Efficient Lighting Blog

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Meeting our Nation’s future energy needs is a task of immense proportions — and utmost importance. To some American motorists, this challenge might be symbolized by long lines for gasoline and high prices at the pump. To others, it might be symbolized by lowering the thermostat during winter months. However, when it comes to building a secure energy future for the United States, there is more at stake than meets the eye. Safe, reliable, and affordable sources of energy are vital not only to our personal mobility and comfort but also to our Nation’s productivity and security. America’s utility companies and other energy providers supply the light, heat, and power that are needed to operate our factories and farms, our schools and defense installations, and other places of work.

Continuing instability and conflict in some regions of the world underscore the need to use energy efficiently; to reduce our dependence on insecure sources of energy; and to develop more energy resources. Of course, we must skillfully balance efforts in these areas with our determination to maintain a growing economy. We must also balance them with our commitment to a cleaner, healthier environment.

Our comprehensive National Energy Strategy calls for the wise and effective development of all of our Nation’s energy resources, including coal, natural gas, and nuclear energy, as well as hydroelectric power and other forms of renewable energy. It also calls for the development of new technology for oil and gas exploration; increased use of alternative fuels; and aggressive conservation efforts.

This month, the United States Department of Energy will be working to promote public awareness of our Nation’s energy needs and the energy options that are available to us. With strong leadership at all levels of government — and with the sustained cooperation of business, industry, energy providers, and concerned consumers — we can implement the sound energy policies and practices that are essential to America’s well-being.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 1991 as Energy Awareness Month. I urge all Americans to observe this month with appropriate educational programs and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and sixteenth.

George Bush

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:17 a.m., September 16, 1991]

A lighting retrofit is the practice of replacing components in the system with counterparts that make it use energy more efficiently. A lighting upgrade is any strategy that reduces the system’s energy use. Energy savings are realized over time that can be significant enough to not only pay for the new equipment, but produce a return on the investment.

While manufacturers and professional lighting managers have computer software that calculate the economic benefits of an upgrade, it pays to understand the principles.

Understanding Energy Consumption

Utilities bill their customers in a variety of ways, including an energy use charge, demand charge, power factor charge, fuel adjustment charge and other charges. In this section, we will focus on reducing energy consumption.

Energy Consumption (kWh) = Input Watts (kW) x Time (hours operated in a given year)

To reduce energy consumption, therefore, we can either reduce the input wattage or reduce the hours of operation. Input wattage can be reduced by replacing lamps and ballasts with more-energy-efficient counterparts or outright removal of lamps and ballasts. The hours of operation can be reduced using sophisticated controls and other methods.

Example

Let’s look at two purely fictitious lighting systems, A and B. Lighting System A is the existing system and Lighting System B is a proposed retrofit system which simply includes more-energy-efficient lamps and ballasts. They produce comparable light output.

	Lighting System A	Lighting System B
Input Watts/Fixture	175	100
Hours of Operation/Year	3,000	3,000
Energy Consumption/Year (Wh)	525,000 Wh	300,000 Wh
÷1,000 to get kWh	525 kWh	300 kWh
Energy Savings/Year (kWh)		225 kWh
Utility Cost/kWh	$ 0.10	$ 0.10
Energy Savings/Year ($)		$22.50
Number of Fixtures Retrofitted	100	100
Total Energy Savings/Year ($)		$2,250.00

So we save $22.50 per year by replacing the lamps and ballasts in this fixture. For the 100 fixtures, we save $2,250 per year. Note that additional energy savings can be calculated from the air conditioning system, which now works less hard because less heat is produced by the lighting system (see Lighting and HVAC Interactions for more information).

Note that we simply could have installed occupancy sensors or some other controls that would reduce the hours of operation, or both strategies. If we installed new controls in this case and reduced the operating hours from 3,000/year to 2,300/year, we would produce an additional $700.00 in energy savings, or a total of $2,950 per year.

