Reflector bulbs provide more directional light and can last twice as long as regular incandescent bulbs. Decorating with light colors will require fewer watts to illuminate the room. Turn off lights, especially incandescent lights, when you’re leaving the room for more than a few minutes at a time. Use one higher wattage bulb instead of several with lower wattages. One 100-watt bulb produces more light and uses less power than two 60-watt bulbs. Why use lights when the sun may be able to do the job for you? Take advantage of opportunities to let natural light into your home, particularly rooms with northern exposures. Bring sunlight into rooms or hallways without window access with tubular skylighting, or solar lighting. These units capture daylight and redirect it through a reflective tube into dark areas inside your home. Use light sensors, motion detectors, or timers to turn lights on and off automatically. Automatic controls can easily pay for themselves if you program them to turn security lights on and off instead of leaving them on 24 hours a day while you are on vacation. Consider low-voltage lighting wherever possible for your landscaping. A string of six low-voltage lights use about 108 watts, compared to a single 150-watt floodlight. Don’t overlight. Switch to lower wattages when possible. When an incandescent bulb burns out, choose an energy saver type or a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) that can last up to ten times longer as the less efficient incandescent bulbs and use up to 75 percent less electricity. For information about CFL recycling or handling broken CFLs, click here Keep light bulbs and light fixtures clean.