Kitchen Lighting
The best energy-efficient way to light your kitchen is to maximize the amount of natural light coming in. Unless you are building your kitchen from scratch or doing extensive remodeling, you don’t have much control over the size and placement of windows. However, your choice of window treatments can have a significant effect on the natural light element of your kitchen lighting.
Another way to increase the amount of natural light in your kitchen is to install a tubular skylight. These skylights fit in between the rafters and ceiling joists of your home with no structural modification. The natural light is directed through a dome on the roof, down a reflective tube to a diffuser and into your home. There are no ultraviolet rays with a tubular skylight, so there is no fading of furniture or flooring that you would get with a traditional skylight.
Tubular skylights are less expensive than a tradional skylight but share the same restrictions, i.e. they can only be installed on a single-level home or the top story of a multi-level home.
The easiest way to make your kitchen lighting more energy efficient is to replace any incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs). These now come in a variety of shapes and sizes, not just the bare spiral or tube styles. You can find more information on CFL bulb styles on the Energy Star website.
Recessed ceiling lights commonly come with incandescent bulbs, so they use more energy, generate more heat, and cost more to operate than CFLs. You can use CFL reflector bulbs instead for your recessed kitchen lighting. Make sure the CFL you use is labeled as suitable for use in enclosed fixtures.
Under-cabinet kitchen lights are out of sight and positioned to minimize shadowing on countertops. Ensure that your under-cabinet kitchen lighting is Energy Star qualified. Energy Star under-cabinet fixtures usually use thin-diameter fluorescent tubes that use only about one quarter the electricity of halogen or incandescent bulbs and last much longer.
Sources: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); US Dept of Energy; tubularskylight.com
The best energy-efficient way to light your kitchen is to maximize the amount of natural light coming in. Unless you are building your kitchen from scratch or doing extensive remodeling, you don’t have much control over the size and placement of windows. However, your choice of window treatments can have a significant effect on the natural light element of your kitchen lighting.
Another way to increase the amount of natural light in your kitchen is to install a tubular skylight. These skylights fit in between the rafters and ceiling joists of your home with no structural modification. The natural light is directed through a dome on the roof, down a reflective tube to a diffuser and into your home. There are no ultraviolet rays with a tubular skylight, so there is no fading of furniture or flooring that you would get with a traditional skylight.
Tubular skylights are less expensive than a tradional skylight but share the same restrictions, i.e. they can only be installed on a single-level home or the top story of a multi-level home.
The easiest way to make your kitchen lighting more energy efficient is to replace any incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs). These now come in a variety of shapes and sizes, not just the bare spiral or tube styles. You can find more information on CFL bulb styles on the Energy Star website.
Recessed ceiling lights commonly come with incandescent bulbs, so they use more energy, generate more heat, and cost more to operate than CFLs. You can use CFL reflector bulbs instead for your recessed kitchen lighting. Make sure the CFL you use is labeled as suitable for use in enclosed fixtures.
Under-cabinet kitchen lights are out of sight and positioned to minimize shadowing on countertops. Ensure that your under-cabinet kitchen lighting is Energy Star qualified. Energy Star under-cabinet fixtures usually use thin-diameter fluorescent tubes that use only about one quarter the electricity of halogen or incandescent bulbs and last much longer.
Sources: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); US Dept of Energy; tubularskylight.com
