Don't Light Up!

Lighting our homes takes 10-15% of our energy costs. This does depend, of course, on how many lights you have. We have been successful in cutting our electricity consumption (see May's #s below!) and I believe part of this has come from habits do do with lighting.

1. Of course, as our moms all told us - "Turn off your lights when you leave a room!" Leaving a light burning when you are not in the room or have left for the day is costly and wasteful. Turn off those lights.

2. Use CFB or other lower consumption bulb. I posted on 2/9/09 the pros and cons of CFBs if you have questions issues etc.

3. I think this made difference for us. It is the reverse thought- do I need to turn the light on? When you walk into a room stop yourself before turning on the lights. Is there a way to illuminate this room with out turning on the lights? Can you open the shades, blinds or curtains? Alternatively, can you turn on one lamp and not the switch that turns on 5?

3. What is lit up that simply doesn't need to be? Think of all the blinking lights you see in your home at night. How many of them are essential enough to be burning through electricity all night long? Is there a way to turn them off, put them on timers or other solution?

4. Last but not least, turn off the outside lights when you go to bed! These lights are burning up considerable light just to light up our houses while 80% of the population is sleeping. If there are some lights that are for safety purposes put in the least amount of wattage necessary and consider a motion sensor - they have some that run on mini-solar panel with a battery. No coal emissions there!

Coming up next cooling costs and consumption!