Saving Money on Lighting
The lighting in your home or business probably should be the first place you
look for potential energy savings. Changes are often very easy to make, and many
of them cost little or nothing to do. Lighting energy can be wasted in
several ways:
- Inefficient light sources:
When the lamp or fixture is inefficient in converting electricity to light, using more watts of electric power than necessary to produce the lumens of light output;
- Transmission losses:
When dirt or other obstruction blocks some of the light, or when the light
source is too far away from what you want illuminated;
- Overlighting:
When more light is used than is needed, when a "free" source such as daylight
is not used, and when lights are on when not needed.
This section is designed to help you get the most for your lighting dollar.
It covers some fairly simple money saving ideas that fall into these three
categories:
- Turning lights off when they're not needed;
- Reducing light levels wherever there is more light than needed;
- Installing more efficient lighting or controls.
In commercial and industrial facilities, lighting efficiency improvement is
the simplest energy saving strategy. Lights typically consume from 15 to 40
percent of the annual energy use for most buildings and are usually less expensive
to change than other systems. Keep in mind, there is more than energy savings
in most lighting improvement projects. These include:
- Lower cooling costs:
Lights generate waste heat, improved lighting efficiency can lower your air
conditioning costs, too. But remember that your principal savings will come
from lower electric bills for operating the lights.
- "Demand" Savings:
Reducing the amount of electricity used for lighting may reduce peak demand.
If you are billed for both energy use and demand, you are likely to achieve
additional savings,
- Increased productivity:
Better lighting may permit faster work patterns with fewer errors, hence
increased productivity,
- More retail sales:
Good lighting can attract attention to merchandise being displayed, enhance
people's reflections in mirrors, and generally improve the store's image,
- Reduced absenteeism:
Improper lighting can cause glare which results in fatigue, headaches and
absenteeism,
- Increased safety and security:
Proper light levels reduce the possibility of burglary as well as improve
the safety of both employees and vehicular traffic in the area,
- Lower maintenance costs:
Some light sources have longer lamp life which results in lower lamp
replacement and labor costs.
