Besides just having light, light layering (having multiple light sources for different purposes) is the most important, all-encompassing rule in home lighting design.

I recently ran across a post on Image via Freshome.com

That’s not just one, not two, but five different light sources, not counting the ample ambient light coming in from the windows. You have under cabinet lights on the left, recessed accent lights on the back wall, a pendant light, a table lamp, and linear accent lights atop the window.

On the other side of the room, there are just as many layers:

So there you have it. The most universal rule in residential lighting design, and a few ways to make it your own. What’s your favorite light layer in this space?

LED lighting is truly an upgrade.  Home owners and businesses alike can keep more of there hard earned money by simply changing from incandescent bulbs to energy efficient LED bulbs.  While the upfront cost of the LED lamps is substantially higher, the long term cost savings from the energy efficient LED lamps is more than worth the upgrade.

If you don’t have the budget to replace all your old incandescent lamps try replacing just the most heavily used ones.  Or lamps in hard to reach areas such as eves or above stairs.  Kitchens tend to be one of the areas in a home that have the lights on the longest.  And with most kitchens having recessed can lighting in them, kitchens are one of the easiest locations to upgrade to LED lighting.  There is a lot of quality LED lamps available on the market today.  With major companies such as Sylvania and Feit offering dimmable long lasting LED lamps.

Choosing the right LED lamps can be a complicated task if you don’t know what your looking for.  With LED lamp packaging displaying words like, lumens, wattage, and color spectrum, choosing the right lamps is overwhelming for some.

Wattage is how most people judge the amount of light they want for the particular fixture.  However, lumens is the true measurement of the amount of visible light LED lamp will give off.  A typical 60 watt incandescent lamps will give off around 520 lumens and last on average 2800 hours.  While a quality LED 12 watt lamp can give off around 800 lumens and last around 25,000 hours.  Some LED lamp manufactures have put on there packaging what wattage of incandescent lamp there LED lamp is designed to replace.  This helps to take some of the confusion out of choosing the right bulb.

The right color spectrum can make a huge difference in the way a room looks.  Color spectrum or as some people call it lamp temperature, is the color of the light the lamp gives off.  When LED lamps were first released they gave off a very cool or bluish color versus the more yellow or warm color of traditional incandescent lamps.  Now days LED lamp manufactures have a more perfected color that the lamps give off.  Often you will not be able to tell a difference between the color of an incandescent lamp and a quality warm white LED lamp.

You must also choose if you want to be able to dim your new LED lamp.  Dimmable LED lamps often cost more than non dimmable lamps, some as much as 40% more.  Dimmable led lamps give you the ability to choose how much lumens the lamp gives off via your wall mounted dimmer switch.  Dimming your LED lamps helps to reduce energy usage which saves you money on your power bill.  Using an approved dimmer for the LED lamp is a critical factor.  LED lamp manufactures and a list of approved dimmers for there product that can often be found in the directions or the manufactures website.

By now we all should know that switching from incandescent lamps to LED lamps can be a substantial savings.  But how much can you really save?  If you figured an average of 25 LED lamps per household and factored in average usage over 50,000 hours you would save around $6,700.00 in energy cost per home.  Add in the cost of time and maintenance to change the old incandescent lamps and the saving grows even bigger from there.

With businesses typically having more lights and increased hour usage switching to LED makes perfect sense.  With many power companies such as Mid American Energy offering rebates to help offset the cost of upgrading the LED.  A recent LED upgrade project we completed is Hoodz of Central Iowa.  The LED lighting helps reduce energy consumption, heat, and

maintenance cost. While they choose an ultra modern high efficient LED fixture for this project, often changing the existing lighting from commercial fluorescents to LED linear lamps can be an option as well.

Mid American Energy is even upgrading street lighting with LED.  They are starting to replace more than 100,000 Des Moines area street lights with new LED street lighting.  The project is excepted to take 10 years and save 35 to 50 percent in energy and reproduce carbon monoxide emissions by as much as 22,000 tons per year.   More on the LED street lighting upgrade can be found on KCCI’s post here.

Installing LED lighting from the initial construction phase of a business is now becoming more and more common.  A recent project Custom Electrical Services completed in West Des Moines Iowa for R2 Financial Strategies 2nd floor build out used all LED lighting throughout there new space. 

