Reducing your carbon footprint doesn’t stop at recycling and reusing. One of the biggest drains on home energy is the HVAC system; a smaller, though potentially wasteful one, is lighting. Managing these two systems carefully can reduce your spending and extend the life of your lights and HVAC units.

Lighting

Three easy ways to keep your lighting output down is using energy-efficient bulbs, automated lighting and dimmers. Adding dimmers allows you to reduce brightness to only what you need. Dimming lights only 20% saves a surprisingly large amount of energy; the last 20% brightness takes more energy for a bulb to produce comparatively, and often that increment between fully bright and 20% less cannot be perceived by the human eye. Incandescent and halogen bulbs last up to 20 times longer when used with a dimmer.

HVAC System

Better control is the key to saving on your HVAC’s energy output. Automating this system using a smart thermostat sets heating and cooling on a schedule that will best suit your home and your needs. You can make adjustments for nighttime versus daytime, when you are on vacation, and even when you leave for work and come back.

Looking for an easy way to control your lights, heating and cooling? Reach out to lighting and automation expert Ray Rice, Digital Sight & Sound.