Did you know roughly 20 percent of your monthly electric bill is from lighting? That just doesn’t seem very bright. (We couldn’t help ourselves with the lighting jokes!) But joking aside, cutting down on your lighting bill can be very easy.
As we move into Fall and daylight savings, homeowners will begin using lighting much earlier in the night. While we always encourage natural light from windows and skylights, that is not always an option, especially when the sun is setting at 5 pm.
The simplest option, with greatest immediate impact is to replace all of your current light bulbs with more efficient ones, like Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL), LED and Halogen incandescent bulbs. All of these light bulbs will last you for many years and save you up to $30 over the lifetime of the bulb. And because these newer light bulbs are more energy efficient, they give off 70 percent less heat; which will have a dramatic effect on your HVAC bill.
At RIGGS, there are also renovations which can save you money. One such project is replacing your old and out dated lighting fixtures, with newer more efficient ones. One example of a feature of a new fixture is a dimming function. What most homeowners do not know, is that by slightly dimming your light to 80 percent, the savings will be felt without the human eye being able to detect the difference.
We also install a number of indoor and outdoor motion sensors. These sensors help forgetful homeowners from leaving the light on all night.
Making changes to your lighting doesn’t need to leave you in the dark. Often when we talk to homeowners about making their lighting more efficient it leads to other conversations which can save the homeowner thousands of dollars in the future.
If you are feeling burned every time you receive your electric bill, give us a call at RIGGS. We have a certified green remodeler on staff waiting to answer your questions.