Payback and Return on Investment

Now that we know how much money we’re going to save while still enjoying comparable performance from the lighting system, it is time to do an economic analysis, which includes determining payback and return on investment (ROI). A full-fledged net present value analysis or life-cycle cost analysis is a major undertaking (best to use software), so for our purposes we will determine simple payback and ROI.

Simple payback is the amount of time in decimal years that will go by before a system upgrade option’s energy savings reach the net installation cost (also called the initial cost):

Payback (Years) = Net Installation Cost ($) ÷ Annual Energy Savings ($)

5-Year Cash Flow ($) = 5 Years - Payback (Years) x Annual Energy Savings ($)

Five-year cash flow was chosen based on expectations of the life of the lamps; by factoring in the cost of lamp replacement and other maintenance costs, a 10- or 20-year cash flow can be produced.

Simple return on investment is an internal rate of return, expressed as a percentage, based on the relationship between annual energy savings and the net installation cost:

ROI (%) = [Annual Energy Savings ($) ÷ Net Installation Cost ($)] x 100

Together, they represent a simple and effective first step at determining whether the new equipment would be a good investment for its owner.

In our example, let us suppose that the initial cost of the system (lamps/ballasts only) - - including the cost of the components and labor, waste disposal - - is about $70.00/fixture or $7,000 total (other initial costs may include financing, consulting fees, tax effects and waste disposal).

Simple payback is:

$7,000 ÷ $2,250 = 3.1 Years

Five-year cash flow is:

5 Years - 3.1 x $2,250 = $4,275

ROI is:

($2,250 ÷ $7,000) x 100 = 32%

These results usually must then be compared to the owner’s financial policies regarding capital investment to see if the ROI meets the internal “hurdle rate” and therefore enjoy the best chance of a green light by senior management. It is often desirable to examine a number of upgrade options to make the best choice. Note that some utilities offer programs that reward lower energy consumption with a dollar rebate that can make the upgrade even more attractive; also note that an energy service company may finance the upgrade.

Source: Lightsearch.com 

http://www.inc.com/30under30/2008/

#11 Vu Thai

Efficient Lighting

Age: 27
Location: Gardena, CA
2007 Revenue: $2 million
Employees: 12
Year founded: 2007
Website: www.efficientlightingco.com

Efficient Lighting manufactures compact fluorescent lamps, as well as interior and exterior light fixtures, which use up to 75 percent less than traditional fixtures and last six to 10 times longer. Most of Thai’s business comes from companies that are making the switch thanks to rebates and incentives from California’s Public Utilities Commission. Efficient Lighting is now working with other states’ utilities commissions as well. Thai says despite all the buzz about going green these days, we’ve only seen “the tip of the market,” leaving his company poised for even further growth.

Cash in on Rebates

By Susan Bloom

Feb 1, 2006 12:00 PM

For any electrical distributors questioning the current strength or availability of utility rebates and other monetary inducements encouraging the use of energy-efficient building envelope technologies such as lighting, motors, HVAC, etc., the market is solid and growing. There’s never been a better time for distributors to secure lucrative upgrade business by helping customers cash in on these attractive financial incentives.

Rebates: The first frontier

The availability of utility-sponsored rebates on a broad range of energy-efficient electrical products first became popular in the 1980s after the oil crisis of the 1970s focused the nation’s attention on the status of its precious and finite energy supply. Rebates, financial incentives, and other demand-side management (DSM) measures that encouraged energy conservation were made available because they proved to be an effective and significantly less-costly way to meet the country’s growing energy requirements relative to the supply-side construction of more power plants.

According to Department of Energy surveys, utility offerings of rebates and other demand-side-management measures hit their peak in 1993 and 1994, when the nation’s 3,200-plus utilities collectively spent more than $2.7 billion annually to encourage the use of such energy-efficient products such as T8 fluorescent lamps, electronic ballasts, occupancy sensors, and high-efficiency motors and drives. Following a near decade-long decline in the magnitude of DSM instruments made available to the market (and after a specific 2003 downturn in the aftermath of 9/11), utility rebate monies rebounded in 2004 and are expected to remain strong, with an ongoing emphasis on shifting the market toward the newer and more energy-efficient technologies.

