Simple saving tips
The current state of the economy is tough for just about everyone and millions of homeowners across the nation are seeking ways to conserve energy in order to save money on their next electric bill. One of the simplest ways to accomplish this is to use energy efficient lighting.
Energy efficient lighting doesn’t require you to change out fixtures or to buy new lamps or make a single modification to your existing lighting layout. There is an energy efficient light for just about every single lighting application available today and being able to conserve energy is as simple as changing a light bulb.
Energy efficient lighting
Compact fluorescent lights, also known as CFLs, help save money on electricity by reducing consumption more than 50%. In fact, ENERGY STAR qualified CFL lights conserve the most energy, reducing usage by up to 75%.
Putting this into context, if you were to replace just five of the most used incandescent lights in your home with ENERGY STAR CFL lights, you would find that your annual savings could add up to approximately $600.
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Your standard, ordinary light bulb that most of us are familiar with. These have been the most common lights in use for nearly a century and yet they are exceedingly inefficient in energy consumption To give you a grounding line on what we’re talking about here, this is what an incandescent light bulb looks like: |
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An ENERGY STAR qualified CFL now comes in a variety of different shapes and styles to accommodate most fixtures, but the traditional appearance is this: Changing out your existing incandescent light bulbs is the first step toward conserving energy and saving money on electricity. You can go about this two ways: You could replace your existing lights today without further delay, or simply stock up on CFLs and change your old incandescent lights when they go out. The more you change, the greater your savings.
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But this is not the only way to conserve energy with lighting.
Dimmers
A great way to conserve energy through energy efficient lighting is to install dimmers in portions of your home where you need light but don’t always need the full power of a 60-watt or 75-watt bulb. When you have dimmers installed, you can adjust the level of light with the touch of a button or the slide of your finger.
Hidden losses
Within your home you likely have a number of sources that cost money in the long run, including recessed lighting. Very popular for a variety of applications, recessed lighting can often be an unwitting participant in higher energy bills.
First, here in Connecticut, as we’re all painfully aware, New England winters can be quite tough. Heating costs have left many of us keeping our core home temperatures down in order to conserve energy, but if you have recessed ‘cans,’ then you could be losing heat if these cans are not insulated properly. If air can move freely around them, then warm air has an escape route.
If the recessed lights are ‘non-IC’ rated, then insulation cannot come in contact with them which means that heat can escape.
A third way that recessed lighting could be costing you money is through light leakage. If the reflective cans allow light to escape into the ceiling, then you’re wasting electricity.
Be aware of your lighting
Lastly, when you want to put energy efficient lighting to work for you and help conserve energy and save money on electricity, the simplest way to accomplish this is to make sure you turn off lights when not needed. This act alone can save hundreds of dollars per year, on average.
For more information and to find out how your home can become energy efficient through lighting, then contact us for a full energy audit. You’ll be amazed at just how much you can save with some simple adjustments to your existing lighting.
