Home Lighting

Home Lighting Tips:
- Don't light an entire room when task lighting will do.
- Adjust lighting levels to your needs with three-way lamps.
- Use 4-foot fluorescent fixtures with reflective backing and electronic ballasts in workroom, garage and laundry areas.
- Use natural light by placing work areas near windows.
- Replace halogen torchieres with compact fluorescent ones. They use less energy and are safer. If you have torchiere fixtures with halogen lamps, consider replacing them with compact fluorescent torchieres. Compact fluorescent torchieres use 60% to 80% less energy and can produce more light (lumens) than the halogen torchieres.
- Turn off the lights when you are not in a room, or consider installing timers, photo cells, or occupancy sensors (lights go off automatically in unoccupied rooms) to reduce the amount of time your lights are on.
- Match the style of the fixture to the room's architectural style rather than to the furniture style. With the exception of the dining room and entryway, the central light in a room should not be a major focal point.
- When purchasing a new overhead light fixture, check the total wattage of the current light as well as the rating of the new fixture. If your current fixture provides adequate light, pick a replacement fixture that uses about the same total wattage. However, if the room has always seemed dark, use a higher-wattage light and install a dimmer switch.
- Use task lighting; instead of brightly lighting an entire room, focus the light where you need it. For example, use fluorescent under-cabinet lighting for kitchen sinks and countertops under cabinets.
- Consider three-way lamps; they make it easier to keep lighting levels low when brighter light is not necessary.
- Use 4-foot fluorescent fixtures with reflective backing and electronic ballasts for your workroom, garage, and laundry areas.
- Consider using 4-watt mini-fluorescent or electro-luminescent night lights. Both lights are much more efficient than their incandescent counterparts. The luminescent lights are cool to the touch.
- A good way to control portables is by plugging them into switched outlets. This allows you to walk into a room, flip a switch on the wall and turn on a table lamp or floor lamp.

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