Utility rebates can take a number of forms, from a “prescriptive” format, in which a utility offers a menu of energy-efficient product rebates and pays out financial incentives upon installation of the product(s), to more customized programs, where the payment is determined based on the magnitude of kWh saved. Either way, incorporating a rebate into the already financially attractive lighting upgrade can further reduce project costs by as much as between 30 to 40 percent, subsequently hastening payback periods and enhancing returns on investments (ROIs).

Today’s lighting rebate market

Time, experience and budget limitations may have forced utilities to redesign their rebate programs over the years in order to get the biggest bang for their buck, but most new programs have been met with overwhelming response from the marketplace. For example, a roughly $30 million lighting rebate program recently offered by a major California utility was fully allocated just two weeks after being announced. And, a $5 million offering by a large Texas-based utility generated an extensive and enthusiastic waiting list.

“Rebates as a concept and as a means of reducing energy consumption will remain strong because they’re effective,” says Todd Jarvis, chief operating officer of Wheatstone Energy, an Atlanta-based energy services company (ESCO). In the case of the offering by the utility in California, says Jarvis, “The $30 million that was made available — which helped to fund at least $90 million of lighting upgrade projects — freed up significant levels of megawatt capacity in that area in a fraction of the time and at a lower price tag than it would take to build new capacity.”

According to Ed Skeffington, vice president of Massachusetts-based Northern Energy Services Inc., lighting rebates in his region are definitely still strong but have been revised somewhat in light of recent skyrocketing electricity rates. “Instead of automatically being offered on traditional energy-efficient T8 lamp and electronic ballast products as has been historically done, we’re seeing more and more lighting rebates being focused on the latest generation of technologies that drive elevated energy savings, such as T5 products and new high-efficiency T8 fluorescent lamps and electronic ballasts,” says Skeffington.

The impact of EPAct

Adding more financial fuel to the lighting upgrade fire is the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005). Considered to be among the most sweeping bodies of legislation to affect the nation’s energy production and consumption in decades, EPAct 2005 set a host of new product-efficiency standards and supports enhancements to the nation’s electric grid and generating infrastructure. The energy policy also introduces attractive new federally-sponsored financial incentives that reward the use of energy-efficient lighting, HVAC, and other high-efficiency building envelope technologies in both qualifying new installations as well as retrofit applications.

Available for eligible technologies placed into service between Jan. 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2007, these new financial incentives are offered in the form of tax deductions providing up to 60 cents per square foot on the installation of energy-efficient lighting products that result in a building’s increase in energy efficiency by 25 percent to 40 percent or more over the ASHRAE 90.1-2001 standard. Tax deductions of up to $1.80 per square foot are available on qualifying whole building upgrades involving a totality of technologies that improve a building’s energy efficiency by 50 percent or more over the ASHRAE 90.1-2001 standard.

Government and industry experts generally concur that EPAct 2005 will have a significant impact on the lighting upgrade market because it makes additional financial incentives available on top of the benefits of the high-performing, energy-efficient products and attractive utility rebates already offered by the industry.

Says Northern Energy Services’ Skeffington, “In many cases, current lighting upgrade projects being conducted were already meeting the criteria that would make them eligible for EPAct tax deductions, but they were being done without that incentive. EPAct now offers that incremental benefit.”

Wheatstone Energy’s Jarvis agrees and further believes that EPAct 2005 provides the official endorsement that will help change the industry. “With the backing and credibility now offered by the government, the market doesn’t have to ‘sell’ the upgrade opportunity anymore,” he says. “Now the focus is more on ‘how do we do it?’ and ‘which specific products will optimize the application for the customer?’”

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Susan Bloom is the manager of public relations for Advance, Rosemont, Ill. Reach her via e-mail at susan.atc.bloom@philips.com.

