How Can I Make My Home Lighting More Efficient?
It can often be taken for granted, but lighting forms an integral part of our home’s functionality. It’s something that we use every day, and so, it should come as a no-brainer. Ideally, we should want the most efficient and effective home lighting possible. Here we discuss some easy steps you can take to achieve just that.
What is Light Efficiency?
Being light efficient means making the best use of your lighting sources throughout your home. This could be either adapting your current light sources or installing new ones. Nowadays, having a home that conserves energy is often just as desirable as ensuring that you light your home in your preferred way.
So, how do you find the balance between lighting your home in the way you want, while trying to save as much energy as possible? We’re here to help!
How to Make Your Home Lighting More Efficient
Improving your light efficiency can often be quite straightforward, even if you have no hands-on experience with home improvement projects. Sometimes, all that is required are behavioral changes to how you make use of your light sources.
Despite this, problems with your home lighting can be a headache, so understanding how to deal with them can often be important before taking measures to improve what lighting systems you currently have in place.
The average Florida home spends about $2,000 on energy consumption every year. Upgrading your home lighting to be more efficient, you’re bound to save on those costs! For the most part, it’s an easy dilemma to solve. We’ve listed some suggestions for home lighting down below.
Install energy efficient light bulbs
A simple, but very effective method, of making your home lighting more efficient is switching from incandescent bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) or Light Emitting Diodes (LED).
CFLs typically use 75% less electricity while producing the same amount of light as incandescent bulbs, not to mention they last about 9 to 10 times longer. LEDs are the most energy efficient bulbs, and generally produce the same amount of light as incandescent bulbs while using significantly less energy and lasting far longer.
Lumens beats Watts
It can be confusing, but looking out for Lumen readings is more important than considering a bulb’s wattage. Watts describes the amount of electricity a bulb uses, whereas Lumens, refers to the amount of light produced. In some cases, you can get low wattage bulbs that produce more lumens than others. It’s important to take note of this when you are doing your light-bulb shopping.
Lighting Controls
Using various lighting controls is an effective way to ensure that your home lighting is as efficient as possible. Light dimmers allow you to determine how much energy your light fixtures use. We all forget to turn off the lights when leaving a room from time to time. By installing automatic occupancy sensors, lights will turn off on their own once you leave the room.
Task Direct Lighting
Task lighting is making use of smaller light sources in a more direct way. For example, installing overhead lights for workbenches, kitchen counters and desks. This works perfectly for spaces in which you don’t need the entire room illuminated to complete a task. By using smaller, more concentrated lighting, you can save energy.
Using Natural Light Effectively
Making your home lighting more efficient shouldn’t have to begin and end with improving or adding to your current light sources. But rather, by trying to get the most out of natural light during the day. If done correctly, you will hardly have to use electrical lighting until the evening time. Rearranging your home, un-obstructing any windows and installing skylights, are all effective methods to improve your internal lighting during the day.
An Efficient Home, Just One Step Away
If your current home lighting is still not hitting the spot, and you’ve reached a bit of a dead end, fear not! An electrician from Art Plumbing, Air-Conditioning & Electric has all the expertise you need to improve the efficiency of your home lighting. Give us a call today at 1-800-475-1504 to schedule an appointment with an experienced electrician.
