Simple tips for brighter savings

Looking for easy and affordable ways to save more energy at home? Let’s start with your lighting, which represents 3.6% of energy used in the average Canadian home. There are simple ways to reduce this number. Here’s how to make brighter choices when it comes to lighting:

Choose the little blue star

Switching to ENERGY STAR^® certified LED light bulbs is one of the simplest ways to cut your energy use. These bulbs provide the same brightness while using up to 90% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and they last 15 times longer.

Pro Tip: If you want to know how bright a bulb will be, look for the lumens value. The higher the lumens, the brighter the light. (By contrast, a watt is a unit of power, measuring the amount of energy a bulb needs to operate).

ENERGY STAR certified light bulbs deliver the same brightness (lumens) using less energy (watts). When you look for new light bulbs, consider the lumens you need to match the brightness of your old bulbs. Fun fact: a 9-watt LED will produce effectively the same lumens (800) as a 60-watt incandescent bulb. That is instant savings!

For more information, check out the ‘Lighting made easy’ infographic.

Turn off the lights

This is an obvious, yet effective solution to saving energy. Simply kick that bad habit of leaving the lights on in unused rooms. Nobody using the bathroom? Turn off the lights. Finished folding clothes in the laundry room? Turn off the lights. Grabbing a quick snack from the kitchen between commercials? Turn off the lights. You get the idea – this is the easiest and cheapest way to save both energy and money.

Install outdoor motion sensors

Are you guilty of turning on your outdoor lights, going inside and forgetting to turn them off? Use outdoor motion sensors for your outdoor lights so they only turn on only when needed, helping you save energy and tackle your forgetfulness.

Get smarter with your lighting

Having a hard time kicking the habit of leaving the lights on? There’s a quick fix – install a light timer so your lights turn on or off automatically. Establish set times according to your schedule, then set it and forget it! An even better solution is to invest in smart lighting. Connect your ENERGY STAR certified LED smart bulbs to your wireless network so you can control your lighting remotely. Then, you’ll be able to use your smartphone, tablet or smart assistant to turn off, dim or tune the colour of your lights so you could get more control over mood and energy use. It can be as simple as “Alexa, turn off all the lights”.

Learn more and connect with us

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