Rebate and EPAct 2005 Resources at a Glance

These resources can help you learn more about the utility rebates and financial incentives available for energy-efficient building retrofits.

Utility and State Incentive Programs

• For Department of Energy-based information on energy-efficiency funds and demand response programs by state, visit www.eere.energy.gov/femp/program/utility/utilityman_energymanage.cfm.
• For information on state incentives offered for renewable energy, visit www.dsireusa.org.
• For information on the services offered through comprehensive rebate administration firm Real Win Win, visit www.realwinwin.com.
• Electrical Wholesaling’s 2006 Rebate Resource (page 30) provides information on many of the rebate programs now in effect.

EPAct 2005

• To review the official “NEMA Assessment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005,” visit www.nema.org.
• For summary information on the 2005 Energy Policy Act as well as the comprehensive benefits associated with energy-efficient lighting upgrades, visit www.energybillinfo.com.
• For detailed information on the new federal tax deduction opportunities available through EPAct 2005, visit the dedicated NEMA-Commercial Building Tax Deduction Coalition site located at www.efficientbuildings.org.
• For information on ASHRAE 90.1-2001 standards, visit www.ashrae.org (the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers).

Tips for Cashing in

Given the overall financial attractiveness of the lighting-upgrade opportunity and the range of supplemental financial incentives being offered to drive further upgrade activity, are you tapping into your share of the benefits? These tips will help you capitalize on available rebates and financial incentives and maximize your participation in the lucrative upgrade market.

• Canvas your customer base for lighting-upgrade opportunitiesOpportunities for lighting upgrades are often abundant within a distributor’s existing customer base and distributors are in the enviable position of having access to their customers’ ongoing purchases. By being observant of your customers’ current purchase patterns and usage, you have the unique ability to recommend an upgrade project or a package of products that your customer may not have even known was in their best interests.
• Know your factsUnderstanding the big picture as well as the comprehensive benefits that result from a lighting upgrade will help you to sell the upgrade story to your customers. A knowledge of standard corporate and financial terms, such as payback period, ROI, IRR (internal rate of return), etc., is helpful so that you can speak the language of your customer base, enabling them to understand the full depth of the upgrade opportunity and the benefits they can accrue, both with and without a rebate or other incentive.
• Familiarize yourself with your local utilityWhile upgrade projects are extremely attractive investments all on their own, the potential addition of utility rebates can only “sweeten the deal,” hastening payback periods and elevating returns on investment for your customer. Contact the utility companies in your region to learn about the current programs and incentives offered to encourage the use of energy-efficient lighting products such as lamps, ballasts and lighting controls.
• Familiarize yourself with other local resourcesYour customers might be surprised to learn other resources exist that could help defray the cost of an upgrade — from loans designed especially for upgrade projects to state and local grants earmarked for such activities. Your state’s Energy Office or your local utility can update you on the programs and resources offered and how to qualify for these benefits.
• Establish partnerships for increased market strengthTeaming up with an energy services company (ESCO) or other provider skilled in the specifics of lighting upgrades, energy analysis, energy-efficient products, and rebate/incentive administration can help broaden your served market, strengthen the arsenal of services you can offer customers, and establish a distinct advantage for your distributorship within a competitive marketplace.
• Don’t waitLighting upgrades routinely drive payback periods of two to three years or shorter and 30 percent to 50 percent returns on investment. Whether or not a rebate is available to your customer, the lighting upgrade opportunity is still an extremely attractive investment that makes financial sense all on its own. With electricity costs continually rising, qualified efforts taken to reduce energy costs and consumption today are generally justified.

“We’ve seen many good upgrade projects tabled because a rebate wasn’t available,” laments Wheatstone’s Jarvis. He suggests that rebate opportunities not be considered the focal point of a project, but rather as ‘icing on the cake’ if they are available to your customer.

