Save Energy with Lighting

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Lighting

• Turn off lights when you are not using them. A single 100-watt bulb left on all night costs about $25 over 12 months.
• Switch from incandescent to LED lightbulbs. LEDs last up to 20 times longer than incandescent bulbs, use about a sixth as much electricity, and don’t contain mercury, like compact fluorescents (CFLs). After all, 90% of the energy used by an incandescent bulb is wasted as heat - only 10% is converted to light. The EPA estimates that a typical household would save more than $200 each year by switching to LEDs throughout the house.
• Try LED lightbulbs in hard-to-reach fixtures. You won't have to replace them for as much as 20 years!
• Replace halogen torchiere lights. Use Energy Star-labeled LED torchieres. They're cheaper to operate and safer to use.
• Keep bulbs clean. Dust can cut light output by as much as 25%.
• If you have already replaced your incandescent lights with compact fluorescents, keep your CFLs until they burn out, and then replace them with LEDs. CFLs use a little more energy than LEDs, don’t last as long, and nearly all CFLs contain mercury, so it’s wise to use them for their full lifetime, and then dispose of them properly.

Last updated October 16, 2020