Conducting a four-part do-it-yourself home energy audit can help you find ways to cut cooling costs and save money off your electricity bill this summer. Once you've completed the first three parts of a DIY home energy audit — detecting and sealing air leaks, checking your home's insulation and inspecting your HVAC equipment — you're ready to move on to the final step: lighting.

Evaluate the Type of Lighting You Use

Since lighting your home accounts for up to 10 percent of your monthly electricity bill, it's important to take a closer look at the type of lighting you use.

Incandescent Bulbs

Incandescent bulbs are cheapest, but you're going to go through a lot more of them. Additionally, incandescent bulbs are incredibly inefficient and do a far better job of producing heat than making light.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs)

CFLs can be four or five times the price of equivalent incandescent bulbs, but they can last eight times longer and use 75 percent less electricity to produce the same brightness. Drawbacks include environmental concerns — CFLs contain mercury — and shorter lifespans when turned on and off frequently and used in humid parts of the home, such as bathrooms. CFLs are also knocked by some for taking a short time to reach full brightness. Check out these tips for getting the most out of CFL bulbs.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

LED lights are clearly the future champ of home lighting. While they're the most expensive to buy, they consume 20 percent or less of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs and last up to 25 times longer — without any of the drawbacks associated with CFLs.

For more information, check out our post comparing the money-saving benefits of CFLs and LEDs.

Upgrade to Energy-Efficient Lighting Where You Can

Where you can, you should upgrade to energy efficient lighting. Not only will the bulbs pay for themselves in a short time — because you'll save electricity every time you turn on an energy-efficient bulb — but once the bulbs are paid for you'll start saving real money on your electricity bill. To make upgrading even more attractive, some utilities even offer retail discounts on energy-efficient bulbs to customers in their area.

When Shopping for Energy-Efficient Bulbs, Use Lumens, Not Watts

It's important to note that watts are not a measure of a light bulb's brightness. Instead, brightness is determined by something called lumens. When shopping for an equivalent CFL or LED, use the bulb's lumens rating – printed on the packaging – to find a similarly bright bulb.

Develop an Overall Lighting Strategy

There are certain things you can do to increase the lighting efficiency of your home that go beyond upgrading your light bulbs, like using more task lighting or using a brighter-colored paint for walls and ceilings.

For these and other additional lighting tips, check out our post on energy-efficient home lighting.

You can also browse our glossary of energy-efficient lighting terms to help you navigate your options when it comes to lighting and bulbs.

Review the Do-It-Yourself Home Energy Audit

There are four steps to a fairly comprehensive do-it-yourself home energy audit. Here are the other three parts, in case you need to review them or if you missed one earlier:

Part 1: Detect Air Leaks

Part 2: Check Insulation

Part 3: Inspect HVAC Equipment

Part 4: Lighting

Sources

U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, "Do-It-Yourself Home Energy Assessments."

If you’re a residential electricity customer who lives in the Houston, Texas area, you have a few choices when it comes to the type of light bulb you can buy. You can get the standard incandescent bulb or you can shop for energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), halogen bulbs or ultra-efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs). People buy incandescent bulbs, CFLs and halogen bulbs all the time, but not as many folks invest in LEDs because of their cost.

However, thanks to a money-saving program by Houston–area electricity utility CenterPoint Energy that’s been carried over to 2012, you can actually save some real money off ENERGY STAR–certified LED light bulbs.

The program offers discounts on a variety of LEDs at all Houston–area Home Depot, Lowe's, Sam's Clubs and Costco stores. The great thing is that you won’t get some sort of rebate card or check in the mail. The discount is built in and applied right at the register. (Although the utility’s website still lists information for the 2011 program, we’ve confirmed with them that the 2012 program is, in fact, underway.)

What are the benefits of LEDs?

LEDs, compared with incandescent bulbs, use 80 percent less energy, last 15 times longer, and save $50 in electricity costs over the life of a single bulb. Installing just one LED can save you from $5 to $11 a year in electricity costs. Installing five LEDs can save you $250 over their lifetime.

