Tips for Your Indoor and Outdoor Lighting
Posted on 28. Apr, 2010 by Anna in Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficient Homes, General Articles
Using indoor and outdoor lights gives your home that much-needed glow. But having lighting does not have to be too expensive, especially if you follow these lighting tips and tricks for a cost-efficient and energy-saving home.
As for indoor lights, here are some things you can do to lower your energy consumption.
- Only purchase indoor lights that have passed Energy Star standards. You can buy CFL lights, making sure they have the Energy Star logo as well. CFL lights may actually save you as much as $30 on your electricity bill per bulb. Moreover, CFL lights can also reduce heat by as much as 75% as compared to incandescent bulbs. This is very beneficial in reducing cooling costs and is safer than ordinary lamps.
- Use CFL lights in places such as the kitchen, dining room, living room, and bedrooms.
- Before getting an indoor light bulb, you may want to first visit Energy Star’s website at: www.energystar.gov On this website, you can view various types of indoor bulbs and find the perfect fit for your fixtures at home.
- Put CFL lights in floor lamps and desk lamps to provide efficient lighting where you need it most.
On the other hand, the tips for outdoor lighting are different from those for indoor lights.
- If you’re shopping for flood lights, look for the CFL bulbs. The new CFL flood light models have been found to be durable and can withstand harsh outdoor elements such as snow or rain. However, these flood lights don’t come with motion sensors.
- For those who want to use outdoor lighting for their patio, garden, or other exterior parts of their home, CFL bulbs may be the best option. They’re considered to be safer, since they’re almost 70% cooler than ordinary lights. Additionally, they’re less expensive, even if you were to leave them on all night.
- Get Energy Star lights that are made specifically for the outdoors. There are new outdoor light models that have special features such as motion sensors or automatic light detection which turns them off during the day.
- Try using LED lights rather than incandescent bulbs. They have a price similar to that of the latter yet last longer than the regular bulbs.