Enhance Your Home with Energy Efficient Lighting

Home Lighting is an area where we can really make a difference as far as energy conservation goes. A few simple technological advances have given us options to make our Residential lighting more energy efficient and thus, more cost effective as well. If you don’t yet have energy efficient lighting in your home then it’s time to get started. The best route is to take one room at a time and figure out how many lights you have and which energy efficient bulbs you need to buy. Write down which bulbs you currently use and their wattage.

The most effective strategy for improving household energy efficiency is to first target your home’s envelope walls, attic, windows, and doors. Then improve the energy efficiency of systems, such as heating, cooling, lighting, and appliances. Finally, consider clean energy generation such as solar panels, geothermal etc.

• Make sure your walls and attic are well insulated

Effective insulation slows the rate that heat flows out of the house in winter or into the house in summer, so less energy is required to heat or cool the house. If your house has more-or-less continuous wall cavities such as conventional stud walls, blown-in insulation can greatly improve your comfort and save enough energy to be very cost-effective .It rarely pays to blow additional insulation into already insulated walls. If your attic is unfinished, it often pays to upgrade its insulation.

• Plant shade trees and shrubs around your house
  If your house is older, with relatively poor insulation and windows, good landscaping particularly deciduous trees can save energy, especially if planted on the house’s west side. In summer, the foliage blocks infrared radiation that would warm the house, while in winter the bare branches let this radiation come through. If your house has very good insulation or better windows, the building shell blocks almost all the heat gain.

• Replace an older furnace with a high-efficiency system
  For houses with boilers and hot-water heat distribution, the savings from a modern condensing boiler with outdoor reset or equivalent feedback controls can be substantially larger, since the condensing boilers allow reducing the circulating loop temperature almost all the time.

• Improve the efficiency of your hot water system
  First, turn down the temperature of your water heater to the warm setting (120°F). Second, insulate your hot water lines so they don’t cool off as quickly between uses. Third, use low-flow fixtures for showers and baths.

• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)
  CFLs can save three-quarters of the electricity used by incandescents. Most people don’t think about the fact that the electricity to run a light bulb costs much more than the bulb itself. The lighting cost of the fluorescent light bulbs is less than one-third of the cost for the incandescent. The best targets for replacement are 60- to 100-watt bulbs used several hours a day, because usage affects how long it takes to recover the investment.

• Take advantage of new tax incentives to improve your home
  Federal tax incentives are available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Energy efficiency incentives are available for upgrades to existing homes .These incentives now cover from $500 up to $1,500, based on 30 percent of the cost of the improvement. Improvements can include building-envelope improvements such as windows, insulation and heating/air-conditioning upgrades.

• Schedule an energy audit for more expert advice on your home as a whole
  Energy auditors and raters use specialized tools and skills to evaluate your home and recommend the most cost-effective measures to improve its comfort and efficiency. In some regions, there is Home Performance with Energy Star programs, too. Most of these programs include low-cost home assessment and strong quality assurance practices and inspections.

One simple action we can all take to contribute to a cleaner future is instituting energy efficient solutions for home lighting. Using smart, energy efficient lighting in your home will save more than money. By consuming less energy, you will reduce the amount of harmful carbon dioxide, sulfur oxide and nuclear waste that you would otherwise contribute to the atmosphere. Regardless of the extent of modifications you undertake in your home, every small effort will enable us to leave behind a cleaner, safer environment for future generations. So choose the most suitable energy efficient lighting and ensure your home is as efficient as possible.

About Estelles Lighting: Estelles Lighting, Inc. is acknowledged in the market for our    professional approach in the supply of Light fixtures. We supply all kind of lamps, ballasts, tubes, and nearly all types of associated accessories. For more information visit http://www.estelleslighting.com

About the Author

Estelles Lighting, Inc. is acknowledged in the market for our professional approach in the supply of Light fixtures. For more information visit Residential Lighting, Energy Efficient Lighting & Fluorescent Lighting

Building Buttercup – Updated 11-21-07