Energy Efficient Lighting

When choosing lighting for your home, you can rely on your own personal taste when deciding between a paisley lamp shade or a polka dotted one, but what about the hardware? Incandescents, efficacy, halogen, ballasts, CFL's, dimmers and timers are only a portion of the vocabulary used to explain how to light your home. We'd like to shed some light on this subject.

Choosing a Lightbulb

Incandescents

The majority of the lightbulbs in your home are probably incandescent. These pear-shaped bulbs immediately come to mind as "typical" lightbulbs. However, despite a low purchase price, this kind of bulb ends up costing more in the long run. Incandescent bulbs must be frequently replaced and give off nine times more heat than light. These lightbulbs should only be used in lamps and light fixtures which operate for two hours or less at a time per day.

Fluorescents

In place of traditional incandescent lighting, test run a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). These bulbs may cost more initially, but last 10 to 15 times longer and give off five times as much light for the same energy as incandescents.

The word "fluorescent" may bring to mind visions of cold white lights, giving off a constant hum and occasional flicker. Today, fluorescents have been upgraded to include warmer tones, minus the flickering and humming action of the past. For maximum energy efficiency, these bulbs should be used to provide light that is constant for more than three hours per day.

Various types of fluorescent lighting are available in different shapes and colors. Other parts may be required in addition to the lightbulb itself, depending on its shape and the size of your lamp's socket.

When purchasing light bulbs, you must also consider the light distribution and the color the bulb gives off.

The pear shape of an incandescent light bulb causes it to shed light downwards. This might be a good alternative for a reading lamp. A compact fluorescent bulb tends to send light up and outwards. Bulbs with reflective coatings will reflect more light.

To determine the color, look at the bulb's CCT (correlated color temperature) on its packaging. Lights with a CCT higher than 2,800K are more white than incandescents.

Control Your Lighting

Aside from saving money by using bulbs which do not require large amounts of energy, it is also possible to save by reducing the number of hours your lights shine. Here are some ways to gain control of your lighting:

• Use a Timer: Timers can be used both inside and out to turn lights on and off at certain times of the day or night.
• Use a Motion Detector: Although more costly than timers, motion detectors turn on when movement is sensed and then off after a specified period of time.
• Use a Photosensor: This control activates the light when the surrounding light level drops below a specified minimum.
• Use a Dimmer: By lowering the light output of your lamps, you decrease the amount of energy required to fuel the lamp.

The Light Saver Top Ten List
Light up Your Life with these Energy (and Money!) Saving Tips!

1. TURN OFF all lights when they are not in use.
2. Use daylight to your advantage. Install additional windows, do tasks requiring light near a window, and adjust blinds to direct sunlight to the ceiling.
3. When decorating, use light colors to reflect light, locate lamps in corners where they will reflect off of two walls and use lamp shades with white liners.
4. Clean your lightbulbs and they will give off up to 50% more light.
5. Identify lamps used more often than three hours a day at one time and replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.
6. Install dimmer switches in single fixtures with many incandescent lights. Lights can then be used at lower levels.
7. Be aware that fluorescent, metal halide and genura (e-lamps) require electronic devices called ballasts to operate. It is possible to purchase the bulb and ballast as one unit or separately. The ballast lasts two to three times longer than the bulb, so you may save money by purchasing each one separately.
8. Do not overlight. Use a lower wattage incandescent bulb where less light is needed.
9. Replace outdoor flood lights with either photoelectric lights or lights triggered by motion detectors.
10. Call the Ohio Consumers' Counsel at 1-877-742-5622 to request more detailed information on how you can become energy enlightened.

Spotlight On Vocabulary

Look for and compare the wattage, lumens and efficacy of various bulbs. A high efficacy is desirable as this means the bulb consumes less energy to give off light.

Watt: amount of electricity required to power the light.

Lumen: measurement of visible light produced by the bulb.

Efficacy: the number of lumens produced for each watt of energy consumed.