Long-life bulbs are less efficient, so use them only in hard-to-reach places where it’s difficult to change bulbs.
Lighting FAQs
Use only the amount of light you need.
For maximum lighting efficiency use a higher lumen-per-watt bulb. Watts measure the amount of energy going into a bulb. Lumens measure the light output or brightness of a bulb. This information is printed on bulb packages. To determine efficiency, divide the lumens by the watts of electricity used.
For example, the efficiency of a 100-watt bulb measuring 1710 lumens would be 17.1 lumens-per-watt.
The most efficient lighting sources available today are Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), which have replaced fluorescent and CFL bulbs.
It is a myth that it costs more to turn off fluorescent lights than to leave them on. This was true in the 1940s when fluorescent lamps first became popular because turning them off and on again greatly shortened the lamp life. Today’s lamps are not as affected by start-up damage and the energy surge to start them up is so small that it’s cheaper to switch them off when they’re not needed.