How to Shave Dollars Off Your Electric Bill

 Increasing your lighting efficiency is one of the fastest ways to decrease your energy bills. If you replace your lights in high-use areas with fluorescents, you can save about 50 percent of your lighting energy costs.

Use linear fluorescent and energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps in fixtures throughout your home to provide high quality and high efficiency lighting. Fluorescent lamps are much more efficient than incandescent bulbs and last six to ten times longer. Although fluorescent and compact fluorescent lamps are more expensive than incandescent bulbs, they pay for themselves by saving energy over their lifetime.

Lighting Tips

    * Turn off the lights in any room you're not using, or consider installing timers, photocells, or occupancy sensors to reduce the amount of time your lights are on.
    * 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 four-foot fluorescent fixtures with reflectors and electronic ballasts for your workroom, garage and laundry areas.
    * Consider using four-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.
    * Use compact fluorescent lamps in all the portable table and floor lamps in your home. Consider carefully the size and fit of these systems when you select them. Some home fixtures may not accommodate some of the larger compact fluorescent lamps.
    * When shopping for new light fixtures, consider compact fluorescent lamps with reflectors. The lamps range in wattage from 13-watt to 32-watt and provide a very directed light using a reflector and lens system.
    * Take advantage of daylight by using light-colored, loose-weave curtains on your windows to allow daylight to penetrate the room while preserving privacy.
    * Decorate with lighter colors that reflect daylight and/or electric light. u If you have torchiere fixtures with halogen lamps, consider replacing them with compact fluorescent torchieres. Compact fluorescent torchieres use 60 percent to 80 percent less energy, can produce more light and do not get as hot as the halogen torchieres.
    * Look for the Energy Star label when purchasing these products. "Energy Star Bulbs represent the cutting edge in lighting technology and bring long life, brightness and savings into any family's home," Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said when launching the Energy Star lighting effort. Energy Star compact fluorescent lights mush have a minimum lifetime of 6,000 hours, though many Energy Star light bulbs are rated for 10,000 hours of use - that's seven years of use at four hours per day for every day. The bulbs do not need to "warm up," and come in a wide range of styles, shapes and wattage values. Specifics on lighting specifications and products can be found at www.energystar.gov