Energy Efficient Lighting

What are they?

• Light sources that utilize energy more efficiently, so they can output the same amount of light with less energy usage
• Types of Energy Efficient Lighting
  • Halogen Incandescent Bulbs
  • Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs)
  • Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

How do they work

 Halogen Incandescent

• Holds halogen gas around the filament, which reduces the amount of wear and tear the bulb experiences
• Least efficient type of lighting on the market
• Although they have lower up front cost, more expensive over the life of the bulb
• Barely meet government energy efficiency standards

 Compact Fluorescent Lamps

• An electric current is passed through argon and mercury vapour
• A curled up compact version of the long tube fluorescent lamps
• Pay for themselves in energy savings in 9 months
• Lasts ten times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs
• Uses a third of the energy the halogen incandescent bulb uses

LEDs

• Uses semiconductors to convert electricity into light
• Most energy efficient home lighting
• Use less than a quarter of the energy of a traditional incandescent bulb and last 15-25x longer
• Use a little bit more than a quarter of the energy of a halogen incandescent and last 8-25x longer
• While slightly more expensive, they save lots of money long-term

§  Prices are expected to come down over the coming years as the technology continues to develop

Benefits

• Less energy used (cheaper)
• Less heat given off compared to incandescent bulbs (lower AC costs)
• CFLs and LEDs can be used in outdoor conditions

Challenges

·   CFLs contain a small amount of mercury and need to be recycled properly

Other Information

• Average household uses 5% of total energy for lighting, easy place to start saving money in household energy efficiency