Q: How can I go green with my lighting?

Lighting for Less, New products and systems promise significant energy savings on your electric bill

"Operating your lighting more efficiently is not just about dollars and cents," says Phil Scheetz, home systems marketing manager for lighting control manufacturer Lutron Electronics. "It's about conserving the natural resources required to fuel electrical power plants." When those plants produce less electricity, fewer toxic emissions are fed into the air and water. "By replacing three incandescent bulbs with three CFL (compact fluorescent) bulbs, over the course of 10 years you can eliminate the emission of one ton of carbon dioxide," says Susan Bloom, a Philips spokesperson. Such statements have made CFLs part of a nationwide movement that has homeowners rethinking how and when they use their lights and utilizing a variety of innovative technologies to curb their consumption of electricity. Safe disposal of CFLs is important because they contain a small amount of mercury, so it is recommenced that you look into available local recycling options.

Switch to Better Bulbs

While there's no denying CFLs are a more efficient light source than traditional incandescent bulbs, they're not the end-all solution to efficient lighting use. Even manufacturers of CFLs advise against replacing every bulb in your house with these energy-saving models. "CFLs are great, but only when used in the right application," says Bloom. "Being green, to us, means using a combination of CFLs, halogens and incandescent lights," adds Gary Meshberg, chairman of the Home Lighting Control Alliance. Advocates of energy-saving lights agree that CFLs are ideal for areas like garages, laundry rooms, utility rooms and the outdoors-places where the fixtures typically stay on for extended periods of time and where you need strong light. "Because CFLs can last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, they're also a good choice for hard-to-reach places like great rooms with cathedral ceilings."

The good old incandescent bulb, meanwhile, still excels at producing soft, warm light, making it the right choice for areas where ambiance is important, like family rooms, bedrooms and media spaces. Plus, unlike most CFLs, incandescent bulbs can be dimmed to create a variety of effects. And when set at a dim level, they use less energy and last longer. "Dimming a lamp by just 10 percent doubles its life and saves 10 percent on energy costs," says Meshberg. Heinz Roy, product development manager for Lightolier Controls, can testify to that. By placing all but a few of his home's lights on a dimming system; using occupancy sensors to control the fixtures in the attic, guest bathroom and laundry room; and installing programmable thermostats, his monthly energy bills have been 12 percent lower, on average.

Other energy-saving lighting alternatives include tungsten halogen bulbs and LED (light emitting diode) bulbs. Ideal for table lamps and decorative fixtures, halogen bulbs are more energy efficient and last two to three times longer than incandescent bulbs. "You get the best of all worlds with halogen," says Meshberg. "You can save a bit of energy without missing out on warmth and dimming capabilities."

LED lamps are poised to be the next big thing in residential lighting. Used today primarily for commercial applications, they have an amazing lifespan of 25 years and require just 5 watts or so of electricity. They're dimmable and can emit a variety of colors for effect. Starting at around $25 however, LED lamps may be too cost prohibitive to be a main contender in the home sector today.

Add Smart Accessories

No matter how energy efficient your lamps are, you can still waste a lot of electricity by leaving them on when they shouldn't be. Simple stand-alone devices like occupancy sensors, timers, remotes that clip to your car visor, and photovoltaic (daylight) sensors can minimize wasteful consumption by turning the lights off automatically. An occupancy sensor can switch on the light as you step into a closet and then switch it off after you leave. It's handy for hallways, stairways, laundry rooms and other spaces where you might not have a free hand to manipulate a switch.

Timers, a popular choice for exterior lighting, can also be useful inside as a way to turn off all the lights before bedtime or as you leave for work. By complementing a timer with a small pushbutton controller that attaches to your key ring or clips to your car visor, you'll never leave your lights burning again. If the timer doesn't get them, you can use your portable controller to switch off the entire house as you drive away.

Homes with large windows can benefit from using photovoltaic sensors. These devices measure the amount of natural light in a room and adjust the lamps accordingly. For instance, if enough sunlight is streaming through the windows to illuminate a space, the sensor could signal the fixtures to switch off and stay off until you really need them. This technique, called daylight harvesting, is practiced widely in commercial and office buildings and is slowly making its way to the residential marketplace. In addition to turning off the lights to take advantage of the available sunlight, the system can be set up to close the drapes to block out the sun at certain times of the day. Lighting and home control companies such as AMX, CentraLite, Crestron, Colorado vNet, Control4, Elan, Lightolier Controls, Lutron Electronics, LiteTouch, Vantage/Legrand, and others also offer systems that can synchronize a home's lights with the positions of motorized window shades. This is an effective way to prevent heat gain, so your home's heating and air-conditioning system can run more efficiently.

Regulatory Mandates

Energy and environmental issues aren't going away, so it's completely plausible that many states may eventually adopt lighting strategies. Until that time, you can still embrace the green-lighting trend by swapping your existing incandescent bulbs for energy efficient CFLs, halogens or LEDs; using dimmers and sensors to control a few choice lights; or letting an intelligent lighting control system operate every fixture in your house. These options are guaranteed to shave significant dollars off your monthly electricity bills, yet you'll sacrifice not one iota of comfort and convenience as you use them.

How Do Lights Stack Up?

U.S. household energy usage

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