On top of the extremely attractive returns lighting upgrades generate on their own, existing rebate and new EPAct 2005 tax deduction opportunities provide an even more compelling reason for your customers to pursue energy-efficient lighting upgrades today. As both a product/service provider and an invaluable pathway for reducing customers’ operating costs, don’t wait to capitalize on the tremendous financial, environmental, and aesthetic benefits that an energy-efficient lighting upgrade — boosted by a range of utility rebates and other financial incentives — can offer your customers and your bottom line!

Among California’s colleges and universities, USC is tops in energy efficiency. Officials say attention to conservation measures, well-contained campuses and mild weather have made all the difference.

Calling the University of Southern California “an environmental leader and trendsetter” among universities and other large institutional utility customers, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has presented USC with a $1 million rebate check for savings realized this year through new energy-efficient power, cooling and lighting systems.The rebate, presented Aug. 28, covers conservation and efficiency efforts that will result in savings equal to the amount of electricity consumed annually by 1,500 homes, according to the utility.

The USC energy savings projects covered by the rebate include new lighting and chillers at USC’s main University Park campus and at the Health Sciences campus in East Los Angeles.

The projects are part of a five-year $10 million Master Energy Plan that have realized a 10 percent savings in USC’s peak power usage, reducing the average 25 megawatt peak load by 3 megawatts.

“The energy efficiency steps that USC has taken in partnership with LADWP are an outstanding model of how a coordinated and planned energy efficiency program can result in real cost-effective and tangible energy savings that are both good for the environment and the pocketbook,” said LADWP General Manager David H. Wiggs.

Wiggs presented the check to Dennis F. Dougherty, USC senior vice president for administration, in a ceremony at the University Park campus.

USC is the city’s largest private employer, and its two large campuses make the university the LADWP’s largest single private institutional customer.

“The savings we’ve realized have been effected though a mix of measures, ranging from new light bulbs to major construction efforts,” said Maurice Hollman, USC’s associate senior vice president for facilities management.

“The Master Energy Program was developed by a group of talented facilities management employees whose vision and technical expertise, in cooperation with the LADWP, have positioned USC at the forefront of campus conservation efforts,” said Hollman.

In 1997, USC launched its five-year Master Energy Program with approximately $10 million budgeted for major energy-saving investments.

“We got a jump on it before the energy crisis hit,” said Dick Snouffer, director of energy services for USC’s facilities management services.

Among the first improvements at both campuses were new lighting systems that require less power.

“We started the lighting retrofits and reduced our consumption before the calls for reduction in consumption began last summer,” said Snouffer.

A new state-of-the-art energy control center provides the capability to monitor and fine-tune energy supply and usage across the campus.

Another major investment was the construction of a roughly 1,500 square foot air conditioning chiller plant in the basement of USC’s Physical Education building, with pipes running underground to supply chilled water to 30 buildings across the campus. This system replaced the individual chillers that cooled each building.

“It’s more efficient to use one central chiller than to use separate chillers in each of these buildings, said Snouffer.

At the Health Sciences campus, a new chiller plant has been installed at the Center for Health Professions. The plant is scheduled to begin operations next month and will supply chilled water to the new Zilkha Neurogenetics Institute, now under construction, and the Harlyne Norris Research Tower, now in the design phase.

By building the chiller in the Center for Health Professions, said Snouffer, the upfront costs for the neurogenetics building and the Norris Tower will be lower and the energy efficiency greater. A future phase will extend the chilled water piping distribution network to serve buildings in the upper-campus quad.

In measuring its power usage and savings against other colleges and universities in the state, USC has found it consistently ranks at the top in energy efficiency, said Snouffer.

“Attention to all of these conservation measures has made a difference, along with our mild weather and the fact that we have two well-contained campuses.”

In the midst of a building boom entailing four new facilities at the University Park campus and four new buildings at the Health Sciences campus, the USC Facilities Management Services department has placed energy efficiency as a top priority in the design and planning process, said Snouffer.

