Energy Saving Lightbulbs

Home energy costs are on the up and lighting is the third-biggest consumer in your home. Luckily, it’s also the easiest one to save money on.  Follow our top tips for reducing your home lighting bill (whilst simultaneously reducing your impact on the environment):

1. Use energy saving lightbulbs.

Energy saving lightbulbs use a fifth of the energy incandescent light bulbs use and last up to ten times longer.  They do cost more initially but the savings over their lifetime more than make up for it.  The advice from Greenpeace (Jamie, 2007) is to replace your incandescent bulbs immediately instead of continuing to use them until they break.

If you can’t afford to replace all of your incandescent light bulbs at the same time, we’d recommend replacing the most used ones first and the remaining ones as soon as you can.

Find out how much you could save with energy saving lightbulbs.

2. Turn the lights off in rooms not in use.

Even if it’s only for a few minutes it will save energy.  Two common myths are that energy saving lightbulbs take ages to reach their full light output and that they use more energy warming up than they do if you leave them on.  In fact, energy saving lightbulbs take only a couple of seconds to reach their full light output, and use about the same amount of electricity when you turn them on as they would if you left them on for a couple of minutes.

3. Use motion sensors for hallways, bathrooms, basements and garages.

Rather than leaving the light on in the hallway just in case the kids wake up in the night, a motion sensor will only turn it on when and if it’s required.  You can pick one up online for approximately £5-10 including delivery.

4. Use motion sensors for outside lighting.

Many outside lights come with motion sensors built-in.  Rather than keeping them on all night they will just turn-on when someone approaches.  You can also have them on a timer so they don’t turn-on during the day or every time a cat runs past during the night.

5. Use low wattage bulbs for rooms where the lights are always on.

If you must have lights on continuously or for extended periods consider using lower wattage bulbs.

6. Use the right light bulb to suit the activities and tasks each room is used for.

If you’re working from home you’ll probably need focused task lighting at your desk, but for general activities such as watching TV you only really require ambient background lighting.  As modern homes need to be multi-functional it’s good to have more than one light source in each room with different switches.  That way you can turn lights on or off as your needs change or to create the right mood.