Energy Saving in your home using dimmers

LightingShowroom.com supports a key national strategy to reduce energy use and greenhouse emissions which is to get the general public to use 50 percent less lighting energy by 2012. The task include educating the public about the benefits of using more energy-efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, moving to Energy Star-qualified fixtures and using dimmers with the new technologies.

Rosemary Wickowski, the CEO of Light Styles Internet, LLC the parent of lightingshowroom.com says that the use of dimmers is among the most promising recommendations she has heard. “Not only do you get great aesthetic results from putting lights on dimmers, the energy savings are astounding,” she says. “You use less power and double the life of the bulb to boot.” In addition, dimmers allow for greater flexibility in lighting product selection and allow you to get multiple uses out of a room. A multi light chandelier with a dimmer can be bright enough to light a work area but dimmed for mood lighting.

In today’s homes, the three main types of lighting available are incandescent, magnetic low voltage and electronic low voltage, which are all easily dimmed. There are several different types of dimmers. They include:

• Simple wall box dimmers, which allow you to bring the light up and down slowly;
• Scene lighting dimmers, which allow you to control multiple light sources from a single panel to set a mood;
• Whole house systems, which allow you to control all of the lights in your home from one panel at the touch of a button; and
• Occupancy sensors, which turn on and off whenever someone enters a room.

Dimmers of all types are extremely useful, particularly for those who like to entertain often. Rosemary says “I recommend people put dimmers just about everywhere in the house because they offer such great flexibility.” “For example, when everyone’s gathering for a party, it’s nice to have the lights at full brightness; but as your guests move into the house and get comfortable, low light is more desirable. Then later when it’s time to clean up, it’s nice to be able to bring the lights to full strength again at the flip of a switch.”

Lutron is an excellent source for high quality dimmers.