As we move through life, we often take the lighting around us for granted. But, when it’s time to look more closely at our lighting consumption, it becomes clear that we are wasting energy on lighting. If you want more control over your home lighting, lower energy bills, and to help conserve our natural resources, then you’ll want to find out how you can make your lighting sustainable. In this article, we are covering everything from lighting control systems manufacturers to using dimmers to lessen your environmental impact. Keep reading to find out how you can turn your current lighting system into a sustainable lighting system.
1. Use Lighting Controls for Automation
Lighting controls for automation can dramatically reduce your energy consumption and make your home lighting more intuitive.
When it comes to saving on your energy bills and staying environmentally friendly, you need to get on board with automation. The more you can automate your home lighting, the less energy you will use. Deciding to improve your lighting with lighting controls for automation might sound complicated, but using these systems actually makes your life much easier.
When you use preset lighting commands to control your home lighting, you never have to worry about leaving the light on accidentally! Though leaving a light on might sound like a minor inconvenience, wasted energy adds up and will affect your total energy consumption. There are many lighting control systems manufacturers that are currently making lighting control systems optimized for private homes.
2. Switch to LED Lighting
LED lighting is the most compatible option with lighting controls for automation.
One of the best lighting related investments you can make is the choice to switch from incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs to LEDs. LEDs use far less energy to illuminate the same amount of space as incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. You can access even further energy savings by combining your LEDs with your controls for automation. LEDs and automated control systems working together have the capability to drastically reduce the environmental impact of home lighting.
3. Be Mindful of Task Lighting
Choosing smaller areas to light eliminates wasteful or unused lighting fixtures.
Task lighting, as opposed to general lighting, is a style of lighting design that illuminates one object or area of a room. You are probably familiar with reading lamps, spotlights, and other forms of lighting that complete a specific task. By properly utilizing task lighting, you can avoid unnecessarily lighting a whole room when you really only need a small area to be illuminated. When you use controls for automation, you can further conserve energy by presetting when your task lights should turn on or off.
4. Use Dimmers for Better Lighting Control
Dimmers are often underutilized lighting controls for automation.
Dimmers have existed for years. However, recently there has been an uptick in development and interest in dimmers as homeowners pursue environmentally conscious lighting systems. If you are not interested in home lighting automation, you can use manual dimmers — which still help conserve energy. When you decide to integrate your dimmers into your whole home lighting controls for automation, you can unlock the benefits of digital dimmers and other dimmer pre-settings.
5. Opt for an Open Floor Plan in Your Home
Many people don’t know that open floor plans help you go green when it comes to lighting.
Recently, the open floor plan has come back into fashion in interior design — especially for living spaces like the kitchen and living room. Did you know that your floor plan affects your home’s lighting efficiency? If you didn’t know before, you know now. When you employ an open floor plan in your home, you can take advantage of using fewer individual fixtures to light a very large space. When two rooms are completely separate, you will end up installing extra lights to get the same illumination.
6. Research Different Manufacturers
When it comes to sustainability, sometimes you have to go to the source.
One of the best things you can do to go green is to do your research when it comes to raw materials. To make sure you are purchasing from a manufacturer that is responsibly sourcing materials, you need to compare and contrast each option until you have settled on the most sustainable source. There are some manufacturers that are incredibly forthcoming as to where they source their materials, which is always a good sign.
If you are looking for ways to upgrade your current home lighting or are searching for inspiration for a new home build, remember — there are so many ways you can save money and energy on lighting. So, as you choose your new fixtures and control systems for automation, keep green energy at the front of your mind.