Usually, around this time people are giving up on their New Year’s resolutions. We get it; it’s tough to follow through on difficult commitments, especially when it comes to altering habits. Let et us be the voice that says, “Keep going! You can do this!” Or, maybe you’re still struggling to come up with a resolution. That’s where we come in. Resolve to be more energy efficient!

We’ve come up with several New Year’s resolutions we truly think you can keep. Energy efficiency doesn’t always require a significant monetary investment; sometimes, it calls for a small change in your routine. We know that change can be scary, but once you realize your savings potential, we hope that the challenge will be worth it!

Every summer, more and more homes experience outages in their electric systems. As a top Dallas Electrician, my electricians and I see the effects of these outages every day. They can be devastating, and cause a lot of damage.  In fact, the insurance industry pays out over $1 billion in damages annually in claims caused by outages and power surge damage. Most outages are caused by the weather, but there are different kinds of weather can cause an outage. This even includes weather that doesn’t produce lighting damage like the massive ice storms we saw during Super Bowl week this year that left hundreds of thousands without power (and, more importantly, without heat!) during one of the worst winter storms in years. Summer storms can produce devastating tornadoes that can knock out power for miles around the area they touch down in, and many hurricanes begin to build in the summer and early fall, causing catastrophic results even outside of the disaster zone. Hurricane Ike left over two million people without power when it hit southeast Texas in 2008, and not all of them were in the impact zone.

Not every outage comes from something as dramatic as a hurricane or tornado.  A lightning strike, even as far as half a mile away, can potentially cause damage to your delicate electrical equipment and appliances. Often, large-scale outages can occur when lightning strikes a transformer.

Outages don’t just occur because of bad weather:  many outages are caused by power equipment switching to accommodate the heavy load people put on the power grid.  Our power grid is already having trouble with its current load, and the problem only grows as more and more people use more and more electricity.  Summer in Dallas and Fort Worth is the perfect examples.  It’s when people are running their air conditioners constantly. This puts an incredible load on local and state power grids.  This leads to government agencies putting out warnings almost every summer about potential power outages, threatening brownouts and blackouts unless people conserve energy.

These outages aren’t damaging in themselves, but they leave open the possibility for electrical power surge damage.  You’ve probably noticed that when the power comes back on after an outage, it often flickers on and off quickly as the power grid attempts to get the electricity flowing back into your lines.  This stop-and-start action creates surges that can easily damage unprotected electronics or appliances.  Having a nice TV damaged like this is a very expensive hassle, and you can imagine how much more expensive and uncomfortable it could be if the surge takes out your air conditioner and refrigerator!

So, what can you do to keep power outages and power surges from affecting you?

Some of these options can even help you save money on your electric bill without the hassle of gas, fumes, or noise pollution.

Cost, energy savings, maintenance and aesthetics must all be taken into account to optimize your budget and bring out the best in your home with the finest lighting design.

1.   Fluorescent and CFL (compact fluorescent) lamps work well in areas that require cooler, energy-efficient general illumination, such as undercabinet lighting and cove lighting in kitchens or flush-mount ceiling fixtures in garages and basements.

2.  Low-voltage halogen lamps are best for accent lighting and to provide luxurious illumination in areas of the home that call for a more up-scaled look, such as living rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms and master bathrooms.

3.  For task lighting, choose LED (light-emitting diode) desk lamps, reading lamps, track lighting and mini-pendants. Bulbrite’s Generation 3 dimmable LED lamps provide great color rendering and light output, perfect for track and recessed fixtures. 

 4.  LED lamps are becoming the standard for outdoor lighting, too, due to their low-maintenance and high energy-efficiency. Although the initial cost for LED lamps is considerably higher, you will find tremendous long-term savings in energy, maintenance and replacement costs—especially in areas where illumination is frequently needed such as outdoor security lighting.

5.  Incandescent lamps are still popular for portable lighting and ceiling fixtures to provide pleasant general illumination.  Aim for energy-efficient incandescent:  Bulbrite’s Eco-Friendly Halogen A19 standard bulb is energy-saving, fully dimmable and available in clear or soft white.

Note:  Do not skimp and buy bulbs of lesser quality, because substandard bulbs may emit a poor quality of light and may burn out prematurely.  Purchase your lighting from a reputable dealer who will stand behind the quality of their merchandise.

For more information on updating your home with quality, energy-efficient lighting, visit a Capitol Lighting showroom and meet with a professional lighting consultant.