Lighting

Lighting

Increasing your lighting efficiency will decrease your energy bills and with the new LED choices available, many are worth the investment. Here are some tips to help you save both indoors and outdoors:

• Use linear fluorescent and energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps.
• Turn off any lights you are not using.
• Three-way lamps make it easier to use less light when bright light isn't necessary.
• Use light-colored draperies on your windows to allow more light into your home.
• Use outdoor lights with a photocell unit so they will turn off during the day.
• Low voltage pathway lighting will give off a good quantity of light outdoors.

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Last 10 Times Longer

The light bulbs in your living room lamps are burning up more of their energy to product heat than to light your home. You probably use traditional incandescent bulbs, which are up to 75 percent less efficient than the newest generation of fluorescent light bulbs — compact and sized just right for household lamps. A compact fluorescent light bulb will last 10 times longer.Unlike those familiar, overhead fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescents deliver a warm, soft light. Sure, compact fluorescents are more expensive to buy than incandescents. But you'll have to replace them far less often, so they pay for themselves in short order, especially when you use them in areas of your home where you leave the lights on for long periods of time.

And fluorescent lighting is good for the environment. Replacing just one incandescent bulb with, a fluorescent bulb means 1,0000 fewer pounds of carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere, reports the U.S. Department of Energy.
     
Some fluorescent bulbs are larger than incandescents, so check the size of your fixture before making a purchase.