Lighting & Appliances

By reducing the need for electric light, daylighting can substantially lower home energy use. However, excessive daylighting can increase both heating and cooling loads. A balanced approach to daylighting involves whole building design starting with the location and orientation of a home and continuing with proper room location and design, window sizing and placement, and selection of room finishes.

Appliances such as refrigerators have more then doubled their efficiency in the last ten years. To help consumers choose energy efficient appliances, the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have partnered with appliance manufacturers to steadily increase the federal minimum energy efficiency standards and promote more energy efficient appliances through their Energy Star® Program.

Energy-efficient lighting design focuses on methods and materials that improve the quality as well as the efficiency of lighting. Daylight is the most energy-efficient means of illuminating a building and thus should be a primary focus. Electrical lighting, still provided primarily by traditional incandescent bulbs, consumes almost 15 percent of household electricity on average. Using readily available alternative lighting technologies can reduce lighting energy use by 50 to 75 percent.