Energy efficient lighting
Updating your lighting can be an easy win to help you lower your electricity bills and your household’s carbon footprint.
According to the Energy Saving Trust, lighting makes up 11 per cent of the average UK household electricity consumption, so spending some time making some small changes now could save you in the long run.
The traditional or incandescent lights bulbs are particularly inefficient and only about five per cent of the electricity they use converts into visible light. Switching one 100 watt incandescent bulb to a Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulb could save you up to £15 per bulb per year.
Halogen light bulbs are also fairly inefficient and switching a 50 watt halogen bulb could save you up to £6 per bulb.
Lots of experts now recommend that households should consider installing LED bulbs in the home. LEDs use just a fraction of electricity, compared to incandescent or halogen bulbs, and typically cost only around 1p to run for four hours. They have come a long way since they were first introduced and now are much brighter than they used to be.
Updating your lighting is fairly inexpensive and is a simple switch you can make yourself, however if not confident please seek advice. If you can afford to, it is worth making the switch straightaway, rather than waiting for your old light bulbs to run out, so that you start making those savings on your electricity bill straight away. Alternatively, plan to buy a few bulbs every month or two to spread the cost.
There are several guides on choosing the right low energy light bulbs to help you get started.
- Guide to energy efficient lighting - Energy Saving Trust
- LEDs are definitely savvy...and why candles definitely aren't! (getenergysavvy.info)
- Local energy saving coach, Mark Thompson, also talked about using LED lights on the second episode of the Council’s Energy saving podcast
Other things you can do to reduce your lighting bill
- Turn the lights off in rooms you’re not using.
- Use light rather than dark lamp shades to help distribute the light more in your room. This will mean you can lower the power of the bulbs you are using or use fewer lights in a room.
- Use sensors or timers on external lights, so they are only on when they need to be.
