Energy efficient lighting
Upgrading the lighting in your home to energy efficient lighting is one of the most inexpensive ways you can cut your energy costs. The payback period on energy efficient lighting is often very short and there are lots of choices.
Here are some of the energy efficient lighting topics covered on separate pages on this site:
Common sense lighting tips are provided below.
Energy efficient fluorescent lights The biggest bang for the buck comes from replacing your incandescent bulbs with energy efficient fluorescent bulbs - especially compact fluorescent lights or CFLs. I also give details on How fluorescent lights work to help explain why fluorescent bulbs are energy efficient.
Recycling fluorescent light bulbs: Don't just throw your used fluorescent light bulbs in the trash - they contain trace amounts of mercury and need to be safely recycled, for your own sake and the sake of other living things!
Fluorescent garage lights can provide brighter lighting at a lower cost than an incandescent light, especially if you use your garage a lot.
LED house lights are coming down in price and the energy savings are phenomenal - but is the light right for your application?
Outdoor LED lights are a good way to start looking into LED lighting - you can upgrade those dim and flimsy solar landscape lights with brighter outdoor LED landscape lights, or create a great ambiance for your patio for just pennies a month in electricity.
LED growing lights can help you cut your electricity costs if you like to grow plants under lights. While the best way to grow plants is using real sunlight, LED growing lights are much more efficient than most other forms of growing lights.
Replacement LED light bulbs are available for many incandescent fixtures. But most replacement bulbs have poor light diffusion and quality. Find out how to avoid disappointment when buying LEDs.
Turn off lights when you're not using them. Don't believe the myth that you'll use more energy turning them back on than you'll save. It just ain't true!
Solar light tubes are easy-to-install systems that channel sunlight from your roof down into a top-floor room, even one that receives no natural light of its own.
Use my CFL savings calculator to figure out how much money you will save by switching your incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). You may be pleasantly surprised. (Or you may discover it's not worth it, in some cases!)
Use my LED savings calculator if you're really serious about saving energy, and you want to be sure you will. Bear in mind that you may save more energy by switching over more of your lights to cheaper CFLs, than by switching fewer to more expensive LEDs.
Common sense lighting tips
There's more to energy efficient lighting than energy efficient lights. One look at my living room and you'll know why
Not that I'm boasting. While my living room looks fancy and stylish, its walls are in an a-la-mode but energy-wasting maroon. This is an argument (oops - I mean, discussion) I have with my wife every time she asks me to paint another room. She wants stylish dark. I want energy-saving light! Guess who wins? Well, we usually compromise. One notch lighter on the five-swatch paint chip.
So what are some of my best environmentally friendly lighting tips? Let's see. Off the top of my head:
Turn off lights: Always turn lights off when you leave a room - even if you plan to come back in a minute (if you're like me and you often get sidetracked)
Leave lights off: Don't be afraid of the dark (seriously - it was an eye-opener to me to learn how infrequently people use artificial lighting in many developing countries - and even some highly developed ones)
Turn lights down: Use dimmers if you want really bright lighting on occasion but softer light will do for other situations. (Make sure the lights you use are compatible with the dimmer you buy.)
Natural light: Use natural light wherever possible. Open the blinds to wake up the kids - it's cheaper than switching on the light and the kids are less likely to groan.
Prioritize upgrades: Focus on upgrading the most heavily used lights to more energy efficient ones. Use my CFL savings calculator and LED savings calculator to figure out how much you'll save, and whether it's even worthwhile. (There's no point changing an incandescent bulb in the furnace crawl space to a CFL - the payback period will be hundreds of years!) And if possible, upgrade to the most efficient lighting that suits the situation. For example, consider LED house lights, which use far less energy than even compact fluorescent lights, for applications where the light is used several hours a day, and where a focused beam is appropriate.
Lighting doesn't really use all that much electricity in the average home. But your home isn't going to be very average for long, if you follow my tips for home heating, cooling, and household energy use. After you've cut back everywhere else, lighting suddenly becomes a much bigger part of your energy budget. So follow my tips on energy saving lights, energy efficient lamps,energy efficient lighting fixtures, and how to live with more light but less electricity.
Other resources
For more ideas on energy efficient lighting, check out these Natural daylight ideas from Holistic Interior Designs.
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