“We’re planning for future buildings in the next three to five years, so when they come online they will be energy-efficient.”

More information about USC’s energy conservation efforts is at http://fmsnet.usc.edu/ .

For more information about LADWP’s energy efficiency programs, visit www.GreenLA.com or www.ladwp.com .

Energy costs continue to rise, placing ever-greater pressure on households. And the energy you use to heat and cool your home is a large part of your carbon footprint.

By knowing what to look for you can conduct your own home energy audit. Here’s how to get started.

1. Get to Know Your Energy Bills

Bills are never fun, but don’t forget that they contain valuable information along with the pain. Compare your heating and cooling costs by month for as many years past as you can, and look for trends in usage or obvious changes. Do you see any spikes? Can you remember why? Your utility can make older bills available to you by calling customer service.

Note both the kilowatt hours you are typically using as well as the amount your utility is charging per KWH. Get to know what it is that you are paying for every month.

2. Check out The Daily Green’s Checklist

Download our checklist here so you’ll be able to keep track of what you find, and prioritize improvements based on importance and your budget.

3. Locate Air Leaks

Simple leaks can sap home energy efficiency by 5 to 30% a year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. So take a close look at places where two different building materials meet, such as corners, around chimneys, where pipes or wires exit and along the foundation. Make sure good seals form around doors and windows, and that no mortar is cracked. Any gaps or holes should be plugged and/or caulked.

Use the incense test: carefully (avoiding drapes and other flammables) move a lit stick along walls; where the smoke wavers, you have air sneaking in. And heating or cooling sneaking out.

Make sure the floor of your attic, including the hatch, is insulated, and that the material isn’t crumbling or compacted, which means it has lost its effectiveness. Similarly, check your basement ceiling, as well as basement walls. Hot water pipes and furnace ducts should be insulated. So should exterior walls (determine this by carefully removing the cover from a power plug, or drill a small hole in the back of a closet).

If you live in snow country, a simple test of insulation levels is to see if snow melts from your roof faster than from neighbors’ roofs. If so, you are probably losing too much heat.

If you find any problems, call in a professional, or go DIY and buy some fresh insulation yourself. Learn more about insulation here.

4. Examine Heating and Cooling Equipment

Not surprisingly, heating and cooling usually account for the biggest home energy loads. To reduce waste, check to see if your furnace filters look dirty. If so, swap them out (usually needed every month or two during the heating season). Or invest in an electrostatic permanent filter, which cuts down on waste and does a much better job of cleaning the air. If you have central air conditioning, check the coils both inside (usually in the basement) and outside. If they have dirt on them, carefully vacuum it off (you may need to first remove the protective grilles).

Make sure all your vents are open in rooms you want conditioned, but close the ones in rooms you hardly use. Ensure vents are clean and unobstructed. Vacuum away any dust.

Examine ductwork for dirt streaks, which mark leaks. You can often fix problems with duct tape or insulation. If your ducts look very dirty or worn, call a professional to get an estimate on a thorough cleaning or replacement. Also put on your calendar: annual pro inspection of your entire heating and cooling system.

5. Analyze Your Appliances

Appliances are major energy users, so your task should be to identify models that may be costing you a lot, and to find ways to trim waste. Buy or borrow a Kill A Watt Electric Usage Monitor. All you do is plug it into a wall socket, and then insert the plug for the electronic device that you wish to monitor. It will give you detailed info on energy use, and even has a “money button” to show you how much the unit costs you to operate.

Begin by checking your major appliances with the Kill A Watt. If older units are found to cost you a lot, you have motivation to upgrade to a new high-efficiency model (and make sure it is Energy Star certified).

If your fridge and freezer are using too much juice, you may simply need to turn down the temperature dials, or clean or repair seals. In general the EPA recommends keeping refrigerators at 37 degrees F and freezers at 3 degrees. You may also not have realized how much certain appliances require, from hair dryers to heated water beds, so you may decide to use less important items more sparingly.

