Green Home

Lighting

First and foremost:

  • Replace incandescent light bulbs with Compact Florescent Bulbs (CFLs) in most often used fixtures this will substantially reduce energy usage in your home. The bulbs come in all shapes and wattages and can be bought online or at your local hardware or lighting store.
  • Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are the next generation in lighting with energy conservation in mind. LEDs do not contain mercury, last at least three times as long as CFLs, and produce more light per watt than conventional lighting

Increase natural light in your home. This will save energy:

  • Add skylights and solar tubes in darker places like hallways and closets
  • Eliminate window coverings that are too opaque and block sunlight
  • If remodeling, think about open floor plans that take out walls and let more light everywhere

Interior designers, and others in-the-know, have long understood the importance of appropriate lighting to create the right mood for a space.

Creating many levels of lighting in your home, instead of just using one overhead light source, can make the space so much more inviting and spectacular.

Put lights at different, more accessible, levels for greater ambiance and efficiency:

  • Use smaller, directed task-lighting for work spaces and hobbies instead of just large overhead lights
  • Change to brighter, halogen light fixtures and bulbs for directed or small task lighting. They also use less energy than incandescent, however, are not as energy efficient as CFLs
  • Get floor and table lamps for reading and sitting areas
  • Add upward/directed spotlights for artwork and ambiance in living rooms
  • Don’t over light spaces, get appropriate wattage bulbs for your needs
  • Use outdoor lights for practical purposes only

If in the market for new light fixtures:

  • First look for Energy Star fixtures, they come in a wide variety of styles
  • Put dimmer switches on wherever possible adding flattering lower light levels to bathrooms, bedrooms
  • Install motion detectors/sensors that turn lights on and off for you in less frequented rooms
  • Use solar lights in outdoor areas

Visit Energy Star for more information.

Print this page | Email a friend

Spotlight on the Experts

Melinda Gray

Melinda Gray completed her Master of Architecture at UCLA Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning in 1982. A licensed architect in the state of California, she has more than 15 years experience with small and large scale projects in the Los Angeles area. Her experience includes the design of sound studios, stages, and offices, retail stores, a medical diagnostic clinic, UCLA hospital renovations, a preschool renovation, … Read More »

Little Green Steps

Although they cost more up front, you will reduce CO2 emissions from power plants by over 700 lbs over the life of a CFL over an incandescent bulb Sofia Perez. Light Bulbs. 
Green Guide Institute, 2003 [online]

One compact florescent bulb over it’s lifetime can save an amount of energy equivalent to driving a compact car from New York to Los Angeles!
Lester R. Brown Eco-Economy. W.W. Norton, 2001, p.101

Compact Florescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) use a small bit of mercury in them. They are not a hazard when used in your home, however, care should be taken in their disposal. 
Go to www.911.org to find the best option for disposal in your area.

TIP

Teach your children about saving energy reward them for remembering to turn off indoor and outdoor lights when not in use.