Smart Lighting Tips to Save Money

Lighting accounts for a significant portion of a household’s electricity consumption, and therefore has an enormous impact on the amount of money owed to the electricity provider. Saving money on energy does not require drastic changes, but rather entails making several simple changes in your energy consumption habits. By making these simple modifications to your habits regarding home lighting, you can reduce your monthly obligation to the utility company as well as your negative contribution to the environment.

-Turn out the lights. Turning off lights may seem like an obvious step to reducing energy consumed by lighting, but still most people are inconsistent when it comes to turning off lights that are not in use. Getting into the habit of turning off all lights when you leave a room, and especially when you leave home, is an excellent way to start saving money on electricity. Do not forget the details. A closet light left on is just as bad as any other, and what about leaving that row of four lights on in the bathroom? Quadruple wasted energy.

-Modify your home lighting for efficiency. If your home consists of incandescent light bulbs, which are the traditional type, you may want to consider a complete crossover to compact fluorescent bulbs. Buzzing, flickering schoolhouse fluorescent tubes are a thing of the past. Today, compact fluorescent bulbs are available with various colors and wattage levels, making them a versatile and energy efficient option in home lighting. Fluorescent light bulbs use and waste magnitudes less energy than incandescent bulbs. Consider the initial investment worth it when replacing all of the light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent bulbs, bearing in mind that fluorescent bulbs last much longer than incandescent bulbs and cost much less in energy consumption.

-Embrace Mother Nature. Daylight provides mass amounts of free lighting, but remains an underutilized resource in most homes. Why not open the curtains during the day and light your home the way nature intended?

-Consider motion sensors. If the prospect of remembering to turn lights on and off all the time makes your head hurt, motion sensor lighting is a practical, energy efficient home lighting option. Motion sensors detect whether someone is present or not, and controls the lights accordingly.

Along with applying these smart lighting tips, using appliances and other electronics in your home wisely can also have a great impact on your energy consumption thus reducing your utility bill.

About the Author: John Billington is the president and CEO of Five Rivers Inc., a leading online provider of home lighting, bathroom lighting and decor. For more information, please visit www.fiverivers.com.