LIGHTING
Cheerful LED lighting uses less power and saves money.
Day-lighting
Cut your power use by letting daylight into your space whenever the sun won't overheat it. If new construction, extend eaves to let daylight in without overheating in summer/fall. Lighter wall colors soak up less light.
Light tubes direct daylight from the sky through a highly reflective tube into the living or working space. Like day-lighting through windows, the light is free and has an especially nice color.
Upgrade Bulbs
Replace incandescent bulbs now with Energy Star-rated LED bulbs to burn much less power for comparable light. Replace CFLs when they burn out.
Modern LED lamps are available in "warm white," "cool white" and "daylight." Using the same color throughout the room looks best.
Use this worksheet to calculate how much money and carbon pollution you could save by switching from incandescent or CFL bulbs to LED bulbs.
Troughs
Ceiling "trough" fixtures burning 4-ft long, T12 lamps (1.5" diameter) should be re-lamped as soon as practical. Consider re-lamping troughs still burning T8 lamps (1" diameter), too, since L&GE offers attractive rebates. Some relamping projects can include delamping, where two-three LED tube replace four fluorescent tubes. Please note that converting an existing fixture from fluorescent to LEDs requires the old ballast to be removedContact LCAN for additional technical advice. Contact LCAN for additional guidance.
Retrofit Exit Signs
Exit signs use power 24/7/365. Retrofitting them with LED substitutes—designed to screw into the same sockets easily—cuts utility bills. But you'll save much more money in reduced labor. (If exit signs still use incandescent bulbs, which burn out annually, changing them requires fetching a ladder, if not a second person to hold it.)
Disposal
All fluorescent light bulbs contain Mercury, a potent neurotoxin. Please dispose of spent fluorescent lamps properly. Visit HazBin for more info. Some Home Depots stores also accept spent lamps for proper disposal..