Switching the lights off when leaving a room is essential for every homeowner. This helps in reducing utility bills, save energy, and extend the life of your light bulbs. Additionally, you will notice that you buy bulbs less often when trying to save energy. These small steps can have a snowball effect that positively influences the environment and results in an energy saving of entire cities and countries. This is known as to calculate lighting efficiency to save on electricity bills.
In order to make your home energy-efficient, make sure to switch all lights off when not in use. This should be a habit of all your family members as well. Lights, fans and other appliances like television, microwave, and the dishwasher should be off when not in use. Even the tiny red light on your television uses energy. This simple habit has a higher impact when you choose to install high quality and cost-effective lighting options.
Read on to find out innovative ways of saving energy as well as your expenses.
Choosing the Right Type of Bulbs
You will find a variety of light bulb options in the market, what you need to keep in mind is that not all options are manufactured equally. The amount of energy you will save will depend largely on the bulbs of your choice. The least energy-efficient light bulbs are the incandescent light bulbs. These bulbs are the basic lighting option you will find and they generate heat. The heat is released prior to the generation of light.
An incandescent light bulb releases heat as its primary energy, which constitutes ninety percent of the energy produced. While only ten percent of the energy is converted to light. This results in higher electricity bills because you will get light but the heat produced will be a lot more. Halogen bulbs use the same process to produce light. Make sure that all the halogen and incandescent bulbs you install in your home are turned off when not in use in order to save more energy.
The same goes for Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) as they use the same process. Make sure to turn them off if you leave your home for more than fifteen minutes in order to save energy. However, if you are leaving to run a quick errand that would not last longer than fifteen minutes, you can leave it on. Switching off CFLs after use will also result in extending the life of these bulbs.
On the other hand, LEDs – Light Emitting Diodes are the best option for big energy savings. They are not affected regardless of how long they light up. The best thing about LED light bulbs is that they are compatible with sensors that you can attach to these. They will light up when you enter the space and turn to its full brightness. As soon as you leave the space, they will turn off automatically.
Save Both Energy and Money
Ensuring to switch all lights off when not in use helps you save up on your electricity bills and conserve energy. It is easy to calculate how much money you can save per hour on each light bulb in your home. Simply look at the light bulb you are calculating and check the rating printed on it. If you have a 60-watt bulb and you need to check per hour savings on that bulb, this means that you can save up to 0.06-kilowatt-hours. Once you get this number, simply multiply the kilowatt-hour with the price of the bulb.
However, these savings will vary on each season and the place where you live. You may need more light in places where it is colder and gets dark sooner. Although, you can save more if you live in a hot climate area and it gets dark a lot later.
The Proliferation Impact
This simple habit can have a snowball effect in your family, and eventually your entire neighborhood. Once you start saving money on one light bulb, you will start saving on other bulbs too. Your home will become energy efficient and you will notice a significant reduction in your monthly electricity costs. However, this works best when other people do the same. It works best when an entire neighborhood follows the same practice. The best thing is to have energy-saving and sustainability movements.
The “Lights Off Cornell” is a great example of one of these energy conservation movements. All the students at Cornell University started practicing the habit of switching off lights when not in use and eventually started to reduce costs across the campus. The wastage of energy was also reduced significantly.
Saving energy is great for the environment as well. You can start teaching this habit to your children too. When they grow older and practice this in order to save their environment, it will result in lower greenhouse effects and global warming.
Efficiency of Lighting Controls
If you feel that you need to start reducing the costs of your utility bills but it takes time for your family to adopt such practices, use lighting controls. This will help you save more energy in less time. Lighting controls include motion detectors, dimmers, and timers. The light you use in a particular space in your home can be controlled in an efficient manner.
These controls help you save energy automatically without the added burden of having to control the lights yourself. Technological advancements have resulted in convenient ways of energy conservation.
The light sensors allow your lights to turn on when someone enters the area and switches off when you leave the room. This way, you and your family members do not have to worry about switching lights off when you leave your home. Energy-saving becomes guaranteed this way. Dimmers on the other hand are ideal for adding an aesthetic effect to your home. Dimmers are inexpensive and easy to install. Dim light is often the choice of interior designers who wants to add a soothing effect in a selected area of the home. If you install them too, you will not only save energy and costs per wattage, your home will also look good. They allow adequate light and you will not have an over-bright room.
Motion sensors are also a great way to control the number of lights used in your home. These sensors detect motion and turn every time. Once the motion in the target area stops, the lights will turn off. This way you will not have to check every light personally and can depend on these sensors to do the job for you. These also help you control your utility bills and conserve energy in your home. Gexa Energy is one of the most trusted electricity providers in the market, offering some of the cheapest electricity rates, with 100% renewable energy plans which include wind and solar-sourced energy straight into your home.
Helping the Environment
It may sound inadequate, but it is true. Every light bulb contributes to greenhouse effects worldwide. Choosing to use light bulbs that emit lower amounts of heat helps the environment. Carbon emission and harmful contribution to global warming can be reduced significantly if the change is made globally.
There are many ways of saving the planet and a simple step like switching lights off is one of them. The benefits are numerous and the act is small. Check your carbon footprint by analyzing how much light and heat your daily routine is causing. Switching lights off when not in use is a great way to start. Consider switching off appliances too when not in use because they contribute most to the production of heat.
When the temperatures in your area are low, look for ways of keeping your refrigerator off for longer periods of time. The same goes for daylight saving. Keep your lights off and allow natural light to enter your space. This will also boost your mood and create a lively environment in your home. Sometimes, natural light is all you need for a boost of positive energy.
Creating a Bigger Impact
Consider proposing these changes at your place of work and if you live in a building, to your building management. An area that uses more light energy also emits more heat due to the use of extra light bulbs. The first step is to choose a better light bulb option from Shine Long and then making a plan that is efficient.
Install light bulbs with motion detectors and sensors in places where natural light does not reach. Additionally, this will also help an entire office or a residential building to save a lot of energy in order to save the planet. Imagine the reduction in utility costs when LEDs are installed. This will help individuals and businesses to save more money.
Effective light controls are a great way to save money and the environment as a whole. Taking the first step in easy but influencing your surroundings is an important second step towards a healthier planet.
Shine Long is a great option when it comes to choosing from a variety of lighting options. Check out the way it recommends calculating lighting to create just the perfect ambiance inside your home and save energy costs at the same time.
