Energy Saving Lights In Your Home
Energy saving lights can make a real difference in your energy bill and the impact your home has on the ecosystem.Nearly 15% of electricity we buy for our homes in the United States is used to power lights according to the US Department of Energy. When it comes to residential energy usage, only air conditioners consume more, and only be a couple of percentage points. Historically, lights have been real energy hogs and we have been very bad at changing our basic behavioral patterns to curb our lighting energy demand. Fortunately, technology has come to the rescue through energy saving lights in the form of greatly improved florescent tubes and ballasts, compact florescent bulbs (CFLs), and LED light bulbs. These basic energy efficiency technologies are easy, cheap, and extremely effective in saving money and energy.
If you are like me, your dad probably spent vast amounts of his personal energy reminding me to turn off lights when I left a room. Okay, in my case those reminders may have sounded a lot more like yelling and screaming, but that's a story for another day. For many years, our only method for saving the energy we expend on lighting was to live a a darker existence, keep the drapes open, and to remember to turn lights off when they were not needed. We were pretty much stuck with limited energy saving light options for residential use. We either used the standard filament incandescent lightbulb or tube T-12 florescent tubes. An occasional halogen fixture would happen along, but they were relatively rare and offered little energy savings. Energy Saving Light Innovation Stalled After EdisonIncandescent lights have been the most common residential light option for a long time. These little glass globes really haven't changed in any significant way since Edison tried tungsten as a filament material and finally got one of the little buggers to stay lit for more than a few seconds. When energy was cheap and seemingly forever plentiful, it was easy to to ignore the gross inefficiency of our lighting options. No longer.Incandescent light bulbs are actually better at producing heat than they are at creating light. During the cooling seasons, the extra heat produced by incandescent lights add to the cooling load of a home. During the heating season, there are better ways to produce heat than through light bulbs, particularly when you consider that half of the electricity in the US is produced through burning ecologically disastrous coal. Today, we have far better energy saving lights available for use in our homes. CFLs
It's been at least ten years since the compact florescent lightbulb became widely available on the retail market. CFLs were the first real development in residential energy saving lights to come along in many years.These little curly bulbs met with quite a bit of resistance at first, and for good reason. Initially CFLs suffered from low light output (efficacy) and poor color rendition. Manufacturing control problems resulted in CFL reliability that fell far short of industry promises. All of those issues have been dealt with over the intervening years. CFLs now enjoy good light output, much improved color rendition, and expected life that is respectable. They also consume about a quarter of the energy compared to standard incandescent lamps. T-8 Florescent Tube Lights
The most common tube florescent light in use today is the T-12. While these lights have served industry and homes well for decades, they are being replaced by newer, smaller, and more efficient T-8 tubes. These lights also use more efficient electronic ballasts compared to T-12 fixtures. As an example of the potential for energy savings, in an office lighting situation T-12 bulbs may require 1.5 watts per square foot to generate the desired light level. T-8 florescent lights will only require 0.8 watts per square foot to accomplish the same light levels. It may be possible to replace the ballasts and lamps in your existing florescent fixtures in order to upgrade to T-8 bulbs. This option greatly reduces the cost of installation in situations such as drop ceiling lights or existing decorative or specialty T-12 fixtures. T-5 florescent bulbs are also becoming more common, though they are currently used primarily in commercial settings. These bulbs push efficiency and light output even farther than the slightly larger T-8s, though as you would expect, the price is quite a bit higher and lamp fixture choices are still limited. LEDs
When it comes to energy saving lights, Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps provide the holy grail of efficiency. LEDs produce very little heat and consume 90% less energy for a like amount of light output when compared to incandescent lamps. LEDs have life expectancy of up to 50,000 hours. The problem with LED lights in residential settings is that the are still quite expensive, though they are coming down. LED outdoor floodlights are becoming common, as are LED Christmas lights A viable LED replacement to the 60 watt incandescent light is now available, though not yet in common usage. A new LED lighting option is the LED tube light, which is a direct replacement for florescent tubes. These bright, ultra-efficient lamps consume very little energy and show great promise, though they are currently only appropriate for commercial applications due to the high initial cost. Occupancy SensorsEnergy saving lights and fixtures are wonderful, but perhaps the biggest potential for saving real money in residential remains in figuring out how to get those lights turned off when they are not needed. The obvious solution is installing simple occupancy sensor switches.Although more elaborate occupancy sensors are available for new construction, the simplest form is easily installed as a replacement power switch. This is a project that any do-it-yourselfer can tackle. Just be certain to turn off the breaker and follow the installation instructions included with the switch you choose. Return from this Energy Saving Lights Department Page to the Green Homes Consultant Home Page New! CommentsHave your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
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