Updating Your Interior Lighting

OAKLAND — If you’re looking to update the lighting in your home, there are several available options, but the best lighting is always that which most improves your home’s functionality and energy-efficiency.

When it comes to choosing a light bulb, you essentially have four options:

1. Traditional incandescent is the least energy-efficient and is being phased out by newer, more efficient alternatives.

2. Compact fluorescent is the style originally designed to replace incandescent lighting. It provides similar light quality while using as little as one-fifth of the power. Compact fluorescent bulbs work better as a general light because they don’t adapt to specific applications as well as other styles.

3. MR16 (or multifaceted reflector lamps) have a halogen light source and come in a variety of beam spreads, sizes and wattage’s, making them useful for applications like track lighting, recessed ceiling lights, pendant fixtures and landscape lighting.

4. LED lighting offers many benefits, including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime and faster switching. While it’s currently the most expensive option, LED technology is changing rapidly and becoming more affordable as it gains popularity.

Another way to update the lighting in your home is by adding light switch dimmers, which can significantly reduce your energy usage. Additionally, if you have a room in your home where you’ve always wanted an additional light switch but don’t want to pay for the cost of wiring, wireless switching is a recent innovation that enables you to control lighting from another side of a room with a battery-operated radio receiver.