Which LEDs are part of the discount program?

There are several distinct types of LEDs that qualify for discounts under CenterPoint’s program:

A-line LEDs look most like normal incandescent bulbs and are used to replace typical 40W to 100W incandescent bulbs in cases where the bulb is visible or has a downward-facing socket.

7W decorative LEDs are used for decorative lighting fixtures, such as chandeliers.

Globe LEDs are meant to replace 40W to 60W incandescent globe bulbs in cases where the bulb is visible, like above or around a bathroom vanity mirror, and in downward-facing sockets.

MR16 LEDs replace 20W halogen bulbs, which are typically used for task lighting in things like desk lamps.

PAR38 flood LEDs are used to replace 90W to 120W outdoor floodlights and work equally well with motion sensors or photo cells.

R30 flood LEDs are perfect for replacing 65W to 90W R lamps used in recessed cans.

R40 flood LEDs are for stronger 65 W to 120W R lamps in recessed cans and are great for providing bright lights in bathrooms.

How Do I Shop for LEDs?

Since LEDs use fewer watts than incandescent bulbs — which is why they’re so efficient in the first place — you can’t look to replace your 40W incandescent bulb with a 40W LED. In fact, they don’t even make 40W LEDs. Instead, incandescent bulbs and LEDs are compared by lumens, or the amount of light they produce, rather than watts, or the amount of electricity they use (more on watts vs. lumens here). Here’s a chart to help you compare watts between incandescent bulbs and LEDs:

Sources

CenterPoint Energy, “Advanced Lighting Program — Residential.”

CenterPoint Energy, “Make Your Mark with ENERGY STAR LEDs.”

Whether you’re an energy manager for a large hotel or you run a small, independent motel, energy costs are one of the largest parts of your operating budget. However, your facility can realize enormous energy savings by adopting an energy-efficient lighting strategy. Many leaders in the hotel management industry may already be familiar with such a strategy, but for those who need some advice on how to save money on electric bills, here are eight tips for equipping your facility with energy-efficient lighting.

1. Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)

CFL bulbs use about two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs and can be the easiest, most direct way to adopt energy-efficient lighting. Although CFLs had an early reputation for being limited in style and producing less light than their incandescent counterparts, those limitations have all but disappeared. Now CFLs come in a wide variety of styles and sizes and are just as bright. CFLs are more expensive than incandescent bulbs but they can last six to 10 times longer and save you about $25 to $30 in electricity costs over the lifetime of a single bulb. Make sure to compare lumens, not watts, when shopping for replacement bulbs. Watts represent the amount of energy used while lumen indicate brightness.

2. Replace “conventional” fluorescent lamps with energy-efficient fluorescent lamps

Many lodging facilities use fluorescent lighting in high traffic areas such as the lobby or office area. Consider swapping out your old fluorescent lamps with energy-efficient lamps that use 30 percent to 40 percent less electricity. These models are marked “T-12,” “T-8,” or “T-5,” which represents the diameter of the bulb in eighth-inches (for example, a T-12 lamp is 12/8 inch, or 1 1/2 inches, in diameter). Be sure to pair your new bulbs with the correct corresponding ballast, a device necessary for fluorescent lamp operation that regulates the bulb’s starting and operating characteristics.

3. Automate the regulation of electric power in a room

Consider installing a key tag system at the entrance of each guest room. The system uses a room key-card to activate and deactivate a master switch that turns on power to the room when guests are present and turns it off when guests leave. This technique ensures that only occupied rooms consume energy. Lighting, heating, air conditioning, radio and television can all be connected to the master switch.

4. Install occupancy or motion sensors

Use passive infrared or ultrasonic sensors to control lighting according to occupancy. These devices turn lights on when motion is detected and turn lights off when motion is no longer detected. Passive infrared sensors detect changes in heat and are best suited for large, unobstructed areas. An ultrasonic sensor emits sounds waves above the range of human hearing and detects differences in the time the waves take to return to the device. Ultrasonic sensors can detect motion around obstructions and are ideal for areas with cabinets and shelving, restrooms and places requiring 360-degree coverage.

