General Lighting

• Replace your high-use incandescent light bulbs with ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). They use up to 75 % less electricity and last up to 10 times longer.
• Whenever you leave a room, get into the habit of turning off the lights.
• Disposal of CFLs: CFLs contain small amounts of mercury. We encourage you to dispose of your used bulbs in an environmentally friendly manner. Please contact your local municipality for proper disposal.
• Motion sensors are ideal for rooms where you may forget to turn off the lights.
• Use area or task lighting instead of full, overhead lights. For task lighting consider light emitting diodes (LEDs). They provide focused lighting, making them a great choice for tasks such as reading lights, desk lamps, night lights, spotlights, security lights, signage lighting etc.
  • The light will be bright where you point it.
  • LEDs are long-lasting, durable and cool.
  • LEDs can reduce energy consumption. They use a fraction of the wattage of incandescent bulbs.
• Maximize the amount of natural daylight.
• Nightlights will give you the light you need in hallways but remember to turn them off in the morning. Consider purchasing a night light with a daylight sensor so it will turn off automatically.
• For those lights that are on all night, use the lowest wattage bulbs possible.
• Make a point of keeping your light fixtures clean for maximum light.
• Install dimmer switches and use dimmable CFLs. Check the packaging for compatibility.
• Install programmable timers or motion sensors on interior and exterior lights.
• Use solar-powered lights for outdoor lighting.
• Upgrade fluorescent T12 fixtures with the newer T8 (T8 tubes are 1 inch in diameter) fluorescent tube fixture that uses an electronic ballast, and has many advantages over the T12 fixture and magnetic ballasts. They use 35 % less electricity; maintain their light level much better (only 8 % lifetime light reduction instead of 40 % ; are quieter. The electronic ballast does not ‘hum’ like a magnetic ballast; lights up much more quickly. The ballast does not have to warm up like a magnetic ballast.
• Remember the Canadian government has pledged to phase out inefficient incandescent bulbs by 2012.