Although we now have a small kitchen we have a lot of lights in it. We have a large overhead light, then a light over the stove and two other lights above the counter tops. What I’ve been trying to do lately is use only the light that I need-usually the stove-top one. This of course means using less electricity, which in our case is quite a bit given that the overhead light is one of those neon tube type ones.
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photo credit: msspider66
We are so diligent about this practice that several neighbours and passersby have complained that our house looks abandoned ;-) We never put the outside lights on unless we’re expecting company, and we only turn on lights in the rooms that we’re occupying, so the house looks pretty dark at night even when we’re home. Most of our neighbours leave their porch lights on all night, purportedly to deter burlars and prowlers, but honestly I don’t think a light is going to deter anyone at 3am when the entire neighbourhood is asleep. The street lights provide enough light anyway.
Ha! That is classic. Our house looks VERY dark at night as well.
We haven’t gotten to it yet but we want to look into those sensors you can get where lights turn on automatically when you walk in a room and then turn off when you walk out. Helps save electricity when you are forgetful about turning off the switch.
I surely agree with this because if you want to save energy at home, it would be better if you will be modifying the light that you will be using. There are many sources of lights which can be bought in the market and they are guaranteed to have good and high quality.
We’ve undertaken a three step process for better light usage.
First, got rid of all the energy inefficient lights.
Second, implemented zone lighting switches so that there is less individual lights to turn on in an area (which means there are more switches to turn them all off).
Third developed an in house reward system with the kids for turning out the lights when you leave a zone in the house.
“Use the lights you need,” this is one tip I have been doing every since the first time I heard it mentioned.I believe that this one change would have the most effect.
One tip that’s working very well in our home is using small LED lights for task lighting. I found some AAA battery operated lights that swivel in 2 directions and were very inexpensive. We’ll using rechargeable batteries to lessen the environmental impact. I have one attached to our range hood to light the stove, another in a dark corner of the kitchen, another illuminating the front of our living room stereo, etc. By having light where we need it as we need it our background lighting is at a much lower level.
Hey have similar lights in closets so we can see better.
We also wanted to put off our lights on our backyard but we have our water pump there. Light is needed because it had been stolen once. I am thinking of replacing our lights inside with LEDs. I use LED desk lamps when using the computer, directed to the keyboard.
I have to laugh now that my kids are grown and on their own. Like most kids, they just turned lights on and off without any regard for the cost.
However, now that they are paying their own light bills, guess what?
“Like most kids, they just turned lights on and off without any regard for the cost.
However, now that they are paying their own light bills, guess what?”
I’m one of those kids who use to think that way as well. Then when I started having my own I realize that you need to turn off those lights that are not use so that I can save money.