Lighting facts and savings tips

1/1/2009

The average American home uses 20 to 25% of its energy consumption for lighting. In the typical home 50% or more of the energy is wasted because:

Lamp size and type are not optimized.

The lights remain on for too long.

Illumination levels are too high.

The lighting system is inefficient, dirty or old.

Simple ways to improve may involve parting with that great old lamp or replacing all your lamps at once. If you have fluorescent fixtures, replace all the tubes at one time because incandescent lamps loose 20% to 30% of their output over the lamps life. By changing the lamps all at once you keep the illumination high and help save the ballast.

Lighting efficiency is known as efficacy and is measured in lumens per watt. A lumen measures light output from a lamp (bulb). All lamps (bulbs) are rated in lumens. Grab the box that your lamps (bulbs) came in and you will see the lumens rating. Divide the lamps (bulb) output by its wattage and you have the efficacy. What does this mean to you? Probably nothing, but before you buy your next bulbs you can do the calculation and see all lamps (bulbs) are not created equal and save some money in the mean time.