If you don’t have a Kill A Watt, you can still estimate how much energy an appliance uses with the following formula: (Wattage x Hours Used Per Day ÷ 1000 = Daily Kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption (1 kilowatt (kW) = 1,000 Watts). The wattage of an appliance will be stamped on the item. To get the annual consumption, multiply this by the number of days you use the appliance during the year (divide the time by 3 to account for the idling time of your refrigerator). Calculate the annual cost to run an appliance by multiplying the kWh per year by your local utility’s rate per kWh consumed.

6. Look for Energy Vampires

Ever heard of an “energy vampire” or “phantom load”? When electronics like TVs, DVD players and cell phone chargers are plugged in but not on, they still draw power, resulting in about 8% of our annual electric bills.

It’s simple to stop the drain: look around your house, and unplug any unused devices you find! To make it even easier, plug your electronics into a power strip, and switch that off when you are finished channel surfing, jamming or charging up. It will keep the energy vampires at bay.

7. See the Light

Lighting eats up about 10% of a typical electric bill. Swap out high-wattage bulbs with lower users, ideally CFLs. Start with one or two bulbs in the places where you have lights on the longest; you don’t need to rush out and try to replace every bulb all at once. Also be aware that rapid on and off switching decreases the life of CFLs, so it may not be worth it to install the pricier bulbs in places like closets, where you rarely have the lights on. In such areas, try a lower-wattage regular bulb, like a 40 W instead of a 60 W.

Consider how you use lighting in each room. Instead of always hitting the main overheads, would your lifestyle be better served by installing some low-wattage task lighting? Think desk and reading lamps or even night-lights instead. Get rid of halogen torch-style floor lamps, which use a tremendous amount of energy. Also consider installing motion detectors, which are especially good for halls and exterior lights, since you don’t have to worry about people accidentally leaving them on.

check out www.buy-cfls.com for energy efficient lighting fixtures and lamps

8. Gauge the Results

After you have made some improvements, revisit your audit steps in a month or two. Get our your energy bills, and compare. Did your usage drop? Consider going back through the steps above, looking for any appliances or areas you missed before. Want more savings? Go deeper with a Web-based audit tool, such as this one.

It also may be time to bring in the pros for a full-service, high-tech energy audit. Call your utility to see if it subsidizes the service (some offer it free during part of the year), and ask if it can recommend local providers. Learn more about the industry here.

Lighting consumes 22% of the electrical power generated in the U.S. When you select energy-efficient lighting, you:• Save a lot of money;

• Reduce the need for additional power plants;

• Reduce greenhouse gases and other pollution; and,

• Are able to use lighting in ways you never thought possible.

Engineers on large remodeling projects find that energy-efficient lighting affords a higher payback than any other energy-efficient system. That includes heating, ventilation, air conditioning, appliances and computer equipment.

Sustainable resource consumption is everyone’s responsibility. Choosing energy-efficient lighting is the easiest way to save money on power. The choice is up to you. What you choose matters to you and the environment.

1. According to a report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), a global switch to efficient lighting systems would trim the world’s electricity bill by nearly one-tenth. The carbon dioxide emissions saved by such a switch would, it concludes, dwarf cuts so far achieved by adopting wind and solar power. According to Paul Waide, a senior policy analyst with the IEA and one of the report’s authors, “19% of global electricity generation is taken for lighting— that’s more than is produced by hydro or nuclear stations, and about the same that’s produced from natural gas.

2. Studies by the Heschong Mahone Group found that sales increased 40% in stores with good natural light.

3. Through the use of daylighting in design, builders can meet 25 to 33 percent of the necessary requirements to achieve a Silver LEED rating.

4. According to the federal Energy Star program: “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.”

What’s the Big Deal?

