Money Saving Fluorescent Lighting in Your Home

When you look for ways to lower your energy bill, home lighting is a good place to start. Fluorescent lights use far less energy to produce the same amount of light (lumens) than incandescent sources, produce less heat and last many times longer.

Compared to the old fluorescent lamps, the new smaller diameter ones have vastly improved:

• Instant-On
• Greater Efficiency
• Superior Color Rendering
• Reliability and Versatility

Replacing the fixtures with dedicated fluorescents (fixtures designed only for fluorescent) is a permanent solution but this is not always possible. The other choice is using a screw-in Compact Fluorescent to retrofit the old fixture. These “screw-base" Compact Fluorescents have the ballast attached to the base of the lamp.

Kitchens, shops, laundries, recreation rooms, outdoor living areas, home offices are spaces where fluorescents make sense. These areas can use linear fixtures electronically ballasted. Exterior lights or table lamps often burn for long periods and for these Compact Fluorescents make sensible retrofits. Also, fixtures that are difficult to get at are good candidates for conversion because of fluorescents long life.

How much does it cost to operate that 100 watt light bulb in your exterior entry lantern? Let’s say it’s operated from dusk until dawn which equals about 4400 hours annually. Based on eleven cents per kilowatt hour, you’re paying your local power company $48.40 annually for operation.

A 20 watt fluorescent will produce comparable light levels and cost only $9.68 to operate annually.