Energy-Efficient Lighting: Energy Star Lighting Fixtures
Energy Star lighting can save you time and money.
January/February 2006
By Paul Vrabel
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The Sebring outdoor pendant available from Sea Gull Lighting
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Mention energy-efficient lighting, and many people jump to negative conclusions: It’s ugly and utilitarian, has poor color quality, and flickers and buzzes. They believe they’ll have to sacrifice performance, quality, or style.
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They’re wrong.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star program is changing the reality of energy-efficient lighting. Today’s Energy Star–qualified lighting fixtures use two-thirds less energy while providing the same quantity and quality of light as incandescent. Available in indoor and outdoor options and in a variety of styles—from chandeliers to portables, flush mounts to bath bars—energy-saving lights are available for almost every home application.
Energy Star is the government’s symbol for energy efficiency. To earn the Energy Star, manufacturers must meet strict efficiency and quality guidelines and verify their claims with performance requirements and laboratory reports. More than seventy manufacturers produce more than 3,000 Energy Star–qualified fixture models.
Smart but stylish
The great news is you can create a sense of style and sophistication in your home while also being an electricity miser. Whether your tastes run from elegant chandeliers, objets d’art, Zen modern, or whimsical, you can find designs in a variety of finishes that meld creativity with practicality. The utilitarian bases are covered as well; for instance, a popular, recessed downlight comes in a 26-watt version with one or two lamps to equal the light output of a 75- to 100-watt incandescent downlight.
“I’m constantly challenged by lighting energy codes,” admits lighting designer Mark Raissen of Lighting Imagination, who has worked on projects ranging from the average American home to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. “These codes and my own conscience drive me to create magnificent lighting schemes while maintaining responsible energy use. Energy Star–qualified light fixtures enable me to create ‘energy-effective’ lighting recipes for homes and gardens.”
What, watts?
The general public uses “wattage” as a synonym for the quantity of light: the higher the wattage, the more light. This is generally true if you’re comparing two of the same type lightbulbs, such as incandescents, but it doesn’t help if you compare an incandescent to another light source such as a compact fluorescent. A lumen is a measure of light; wattage is the measure of power the lightbulb consumes. A typical sixty-watt incandescent bulb produces about 850 lumens. A typical thirteen-watt compact fluorescent bulb produces about 800 lumens. Most bulbs list the wattage, life, and lumen output on the package. You can also follow this rule of thumb: For equal or more light output for an existing fixture, look for a compact fluorescent that uses two-thirds less wattage than the incandescent currently uses.
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