Can Recessed Lights Be Environmentally Friendly?
Many people struggle with recessed can lighting because of the fact that so many fixtures have to be installed. With more fixtures being installed, more light bulbs have to be used, therefore creating much more energy use. Fortunately, there are quite a few things that you can do to help ease your energy consumption, while still maintaining the clean and elegant style of recessed lighting.
Starting with the most obvious, installing energy efficient bulbs is a great way to reduce the light’s power draw. This is a double win when it comes to recessed lights because they are much more difficult to change bulbs in than standard light fixtures. Energy efficient lights last a heck of a lot longer than regular incandescent ones, so you have to replace them much less frequently. There are now recessed lights that come built with LED lights in them, so you’ll never have to change them during their energy sipping life span.
Another way to reduce your power consumption is by insulating recessed can lights. While this doesn’t directly affect the lights themselves, it does greatly reduce the amount of draft that comes in around the light fixture. Attic temperatures are very different than the ambient inside temperature, and leaks will cause your AC or heating bills to skyrocket. Heating and cooling is one of the biggest expenses in home utility use, so any improvements are going to reduce the amount of energy that you use.
For a very simple fix, install dimmer switches on your recessed lights. LED bulbs are great for dimming, but CFL bulbs are slowly gaining the ability to do this. When you can find a light bulb that pleases your eye and is able to be dimmed, you’ve set up a combination that will save you a ton of wasted electricity.
Reducing the amount of energy that you use is crucial to protecting what we have left in natural resources. The simple tips outlined in this post will help you do that with recessed lights, which are normally not very eco-friendly!
