A multipurpose room like your kitchen is generally well lit up. If your kitchen is well lit up, it ensures proper functioning, better appearance and more energy efficiency. This is very important in terms of your health, comfort and safety. It is however noticed that contractors and house owners alike focus more on decoration and wiring considerations rather than function and efficient.
To make your home more energy efficient you could
try out these strategies:
Develop a Lighting Plan
You can develop a lighting plan that according to the location of your
room as well as the type of controls and fixtures you would like to
install. Also, the plan must address safety lighting apart from decorative
and focal lighting.
Choose Energy Star Fixtures
An increasing modern day practice is the use of fluorescent lamps that
meet Energy-Star norms instead of the incandescent lighting fixtures.
You must look for lams that have a high Color Rendering Index (CRI).
This avoids excessive glow and the light generated is more or less true
to natural lighting.
Recessed lights better known as "can" lights penetrate the
ceiling should preferably be IC-rated (insulation contact). IC-rated
lights are fire resistant and also prevent leakage of air and energy
loss. If you opt for other lighting fixtures, make sure the edges of
these fixtures are caulked or gasketed so that it stops air infiltration.
Use Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
If you cannot replace the existing incandescent fixtures with Energy-Star
fluorescent lamps, you could try and use compact fluorescent light bulbs
(CFLs). An 11- to 15-watt CFL is an ideal replacement of a 60-watt incandescent
bulb. CFLs are more expensive than regular incandescent bulbs. However,
they last 6 to 10 times longer and save more energy. To gain maximum
benefit out of CFLs, use them in areas utilized more often.
LED Lighting
LED (light emitting diode) technology is more energy efficient that
incandescent lamps and consumes 90 percent less electricity. LEDs’ have
a long life and an additional up-front cost and are thus recommend for
areas which cannot be serviced easily. These could be indoor or outdoor
or highly used indoor areas. This type of lighting can also be used
in various forms of creative lighting. An example of this could be the
small Christmas lights.
Dimmer Switches
Dimmer switches allows a fixture to serve a number of functions together
like task lighting when it is at full illumination or decorative or
safety lighting where settings are kept low. If light it is kept dim,
it increases the lam life and saves more electricity. Also, less electricity
is consumed.
Occupancy Sensors
Motion sensors to outdoor lights can increase the safety of your home.
The censors automatically turns on the light when it detects movement
and also switch off after the time set. These are energy efficient because
they control the light, when it would be turned on and when switched
off, thus saving energy up to 90%. Occupancy sensors are recommended
for indoor use in rooms which are used for lesser durations time like
powder rooms, closest, hallways and closets.
