Lighting

How do I use lighting to increase my energy score?

The energy used for artificial lighting can be reduced by:

• using natural lighting;
• installing energy efficient lights, especially in high-use rooms, such as bedrooms, living areas and hallways;
• installing fittings that are dedicated to energy efficient lamps– tubular fluorescent and LED lights typically qualify as the lamp can not be replaced with a less efficient type.

Types of energy efficient lights

Energy efficient lights include compact fluorescent, fluorescent and LED lights. It is important to consider the type of light required. Fluorescent and compact fluorescent lights are ideal for lighting rooms.

In contrast, halogen lamps provide a small, direct beam of light and typically will not adequately light a room unless several lamps are used and therefore consume a lot of energy.

Halogen lights

Halogen lights are best suited for task lighting, for example lighting a picture or over a bench top. Even then, they may require dimmers, to control the excessive amount of light they generate.

Tip: LED lights can be an efficient replacement for halogen lights.