Old light fixtures
by Annette
(Hawaii)
Will replacing old light fixtures with newer ones save money or energy?
I have replaced all the bulbs in the house with CFLs. Our house is almost 100 years old, and most of the light fixtures at least 50 years old. Will replacing the old fixtures with Energy Star fixtures save money?
Answer from Green Energy Efficient Homes
The only way in which changing old light fixtures to new ones will save you energy is if the old light fixtures only support an inefficient type of bulb. There is very little if any impact on energy efficiency of the fixtures themselves if you are just replacing old light fixtures with new ones of the same type. For example, light fixtures for a standard incandescent bulb are no more efficient now than they were a hundred years ago.
Where replacing old light fixtures with new ones makes sense is where the old light fixtures are preventing you from using a more energy efficient light. For example, I have a funky light in my breakfast nook that takes a 150-watt halogen bulb. I would love to replace the bulb with LED house lights of equivalent brightness, but so far have not been able to find an LED light bulb that is compatible with that fixture. So it would make sense for me to rip out the whole fixture and buy a new fixture that is designed for LED house lights, or halogen lights that can be swapped out for LED lights (for instance GU10 or MR16).
For fluorescent tube lights you can save energy by switching from older magnetic ballasts to newer electronic ones, but these types of lights are normally not found in homes, other than in workrooms and garages.
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