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- Install energy-efficient light fixtures, both indoors and outside. Motion sensors indoors turn off the lights when you leave the room and activate them as soon as you enter. A photosensor on your outdoor lights saves electricity by turning lights on when it gets dark and off when it gets light again.
- Install LED lights –While they cost more to purchase than traditional incandescent bulbs, they more than pay for themselves. Screw an LED into your table lamp, and you’ll get about 25,000 hours of use before needing to replace it, for a total cost of $17 (bulb cost plus electricity). Screw incandescent into that same lamp, and the cost is $95 (cost of replacement bulbs plus electricity for the same 25,000 hours). And LEDs produce the same quality and color of light as traditional bulbs.
- Turn lights off when you’re not in the room. For lights that are often turned on and forgotten, use a socket timer that fits in a lamp socket before a light bulb is inserted. When the lamp is switched on manually, the timer switches it back off after a fixed amount of time.
- Dust off your light bulbs. Built-up dirt and dust can decrease the bulb’s output by 10%.
Install plug-in timers on radios and lamps to turn them on and off at realistic times when you’re gone, saving energy and protecting against break-ins at the same time.
- Use light-colored lamp shades. Make sure you’re not defeating the purpose of your lamp with a dark shade that absorbs most of the light that’s produced.
- Think light when painting or redecorating. Light-colored walls and carpet not only make your rooms look bigger, they reflect more natural light and reduce the need for artificial light.
