How To Save On Lighting - 11 Clever Energy Saving Tips

Did you know that lighting accounts for almost 10 percent of electricity bill? Saving energy will help you to reduce your monthly expenses significantly. Follow these simple steps to save your money and, by the way, our planet:

  • The old incandescent bulbs are wasting about 90% of electric energy for creating needless heat. Replacing the old incandescent bulbs with up-to-date equivalents. Modern CFLs and LED lights use up to 90 percent less electric power and last for years, so they will significantly reduce your electricity bills. Although they are more expensive, they will pay you off in future. There are also modern incandescent bulbs that are more energy effective available. They are cheaper than CFLs and LED lights, but not so efficient. Look for bulbs with ENERGY STAR� label on the packaging, this means that such certified lights are modern, energy-saving and eco-friendly.
  • Try to use natural sunlight during daylight hours. Plan your house the way you will get as much light from windows and skylights as possible:
    windows and skylights


  • Switch off the lights at daytime hours. Never forget to switch off the light when you're leaving some particular room. You'll see that this simple step can save up to 40 percent of electric energy needed for home lighting.
  • Another fantastic way to save energy and moreover change the ambience in a room easily is using dimmer switches. People often underestimate the role of dimmers, but in fact these devices can significantly reduce your monthly electricity payments.
  • Did you know that home appliances still use electric energy when they are plugged into an outlet even when they are off? Your PC, TV, DVD player, Playstation, satellite receiver, stereo, cable box, VCR, microwave oven, and even battery charger use energy in standby mode, and some of them need a lot. Plugging them out the outlet when you don't need them will save 5 or more percent of electric energy.
  • A clever idea is to use layered lighting scheme. This means using ambient, task and accent lights with separate switches. Often task light is more than enough for daily routine, when using general ceiling light that illuminates the whole room with bright light is unnecessary:
    layered lighting scheme


  • Never forget to switch off the light when you go out of some room, even if you are intending to go back there soon. First, the plans may change, you may linger somewhere (and this happens VERY often), while the lights in an empty room will stay on and waste power. And second, these minutes will turn into hours in the long run, thus wasting energy and money.
  • There are some places or situations when the light is preferred to be always on, for example basement stairs. In this case using the lowest possible wattage will have a huge impact on energy saving. Using a 15W incandescent bulb instead of 60W will reduce your monthly electricity payment up to . And using contemporary light sources like CFLs or LED lamps can reduce energy consumption even more. 3W LED bulb is often enough for most situations, or some strip LED lights can be used for decorative purposes along with illuminating the area. Different motion sensor can also be used to turn the lights on when a person comes in and off when he or she leaves the area:
    basement stairs LED lighting


  • Motion sensors and/or programmable timers can be successfully used with outdoor lighting. Such lighting schemes can be used in decorative and security reasons.
  • Use solar garden lights for illuminating your backyard. Outdoor solar lights can also be used for security reasons. They can light up the garden even during power outages. Read more about outdoor solar lights on our site.
    outdoor solar lights outdoor solar lights

    outdoor solar lights


  • Plan your outdoor lighting so that you can separately illuminate different areas. Install separate switches in the most convenient places, combine them with sensors and timers:
    outdoor LED lighting


Some of these steps are easy (like replacing old bulbs), some are more complicated, but if you set energy saving as a goal, you'll see the significant difference in your electricity bill very soon.





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