Emergency lighting at home

Emergency lights can be found on commercial or high occupancy buildings. Different countries have different law regarding to emergency lights. Some country’s require a combination of emergency lighting and lit emergency exit signs, while others only require lit emergency exit sign lights. Some countries want emergency exits light mounted high, while other low. In some cases the emergency exits light are always  turned on and sometimes it’s lit when the power fails.

On private residential structures, there generally are no rules for emergency lighting. The same challenges does exist when the power goes out. You need to be able to see to safely move around and in emergency's to find a way out safely. People should be aware that external lights from neighbors or streetlights will not be on, if the power interruption is not limited to your house. This means the little light from outside that allows you to see in the dark, is not there. So putting flashlights on a fixed location, might not be a great solution without any additional markings. Using commercial emergency lighting can be a bit expensive for regular consumers, there are a two options consumers can take:

- There are rechargeable flashlights  available, which will automatically turn on when the power goes out and when the light is pulled from the holder/socket. Often these lights are also equipped with an indicator/night light, so you can find them for normal use. (For example: Eton ARCBB200W DBL Blackout Buddy (USA), Olympia LED NL300 (German) or Alecto LED ATL-120W (Dutch / Belgium)). The advantage and disadvantage is that they will turn on, when they power goes out. They are usually aimed at the ceiling and the light will reflect of the ceiling and illuminate the room.

- Other options would be a flashlight with glow in the dark markings (make sure these are exposed during the daylights) or a Beta-Marker. This option does not require a power socket and does not continuously consume power (although a trickle charger does not use that much).

The flashlight with automatic turn on switch are probably the best option as a home emergency lighting. However sometimes you don't need a light when the power goes down. If you are sleeping, there is not much you can do if the powerline goes down and in most cases (in my country) the power is restored pretty quickly. So you might as well continue to sleep (a backup battery in your alarm clock is always nice) and find a light when you do need light. So choose the appropriate option for different rooms.