as the lessor's capacity to increase the amount of rent, Section 4 of RA 9653 specifically provides:

"Section 4. Limit on Increases in Rent. - For a period of one (1) year from its effectivity, no increase shall be imposed upon the rent of any residential unit covered by this Act: Provided, That after such period until December 31, 2013, the rent of any residential unit covered by this Act shall not be increased by more than seven percent (7%) annually as long as the unit is occupied by the same lessee: Provided, further, That when the residential unit becomes vacant, the lessor may set the initial rent for the next lessee: Provided, however, That in the case of boarding houses, dormitories, rooms and bedspaces offered for rent to students, no increase in rental more than once per year shall be allowed."

Due to our government's aim of continuously providing protection to residential tenants, while at the same time being responsive to socioeconomic factors which affect the availability and access to residential rental houses and units as well as the financial capacity of residential tenants, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development has approved National Human Settlements Board (NHSB) Resolution 2023-03, dated Oct. 13, 2023, which regulates rent covering the period of Jan. 1, 2024 to Dec. 31, 2024 for monthly rental rates that do not exceed Ten thousand pesos (P10,000). Said resolution expressly states:

"WHEREFORE, pursuant to the foregoing, the National Human Settlements Board hereby RESOLVES, as it is RESOLVED, to continue the rental regulation for the period January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024 under the same terms and conditions provided under NHSB Resolution No. 2022-01, that for as long as the unit is occupied by the same lessee, the rent of any residential unit shall not be increased by more than four percent (4%) for the monthly rental rates of P10,000 and below;

"PROVIDED, that when the residential unit becomes vacant, the lessor may set the initial rent for the next lessee, provided that in case of boarding houses, dormitories, rooms, and bed spaces offered for rent to students, no increase in rent more than once a year shall be allowed;"

Taking these tenets into consideration, we submit that one may only increase the monthly rental rate of ones lessee by up to 4 percent if the current rent is not more than P10,000, in consonance with National Human Settlements Board Resolution 2023-03.

If the current rental rate for ones residential apartment is more than P10,000, then one may increase the rent by 7 percent

Source: Manila Times

Donia, London: Fantastic Filipino food in the most soul-sucking part of the city

If you’re going through Carnaby Street hell, just keep going. Adobo will be your reward

They’ve renamed Carnaby Street. We’re supposed to call it “Carnaby” now. My cab driver said they’d reclassified it as a “quarter” so they could charge Carnaby Street rents in the less glamorous Soho side roads. Not, by any means, the most paranoid theory he expressed. Well, whatever they’ve done with the place, I think we can all agree it’s awful. It’s like a ride in a Soviet theme park, designed to convey the vacuity and decadence of western youth. It can only apparently be appreciated in mobs of 40, clad in identical puffa jackets, sharing two vapes and a litre vat of bubble tea.

Granted all the space in this magazine, I could not express the vileness of Kingly Court, the “dining destination” at the quarter’s joyless heart. I once had a temporary job as a security guard in a mall in North Carolina. I used to sit in the deserted food court in the small hours, entirely alone, wondering what the hell I was doing with my life. It was somehow a warmer and less soul-destroying place than Kingly Court. But the small clean room on the upper landing — light, bright and with whitewashed brick walls — is neutral and innocuous. Here is Donia, a small modern Filipino restaurant.

I’m not usually troubled by the acoustics of restaurants, but Donia’s are challenging. It’s a cruel and unusual battering with random fragments of unattenuated but enthusiastic food conversations. Probably what it’s like living inside Gregg Wallace’s head. I’d also like to express my undying enmity to the platoon of business bros at the next table whose knobs went all the way to 11 and were stuck on “transmit”. They obviously felt their squalid property transactions were “on a strictly need-to-know basis” but the bastards had decided we needed to know. There’s a special region of hell reserved for people like this. It’s basically them, me and an immersion blender for eternity.

The chicken offal skewer was easy to agree on and turned out to be half a dozen hearts on a stick with a dark, sticky sweet sauce. It was good, but I felt a little hard done by that they’d stayed entirely cardiac. I would gladly have extended at least into the hepatic or renal.

Adobo is regarded as a national dish of the Philippines — loved, celebrated and much debated. It’s a preparation of meat, poultry, fish or vegetables browned and then braised in vinegar and soy. The sour element is distinctive, unusual and stimulating. We Brits don’t use as much sour in our cooking as other cultures, and the effect on the palate can be every bit as transformative as the more familiar umami. Here, rather than a vast bowl of stew, they’ve made a smart little adobo of mushroom, which they’ve then used to make crisp fried croquetas. They were extraordinary, prompting me to reassess my life goals radically in favour of spending more time eating adobo.

We worry so much about eggs’ freshness here in the UK that we obsessively refrigerate them and panic when sell-by dates approach. The idea, therefore, of an egg brined for preservation is challenging to most of us. It calls to mind the pickled egg jar in the pub, only marginally less appetising than a pathology specimen. But we’re getting this catastrophically wrong. The Filipino way is to hard-boil and grate them on to a salad with chunks of fresh tomato. It looks like yellow snow, or what’s fashionably termed a “drift” of parmesan, but there’s no sulphurous egginess. There’s a very slight concentration of the yolk flavour and the salt picks it up further. Complex savouriness set off by a cool, crisp and neutral salad.

Kinilaw is a pickle of fresh fish in vinegar and citrus. In this case, the citrus is finger limes and the fish sea bream . . . but you guessed that. All fish in London at the moment seems to be sea bream. I’m not complaining, I just can’t work out if there can be any left in the sea. But all that fresh lightness was going to need a counterweight, and it came in the form of lechón.

Lechón is suckling pig, usually roasted whole with much effort spent over the crackling. The flesh is subtly flavoured and creamy, the skin a filigree matrix of gold, like the inside of a Crunchie bar. At Donia they serve just a piece, which by itself provoked moans of joy at the table, but it was as nothing beside The Astonishing Sauce. It was an extremely unprepossessing colour. What Farrow & Ball would probably call “Support Hose Beige” but it was made of puréed chicken livers, vinegar, soy and sugar. If you can imagine all the things you love about chicken liver parfait that elevate it beyond school-dinner liver. That. Poured over pig. This incarnation was also fired up with peppercorns. Shameless lily gilding that I can only endorse.

In the circumstances, it seemed just silly not to go the extra mile and order the fresh grilled half lobster, “ginataan”, humming with the scorched-shell redolence of a beach barbecue. It’s hard to do it justice. Imaging two alien xenomorphs wrestling naked in a drench of delicately fragranced coconut curry sauce. Lots of ferociously dangerous bits but strangely erotic.

The food at Donia was fantastic, new to me and a delightful revelation. Service was outstanding, and the wine list was smartly chosen to survive a firefight of new and unusual flavours.

If I could find a way, I’d like to be spirited into Donia, possibly through a back door and into the lift, wearing some kind of obscuring bag over my head so I didn’t register where I was. After that, all I’d need is a table away from the business bros and about a gallon of that lechón sauce.

Donia

2.14 Top Floor Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, London W1B 5PW

Starters: £3.50-£20

Mains: £22-£82

Sweets: £4.50-£12

Source: Financial Times