Lighting is the most visible energy consumer in most homes, and it seems we are all raised with the instruction, "turn off the lights!" However, lighting is one of the smaller energy users in homes accounting for a little more than 5 percent of total energy use. And while it's not a lot, it's still worth using common sense and not being wasteful.

Lighting Tips

• Avoid wasting lighting energy by turning off lights when they aren't needed.
• Fluorescent lighting is much more economical than incandescent lighting. It produces about four times more light with the same amount of energy and lamps last 10-to-15 times longer.
• Compact fluorescents allow you to use fluorescents lighting in places you never could before. Begin replacing your incandescents bulbs with compact fluorescents where ever practical.
• With incandescents, higher-wattage bulbs are generally more efficient and produce more light per watt-hour than smaller-wattage bulbs. For example, you may be able to replace two 60-watt lamps with one 100, get about the same light, and save 20-watts.
• Install occupancy sensors so lights go off automatically in unoccupied rooms.