Home Lighting: How to Save Energy and Money
With fears over climate change and rising fuel costs, it's important that we all do what we can to avoid unnecessary energy consumption, for the benefit of the planet as well as our bank balances. Going green in your home doesn't have to mean changing the way you live though, especially as many energy-saving strategies produce the same results as their power-hungry alternatives, meaning no compromise is needed.
Some of the most immediate and practical steps that can be taken to reduce the energy consumption of your home lighting don't even require spending any money. Simply by making sure you always switch off lights when leaving a room can have a significant effect on your electricity bills, and this extends to making the most of the daylight hours by not switching on your lights until you need to.
A good indication of this can be when the street lamps switch on outside; if your home is dark even during the daylight hours though, it's likely you need to take steps to increase the amount of sunlight entering your rooms. If you don't like having the curtains open all day, replacing heavy drapes with lighter material or blinds can be a stylish home improvement choice, and you can similarly help daylight to travel further by leaving internal doors open or installing transparent glass panels into outside doors to let more light in.
What about when the sun goes down? Being eco-friendly doesn't mean sitting in the dark or relying on candles, of course, but strategic use of home lighting [http://www.bhs.co.uk/mall/departmentpage.cfm/bhsstore/220367/1/1] can go a long way towards reducing the amount of electricity that's needed to light your rooms after dark. By placing floor and table lamps in key areas of each room, you can limit your use of overhead lighting, which often requires more light bulbs, and make more effective use of task lighting when reading in bed.
Bulbs themselves are another key area where prices can be cut dramatically without losing illumination, thanks to energy saving light bulbs. These bulbs are now widely available in many shops and consume up to 80% less electricity than standard equivalents, with no discernible difference in the amount of light emitted. Suitable for installing around the home, energy saving light bulbs are a quick and convenient method of lowering your power usage without having to invest heavily in renewable energy sources like solar power in the hope of making savings further down the line.
Some of the most immediate and practical steps that can be taken to reduce the energy consumption of your home lighting don't even require spending any money. Simply by making sure you always switch off lights when leaving a room can have a significant effect on your electricity bills, and this extends to making the most of the daylight hours by not switching on your lights until you need to.
A good indication of this can be when the street lamps switch on outside; if your home is dark even during the daylight hours though, it's likely you need to take steps to increase the amount of sunlight entering your rooms. If you don't like having the curtains open all day, replacing heavy drapes with lighter material or blinds can be a stylish home improvement choice, and you can similarly help daylight to travel further by leaving internal doors open or installing transparent glass panels into outside doors to let more light in.
What about when the sun goes down? Being eco-friendly doesn't mean sitting in the dark or relying on candles, of course, but strategic use of home lighting [http://www.bhs.co.uk/mall/departmentpage.cfm/bhsstore/220367/1/1] can go a long way towards reducing the amount of electricity that's needed to light your rooms after dark. By placing floor and table lamps in key areas of each room, you can limit your use of overhead lighting, which often requires more light bulbs, and make more effective use of task lighting when reading in bed.
Bulbs themselves are another key area where prices can be cut dramatically without losing illumination, thanks to energy saving light bulbs. These bulbs are now widely available in many shops and consume up to 80% less electricity than standard equivalents, with no discernible difference in the amount of light emitted. Suitable for installing around the home, energy saving light bulbs are a quick and convenient method of lowering your power usage without having to invest heavily in renewable energy sources like solar power in the hope of making savings further down the line.
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