Lighting is an integral part of your home or business, because it allows you to see even when it is dark outside and can elevate your interior design from average to something spectacular. But, since lights do consume quite a lot of energy, it is very important to have lighting that is energy efficient. Right now LED bulbs are the way to go when it comes to cost efficient lighting. However, if you want to get the most out of your LED lights and have them not only diminish your energy usage but also properly illuminate your home, you might want to take a look at some of these tips and tricks on lighting your space with LEDs.

Choose LED bulbs based on lumens not watts

Before you can reap the benefits of having LED lighting in your home you first need to choose the right brightness bulbs. Usually the first thing people notice whenever they are buying light bulbs is their watt consumption, since they think that wattage is the best indication of the brightness of the bulb. But wattage actually isn’t meant to indicate brightness, only that how much watts the single bulbs will consume. Better brightness indicator is lumen (lm) amount, since this measurement is specifically made to measure the brightness of a light bulb.

So next time you are shopping for light bulbs, especially LED bulbs, look at how many lumens each of them have and then chose the appropriate brightness bulbs based on their lumen amount, because a LED bulb of the same lumen count in some cases can consume up to 6 times less watts then an incandescent bulb.

Make sure you get the right colored LED lamps

The second thing when it comes to using LED lamps in your home, office, parking lot or any other space is to choose the right colored LED bulb for the space. Old incandescent bulbs used to come in only one yellowish tone, and we weren’t really able to decide what hue light will illuminate our rooms. But with LEDs it is completely different, since, nowadays you are able to get LED bulbs in basically every color you can imagine. Of coarse, you probably won’t want to have blue or green colored light as your everyday lighting, but even the hues of the regular white LED bulbs differ.

There are warm white bulbs and cool or bright white bulbs, and you yourself have to figure out which type of white light you want to have. If you want to have a warm-white colored light that will have a yellowish tinge to it then you should look for LED bulbs in the color temperature range from 2,700 to about 3,500 Kelvins. But those who prefer the brighter white light look or just want to have cool-white illumination should look into LEDs with color temperature starting from 5,000 Kelvins and up, since color temperature (measured in Kelvins) is the characteristic that is used when the hue of light emitted by a light bulb is measured.

Don’t be afraid to use LEDs in unexpected places

Although low energy consumption and an exceptional ROI is the star qualities of LED lights, many forget that LEDs have other benefits, too. Some of the most overlooked pros of LED lights is that they run cool, last long and that they are small in size, but when you remember these qualities you can truly embrace LED lights for what they are and use them in more imaginative ways. For example, since LEDs are extremely bright and small, but don’t heat up, they can easily be used not only as regular overhead lighting, but also to give your space some character by lighting up your desk or highlighting some architectural features in your space. But, because LEDs are rated to last up to 20 years, without having to exchange them, even the best solar flood lights don’t offer good enough competition to LEDs for people to consider them over LEDs as their garden or backyard lighting. So don’t be afraid to use LED lamps in unexpected places or for unexpected applications, because this way you can distinguish your home or office from all the other ones out there and have a truly unique space just by changing up your lighting.

Purchase a retrofit kit if you have to

And lastly, don’t be afraid to go out and purchase so called retrofit or remodeling kits for your lights so they are able to fit in LED bulbs, because, despite the initial investment with the retrofit kits and LED bulbs, you will still be saving a lot of money in the long run. Many either don’t know about retrofit kits or are afraid to use them, because they think that they are hard to install or just generally don’t provide any improvement in the energy consumption department. But actually the opposite is true, because retrofit kits can save you up to 75 percent in energy costs from lighting and they also are quite easy to install, especially if you follow the instructions.

Any parking lot lighting or car dealerships make an ideal retrofit solution. So if you have lights that cannot fit LEDs, but you don’t want to change them, then retrofit kits might be the ideal solution for you to have energy efficient LED bulbs without the need to buy new, LED-friendly lamps.

For more information please visit empledlighting.com or ledwatcher.com