Energy Efficent Lighting

If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL)

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ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs

  • ENERGY STAR qualified bulbs use about 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.
  • Save about $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulb’s lifetime.
  • Produce about 75 percent less heat, so they’re safer to operate and can cut energy costs associated with home cooling.
  • Are available in different sizes and shapes  to fit in almost any fixture, for indoors and outdoors.

How to Choose and Where to Use CFLs

ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs provide the greatest savings in fixtures that are on for a substantial amount of time each day. At a minimum, ENERGY STAR recommends installing qualified CFLs in fixtures that are used at least 15 minutes at a time or several hours per day. The best fixtures to use qualified CFLs in are usually found in the following areas of your home:

  • family and living rooms
  • kitchen
  • dining room
  • bedrooms
  • outdoors

How to Choose the Right Light

Matching the right CFL to the right kind of fixture helps ensure that it will perform properly and last a long time.

For example:

  • CFLs perform best in open fixtures that allow airflow, such as table and floor lamps, wall sconces, pendants, and outdoor fixtures.
  • For recessed fixtures, it is better to use a reflector CFL than a spiral CFL since the design of the reflector evenly distributes the light down to your task area.
  • If a light fixture is connected to a dimmer or three-way socket fixture, you’ll need to use a special ENERGY STAR qualified CFL designed to work in these applications. Make sure to look for CFLs that specify use with dimmers or three-way fixtures.
  • Choose a qualified CFL that offers a shade of white light that works best for you. For example, while most CFLs provide warm or soft white light for your home, you could choose a cooler color for task lighting.
  • To choose the ENERGY STAR qualified CFL with the right amount of light, find a qualified CFL that is labeled as equivalent to the incandescent bulb you are replacing. Light bulb manufacturers include this information right on the product packaging to make it easy for consumers to choose the equivalent bulb. Common terms include “Soft White 60” or “60 Watt Replacement.”

You should also check the lumen rating to find the right CFL. The higher the lumen rating, the greater the light output. Consult the following chart to determine what CFL wattage is best to replace your incandescent light bulb:

Light-Emitting Diode (LED)

What are LEDs?

LED stands for light-emitting diode. LEDs are small light sources that become illuminated by the movement of electrons through a semiconductor material.

What is Solid-State Lighting?

LEDs are part of a family of lighting technologies called Solid-State lighting. This family also includes OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes). OLEDs (pronounced OH-leds) consist of sheets of carbon-based compounds that glow when a current is applied through transparent electrodes. While not yet market ready, OLEDs will function like a thin film on a wall or ceiling that illuminates a room. Like LEDs, OLED technology is advancing rapidly.

Solid-State lighting (SSL), most commonly seen in the form of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), has the potential to revolutionize the efficiency, appearance, and quality of lighting as we know it.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that rapid adoption of LED lighting in the U.S. over the next 20 years can:

  • Deliver savings of about $265 billion.
  • Avoid 40 new power plants.
  • Reduce lighting electricity demand by 33% in 2027.

How are LED lighting products different from other lighting, like fluorescent or incandescent?

LED lighting is more efficient, durable, versatile and longer lasting than incandescent and fluorescents lighting. LEDs emit light in a specific direction, whereas an incandescent or fluorescent bulb emits light — and heat — in all directions. LED lighting uses both light and energy more efficiently.

For example, an incandescent or compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb inside of a recessed can will waste about half of the light that it produces, while a recessed down light with LEDs only produces light where it’s needed — in the room below.

Basic parts of LED lighting

LED lighting starts with a tiny chip (most commonly about one square millimeter) comprised of layers of semi-conducting material. LED packages may contain just one chip or multiple chips, mounted on heat-conducting material called a heat sink and usually enclosed in a lens. The resulting device, typically around 7 to 9 mm on a side, can be used separately or in arrays. LED devices are mounted on a circuit board, which can be programmed to include lighting controls such as dimming, light sensing and pre-set timing. The circuit board is mounted on another heat sink to manage the heat from all the LEDs in the array. The system is then encased in a lighting fixture, architectural structure, or even a “light bulb” package.

Note: The DOE ENERGY STAR LED lighting program does not currently cover LED “bulbs” designed to replace regular screw-base incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs will be included as soon as these products can meet the stringent requirements of the program.

Not necessarily. LEDs have been efficient and long lasting as indicator lights in electronics for years, but using LEDs to create stable white light for general lighting presents new challenges. The key to success is smart design. To qualify for ENERGY STAR, LED lighting products must pass a variety of tests to prove that the products will display the following characteristics:

  • Brightness is equal to or greater than existing lighting technologies (incandescent or fluorescent) and light is well distributed over the area lighted by the fixture.
  • Light output remains constant over time, only decreasing towards the end of the rated lifetime (at least 25,000 hours or 22 years based on use of 3 hours per day).
  • Excellent color quality. The shade of white light appears clear and consistent over time.
  • Efficiency is as good as or better than fluorescent lighting.
  • Light comes on instantly when turned on.
  • No flicker when dimmed.
  • No off-state power draw. The fixture does not use power when it is turned off, with the exception of external controls, whose power should not exceed 0.5 watts in the off state.