5. Install nightlights that use light-emitting diodes (LEDs)

Many guests opt to leave a light on for themselves or their children while they sleep. While this may help them navigate an unfamiliar room at night, it wastes electricity. Instead of having guests turn on the bathroom light and crack the door, as is often the case, offer a nightlight to help them get around. One model uses six LEDs installed in the panel of a light switch.

6. Install EXIT signs that use LEDs

One of the advantages of LEDs is that they produce bright light while using about 95 percent less electricity than incandescent bulbs and 75 percent less than CFLs. Another advantage is that they last for about 20 years. Installing EXIT signs that use LEDs for illumination will not only save money, it will virtually eliminate the need to replace bulbs in the signs.

7. Add lighting controls

Installing lighting controls that use photo sensors to monitor daylight conditions is a great way to ensure that lights work only when needed. While a common solution is to turn on outdoor lighting fixtures at dusk and turn them off at dawn, lights using photo sensors are also a good choice for interior lighting in common areas with many windows that may not need lighting during much of the day. While on/off switches work well, there are also options for stepped controls and for continuous dimming controls, which are aesthetically appealing and offer the greatest energy savings.

8. Use high intensity discharge (HID) exterior lighting

Finally, make sure the exterior of your hotel or motel takes advantage of HID lighting. HID technology is much more efficient than incandescent, quartz-halogen and most fluorescent fixtures.

Have you adopted energy-efficient lighting for your hotel or motel? Share your story and let us know if you have other useful lighting tips for fellow professionals.

Sources

The State of Michigan, “Energy Efficient Lighting.”

Upgrading your home’s lighting by replacing old, inefficient incandescent light bulbs with new, energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can help you save money on monthly electric bills. However, shopping for CFLs and LEDs might be a little confusing at first because you’re probably used to shopping for light bulbs based on watts, or the amount of power light bulbs use. Since CFLs and LEDs use fewer watts than incandescent bulbs to produce the same amount of light, you’ll instead need to shop for replacement bulbs based on brightness, or lumens.

Lumens are a measure of visible light emitted by a light bulb, while watts measure the amount of electricity it takes to produce those lumens. A 100-watt incandescent light bulb might produce 1,600 lumens, but a common CFL that produces 1,600 lumens might only use 25 watts and a common LED might use only 18 watts. After all, being able to use fewer watts to produce the same amount of light is what makes CFL and LED bulbs so energy efficient.

To help you find the right type of replacement CFLs or LEDs for your incandescent bulbs, here’s a handy chart to help you match lumens when you shop so that you get the brightness you’re looking for out of your new, energy-efficient light bulbs.

Sources

Eartheasy, “LED Light Bulbs: Comparison Charts.”

ENERGY STAR, “Learn About Light Output.”

Philips Lighting North America has won an inaugural energy efficiency award and a corresponding $10 million prize from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for innovation in energy-efficient lighting.

Philips won the 60-watt replacement bulb category of the inaugural Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize, or L Prize, with a light-emitting diode (LED) bulb. To win, a bulb needed to generate 900 lumens — the same brightness as a 60-watt incandescent bulb — but consume less than 10 watts, giving the winner an efficiency of 90 lumens or more per watt. Additionally, the winning bulb needed to have a lifespan of over 25,000 hours, which equates to 17 years of life at four hours of use a day.

Over 18 months, the Philips LED bulb excelled through several rigorous tests and field studies conducted by independent laboratories, utilities and other L Prize partners. Tests included extreme conditions such as high and low temperatures, humidity, vibration, high and low voltage and various electrical waveform distortions.

The prize-winning Philips LED is almost 75 percent more energy efficient than the current 60-watt LED replacements that Philips sells in stores now. Those LEDs have an efficiency of about 67 lumens per watt, which puts them in the same category as ENERGY STAR–certified compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.

