Lighting in Your Home

Replace all light fixtures and bulbs that operate four or more hours a day with ones that use fluorescent bulbs to save money and energy. Use lumens -- the amount of light produced -- to compare lights. For example, a 23-watt fluorescent bulb produces about the same number of lumens as a 100-watt incandescent. Your investment will generally pay for itself in a couple of years since fluorescents last 6 to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs and are four times more energy efficient. 

Lighting Tips

(from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Savers - Tips on Saving Energy and Money at Home)

Indoor

• Turn off the lights in any room you're not using or consider installing timers, photo cells or occupancy sensors to reduce the amount of time your lights are on.

• Use task lighting; instead of brightly lighting an entire room, focus the light where you need it. For example, use fluorescent under cabinet lighting for kitchen sinks and countertops.

• Consider three-way lamps; they make it easier to keep lighting levels low when brighter light is not necessary.

• Use 4-foot fluorescent fixtures with reflective backing and electronic ballasts for your workroom, garage and laundry areas.

• Consider using 4-watt mini-fluorescent or electro-luminescent night light. Both light are much more efficient than their counterparts. The luminescent lights are cool to the touch.

• Use compact fluorescent lamps in all portable table and floor lamps in your home. Consider carefully the size and fit of these systems when you select them. Some home fixtures may not accommodate some of the larger compacts.

• For spot lighting, consider compacts with reflectors. The lamps range in wattage from 13-watt to 32-watt and provide a very directed light using a reflector and lens system.

• Take advantage of daylight by using light-colored, loose-weave curtains on your windows to allow daylight to penetrate the room while preserving privacy. Also, decorate with lighter colors that reflect daylight.

• If you have torchier fixtures with halogens lamps, consider replacing them with compact fluorescent torchieres. Halogen lamps generate excessive heat that can create fire hazards. Compacts are cooler, use 60% to 80% less energy and can produce more light (lumens) than the halogen torchieres.

Outdoor Lighting Tips

• Use outdoor lights with a photocell unit or a timer so they will turn off during the day. Some stores also carry lights powered by small photovoltaic (PV) modules that convert sunlight directly into electricity; consider PV-powered lights for areas that are not close to an existing power supply line.

• Exterior lighting is one of the best places to use compact fluorescents because of their long life. If you live in a cold climate, be sure to buy a lamp with a cold-weather ballast.

Enlightening Comparisons

(from the Alliance to Save Energy's Power$marts Tips)

Here's a simple comparison for two types of bulbs giving off the same amount of light and burning for four hours per day for three years (4,380 hours). You'll go through six incandescent bulbs during this period, while the compact fluorescent will still have another 3.8 years of life left.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration

It's A Fact:

If every household in the U.S. switched to Energy Star light fixtures, we could save 70 billion kilowatt-hours and prevent 100 billion pounds of CO₂ per year -- equivalent to removing 10 million cars from the road!

To learn more about the difference between all types of light bulbs, visit EnergyPlace.

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