While air conditioning and heating are the biggest contributors to a household’s energy bills, lighting also consumes a fair amount of electricity. Depending on the size of the home, what type of lights it has and how often they’re on, lighting is usually responsible for somewhere between 5% and 15% of a household’s electricity usage. That may not seem like a huge amount, but it can definitely add up when you factor in the entire year. Consider getting these lighting upgrades from a reputable electrical services provider to make your home more energy efficient.
LED Lighting
The US Department of Energy banned the sale of almost all types of incandescent light bulbs in 2023. That means now your only two options are compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) and LED lights. If you still have a stockpile of incandescent light bulbs you bought before the ban went into effect, you can continue using them if you want. Nonetheless, we’d recommend throwing them out due to how inefficient they are. If you use all LED lights in your home, you can reduce how much energy your lighting uses by somewhere between 75% and 90% compared to if you had all incandescent lighting. Using all LED lighting typically saves the average household over $200 a year.
Using CFLs isn’t necessarily a bad choice, but most of them still use around twice the amount of electricity as LEDs. Another issue with CFLs is that they produce quite a bit of heat. That means if you have quite a few of your lights on, they’ll cause your house to get hotter. While this isn’t an issue in the winter, it can further increase your energy bills in the warmer months as a result of your air conditioning needing to run a bit more. This isn’t something you need to worry about with LEDs since they produce so little heat that you can touch them even after they’ve been on for hours.
The other major benefit of switching to LED lighting is that the bulbs have a far longer life expectancy. Most LEDs have a lifespan of approximately 25,000 hours. That means even if an LED bulb was on for eight hours each day, it would usually last for over eight years. CFLs, on the other hand, typically only have a lifespan of around 8,000 hours.
Dimmable Switches and Bulbs
Controlling your light fixtures with dimmer switches is another easy way to make your lighting more energy efficient. In most cases, you can reduce the energy consumption of a light fixture by around 50% if the bulb is dimmed to 70% of its normal brightness. Dimmable fixtures and bulbs also make it easy to set the perfect mood for whatever you’re doing.
The only thing to note when it comes to dimmer switches is that some LEDs and CFLs are non-dimmable. That doesn’t mean you can’t dim them, but just that they aren’t designed to be dimmed and won’t last nearly as long in a dimmable fixture. Non-dimmable LEDs also tend to flicker quite a lot when dimmed. In terms of non-dimmable CFLs, it’s extremely important you never use them in a dimmable fixture since this can sometimes result in the bulb catching the fixture on fire.
Timers
Another great option in terms of all of your outdoor lighting is to control the fixtures with a timer. This is especially useful during the winter when you often get home from work after dark. With a timer, you can program the lights to turn on at dark or just before you normally get home. That way the outside of your house is lit up when you get back without you needing to leave the lights on all day. You can also program the timer so that some or all of your outdoor lights shut off when you normally go to bed. That way, you don’t have to worry about forgetting to shut the lights off before going to sleep and wasting energy.
Solar-Powered Outdoor Lighting
An even better option for some of your outdoor lighting is to use solar-powered lights since they don’t consume any electricity. New solar-powered lights work far better than ones produced a decade or two ago. Even on a fully cloudy, overcast day, the solar panels will usually be able to absorb enough energy to power the lights throughout at least the entire evening if not longer.
Task Lighting
Task lighting is extremely useful for things like a home office and even your kitchen. Task lighting refers to using smaller, more efficient lights that directly shine onto any work surface, such as a desk or kitchen countertop. The purpose of this type of lighting is to fully illuminate the work surface without needing to have all of your more powerful overhead lights on.
It can also mean using a smaller reading lamp next to your couch, chair or bed in the evening and keeping your other lights shut off most of the time. In addition to saving energy, lamps and other types of task lighting can make it much easier for you to fall asleep and help you develop healthier sleeping patterns. That’s because it helps your body’s internal clock adjust to nighttime much better than it does when your home is fully bright.
Smart Light Fixtures and Bulbs
While standard LED lights definitely make a home more energy efficient, an even more effective option is smart LED light bulbs and smart light fixtures. As with any other type of smart home technology, smart lighting connects to your home’s Wi-Fi network or directly to a smart home hub. This allows you to use an app on your phone or tablet to monitor and control all of your lights. That means you can dim your lights or turn them on and off at the push of a button without having to get up from the couch. You can also use the app to check if you forgot to turn any lights off before leaving the house and turn off any that are still on.
In some cases, you can use the app to set certain lights like those on your front porch on a timer as well. In addition to saving energy, smart lighting can also improve your home security when you’re away. Manually turning on certain lights from the app or putting them on a timer is an easy way to deter break-ins since it makes it look like someone is home.
If you want to improve your home’s energy efficiency and save money, Absolute Electric is ready to help. We offer a range of innovative lighting installation solutions, outdoor lighting fixtures, and can also check that your entire electrical system works as efficiently as it should. In addition to upgrading your lighting, replacing your outdated electrical panel is a great way to make your electrical system more efficient. Whether it’s an electrical installation or repairs, you can trust our team to perform the work safely and to make sure everything conforms with the local electrical code requirements. We have locations in Sterling and Fort Myers and serve all of the surrounding areas in Virginia and Florida as well.
For more information on how we can help make your home more efficient, contact us at Absolute Electric today.
