Currently over 10% of home electricity consumption is by lighting so this is an obvious area to try and make savings. How often have you left the room leaving the lights on or switched the light on in daylight because the curtains are drawn. One of the simplest way of saving on lighting costs is to make sure lights are switched off when not needed.
Energy saving bulbs are rapidly becoming available in more and more variants making it easier to replace incandescent bulbs. More interestingly a class of replacement bulbs based on LEDs (light emitting diodes) are starting to become more cost effective giving even higher saving than the more well known energy saving bulbs. In the coming months we will be providing more details on the LED types. Currently they are limited to only a few types and suffer from narrow beam angles making them not to useful for general illumination.
Although using energy saving bulbs is an obvious way to reduce lighting costs there is another way to reduce lighting costs and that is by reducing the amount of light needed. A few simple ideas are listed below some of which can be done straight away at no cost and others which cost money.
Make sure floor and table lamps are in the corner of the room
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Lamps in a corner are more effective because the light reflects from the walls
Use light coloured shades on lights
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Dark shades cut down the amount of light from bulbs
Turn off the main room lighting when watching television and use a small low wattage table light instead.
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This also means that viewing is better with less light reflected off the television screen
Try using lower wattage bulbs in brightly lit rooms
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Often this is a very effective way of reducing lighting costs
Make sure curtains and blinds are fully drawn back/open
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To maximise natural light
Use light colours when redecorating rooms
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Light coloured rooms require less power to light them. This works especially well in north facing rooms or rooms with small windows.
Use reflectors or reflector bulbs for overhead lights
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To maximise the direction of light downward
Make sure outside lights are only on after dark
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Keep time switches set properly or fit an ambient light detector
Split control of lights where there are more than one in a room
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If a room has more than one light (in different positions) have them rewired to enable them to be controlled separately
