Imagine your home or office without light

Imagine your home or office without light. Light allows us to see, create a comfortable environment, be safe and secure. The lighting techniques - the ways you arrange lights - and the lamps - the light bulbs - you choose for the rooms in your home or office will make a difference in your comfort level and energy use.

Everyone knows that appliances, like your refrigerator and dishwasher, use electricity. However you may not realize lamps or bulbs and the fixtures in which they operate (called luminaries) are also appliances. If we consider lighting as a single appliance, it can be much as 25 percent of your home's electricity consumption.

When choosing many appliances, consumers can compare EnergyGuide labels, telling them how much it will cost each year to operate the appliance. This information allows people to choose an appliance at a higher initial cost if they know it's more efficient and will save them money in the long run. Not so with lamps. It is more difficult to calculate efficiency and savings because of the different lighting technologies.

Feature lighting