How we light up the places we live and work makes a big impact on how we feel. It also makes a big impact on the environment. The kind of bulbs, the kind of fixtures, the kind of power, and the habits we keep can all add up to a very significant greening. Start with the fact that a conventional incandescent bulb turns only around five to ten percent of its consumed energy into light, the rest goes out as heat. From there, there’s no limit to how green your lighting can be.  
1. CFL: The better bulb

Compact florescent bulbs (CFLs) are those swirley little guys that look like soft-serve ice cream cones. Actually, they come in a myriad of different shapes, sizes, and colors of light. Economically speaking, they’re a great deal, too. CFLs cost a bit more than an incandescent, but use about a quarter as much energy and last many times longer (usually around 10,000 hours). It is estimated that a CFL pays for its higher price after about 500 hours of use. After that, it’s money in your pocket. Also, because CFLs release less heat, not only are they safer, but your cooling load is less in the summer. CFLs aren’t hard to find anymore, and many cities will give them away for free.

 Go to www.efficientlightingco.com  on how to get your CFLs. <br>
2.Materials
Light isn’t all about the bulbs, though. Having eco-friendly lamps and light fixtures is key to greening your lighting. When scouting for new gear, keep your eyes out for lamps made with natural, recycled, or reused materials. Lights made from recycled materials include metal, glass, or plastic, and natural materials can include felt, cloth or wood. Interesting lamps that use reclaimed materials include these made from traffic signal lenses, and these made from wine bottles. Also, don’t be shy about borrowing ideas for reuse in your own projects. 
3. Daylighting
By far, the best source of light we know is (yes, you guessed it) the sun, which gives off free, full-spectrum light all day. Make the most of daylight by keeping your blinds open (sounds obvious but you might be surprised). If you want to go a little farther, put in some skylights, or, of you are designing a home or doing a renovation, put as many windows on the south-facing side of the house as possible (or north-facing if you live in the southern hemisphere). To take it even further, sunlight can be “piped” inside via fiber optics and other light channeling technologies.  
4. Good habits
As efficient as your lighting equipment might be, it doesn’t make sense to have lights on when no one’s around. Turn out lights in rooms or parts of the house where no one is. Teach your family and friends about it too and it will become second nature. If you want to get a little more exact, follow these rules: Standard incandescent: turn off even if you leave the room for just seconds. Compact fluorescent: turn off if you leave the room for 3 minutes. Standard fluorescent: turn off if you leave the room for 15 minutes. 

In defining how bright something is, we have two things to consider.1. How bright it is at the source- How Bright is that light?
2. How much light is falling on something a certain distance away from the light.
Lets’ do some definitions now……
We’re going to talk about “foot-candles”.This one’s simple. Get a birthday cake candle. Get a ruler. Stick the candle on one end of the ruler. Light the candle. Turn out the lights. Sing Happy Birthday to Doc. It was his 47th on the 23rd. OK, quiet down. Enough of that nonsense. One foot-candle of light is the amount of light that birthday cake candle generates one foot away.That’s a neat unit of measurement. Why? Say you have a lamp. You are told it produces 100 foot candles of light. That means at one foot from the lamp, you will receive 100 foot candles of light.A Physics teacher is going to tell you that light measured on an object is INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL to the distance the object is from the light source. That’s a very scientific and math rich way of saying, the closer you are to the light bulb, the brighter that bulb is
Now, lets get to LUMENS.
A LUMEN is a unit of measurement of light. It measures light much the same way. Remember, a foot-candle is how bright the light is one foot away from the source. A lumen is a way of measuring how much light gets to what you want to light! A LUMEN is equal to one foot-candle falling on one square foot of area.So, if we take your candle and ruler, lets place a book at the opposite end from the candle. We’d have a bit of a light up if we put the book right next to the candle, you know. If that book happens to be one foot by one foot, it’s one square foot. Ok, got the math done there. Now, all the light falling on that book, one foot away from your candle equals both…….1 foot candle AND one LUMEN!
Summing it all up:
Foot-candles are a measurement of light at an illuminated object.
Lumens are a metric equivalent to foot-candles in that they are measured at an object you want to illuminate.