Lighting Guide
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Lighting in your home accounts for five to 20% of your total household energy use. If you think about the energy being consumed by lights from the hundreds and thousands of homes in our neighbourhoods, towns and cities, you can see how important it is to reduce home lighting energy.

Changing the way you locate and design lighting in your home, as well as the amount of lighting you use, the types of lighting you have will help reduce the amount of energy you use to light your home.

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	Turn Off Unnecessary Lights Turning off lights that aren't being used is a simple and effective way to save energy.
	Switch to Energy-Efficient Lighting ENERGY STAR® Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) use about one-quarter of the energy that incandescent bulbs use.
	Install Lighting Controls Installing lighting controls, like dimmers, timers, motion sensors and photocells, is a simple and efficient means of reducing lighting energy.
	Make the Most of Natural Light Daylight is by far the best light source.
	Use Natural Candles We all know that burning the candle at both ends is bad for our health.
	Adjust Lighting Levels to Suit the Task Arrange the lighting in a room so you can adjust the lighting level for different uses and times of day.
	Switch to LED Holiday Lights If you plan to use lights to decorate during the holiday season, make the switch to ENERGY STAR® LED (light emitting diode) holiday lights.
	Use Energy-Efficient Lamps and Fixtures Make your next light fixture an ENERGY STAR®.
	Use Energy-Efficient Outdoor Lighting Outdoor lighting can account for a large percentage of overall residential lighting energy use.
	LED Lighting LEDs reduce energy costs, using at least 75% less energy than incandescent lighting.

General Service Lighting Regulations

Effective January 1, 2011, lighting efficiency standards are being introduced by the Provincial Ministry of Energy on medium screw based A-shape light bulbs in the 75-100W range. For more information on B.C.’s Energy Efficiency Act, please visit the Ministry of Energy’s website [PDF, 825 Kb].

Please also note that Federal Energy Efficiency Regulations will be introduced in 2012.

CFLs can also be recycled at drop-off locations around B.C.