Green

Lighting Ideas – Ways to Save on Your Electric Bill

There are a few things that you can do to bring your electricity bill down. Nothing is very complicated and all these suggestions are practical enough to implement in your home.
Change those bulbs

Get rid of all your standard bulbs and replace them with CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) bulbs. These are long lasting and more importantly very good at energy saving. The initial cost of each bulb is slightly more than normal bulbs but the saving you make in electricity and long life more than make up for this.

Control lighting
Use dimmers to control exactly how much light you need. It is not always that you will need to have your lights on full strength, so you should consider installing dimmers for all your lights.

Use task lighting
Certain areas can benefit by having specific lights installed just for them. For example, inside kitchen cabinets, at your basement workbench and over your study table, etc.

Use natural lighting
Consider installing a skylight to reduce the amount of electrical lights you use during the day. Small tubular skylights do a great job and are small and cheap enough for anyone to consider.

Rearrange your setup
Move your furniture around so more natural light streams into your room.

Paint it light
Consider painting your walls a lighter color, as it helps to bounce the light in a more efficient manner. Lighter colors and a white ceiling also make the room feel larger.

Kill Dracula
Vampires exist, at least in the electrical world. TVs on standby, phone chargers still in the power socket, and stereos, etc. Anything that is on standby power or any power converters (like phone chargers) consume electricity. Since they are left on like that 24/7 you have steady power consumption going on which you do not realize. Put a stop to this at once!