The L Prize was launched in 2008 to challenge the lighting industry to develop high-performance, energy-saving replacements for conventional light bulbs that can help U.S. consumers and businesses save money off electric bills. The 60-watt replacement category, the first category DOE put up for competition, was targeted because it represents one of the most widely-used segments by consumers, making up roughly half of the U.S. light bulb market. In the U.S. alone, about 425 million 60-watt light bulbs are sold each year. According to DOE, the 60-watt segment offered the greatest opportunity for saving energy.

As the first entrant in the 60-watt category to meet all of the L Prize competition requirements, Philips will receive a $10 million cash award and L Prize promotions and incentives from 31 public utilities and energy efficiency program partners that will help promote and develop markets for the LED. DOE said that up to two additional entrants who meet the prize requirements would be eligible for program partner promotions.

Philips said it expects its prize-winning 60-watt LED replacement bulbs to hit store shelves as early as next year.

Sources

“DOE Announces Philips as First Winner of the L Prize Competition,” U.S. Department of Energy press release, Aug. 3, 2011.

“Philips Brings Home 'L Prize' with Efficient LED Lamp,” CNET, Aug. 3, 2011.

The first LED (light emitting diodes) light bulbs capable of producing the same amount of light as a conventional 100-watt incandescent bulb were unveiled at an international lighting convention in Philadelphia, promising a future full of lower electric bills.

The LED bulbs — by companies such as Switch Lighting, from California; Lighting Sciences Group Corp., from Florida; and Osram Sylvania, a unit of Germany’s Siemens AG — made their debut at the 2011 Lightfair International Trade Show, at a time when public policy is turning the page on Thomas Edison’s world-changing invention in the United States.

A 2007 U.S. law that requires light bulbs use at least 25 percent less energy to produce the same amount of light will phase out 75-watt incandescent bulbs in January 2013 and 60-watt and 40-watt incandescent bulbs in January 2014. The bipartisan law, signed by President George W. Bush, exempts bulbs in appliances, three-way bulbs, colored bulbs and 19 other types of incandescent bulbs that aren’t as common.

Energy-Efficient LED Technology Poised to Light the Way

Although LEDs were mostly found on watches and elevator buttons 15 years ago, interest in the technology has skyrocketed, according to Jordon Papanier, of California-based LEDtronics.

“The demand and the applications have exploded because the technology has started to catch up with general lighting applications,” Papanier said.

Papanier said that a decade ago at Lightfair International, LEDtronics was one of only a handful of companies selling LEDs. However, this year at the trade show, LEDs are everywhere.

Over the last couple of years, companies have advanced LED technology to the point where lights have become bright enough for general everyday use, such as in street lamps and office lighting. Additionally, engineers have gotten better at filtering out the often-criticized bluish tint of LEDs. And, with the incandescent bulb phase-out on the horizon, business for energy-efficient LED bulbs is taking off.

“Everybody's going green,” Papanier said. “Saving the planet, cutting back on carbon footprints.”

Philips: LED Bulbs Can Last More than 20 Years

As an example of what consumers can expect from new LEDs, Switch Lighting said its 100-watt equivalent LED bulb will use 85 percent less electricity than comparable incandescent bulbs. The company estimates the bulb will pay for itself in about a year by helping lower monthly electric bills. And since all parts of LED bulbs can be reused, recycled or reclaimed, the company said there’s little chance of its bulbs ending up in landfills.

Ed Crawford, of lighting giant Philips, said his company’s new 75-watt equivalent LED bulb, which uses a yellow filter to create the same color light as an incandescent bulb, is 80 percent more energy efficient and lasts 25 times longer than a traditional incandescent bulb.

“With this light bulb if you screw one into your nursery when your child is born, you won't have to replace it until they're out of college,” Crawford said.

The new bulbs from Switch Lighting and Philips are expected to hit store shelves in the fall.

Sources

“LEDs Replace 100-Watt Light Bulbs Nearing Phaseout,” USA Today, May 17, 2011.

“At Lighting Trade Show, It's All About Energy-Efficient LEDs,” NewsWorks, May 17, 2011.