Lights are a vital modern feature in any building. Whether it’s a house, an office, a factory, or any other kind of building, it’s impossible to function efficiently and safely without adequate lighting. Anyone who has ever endured a power outage can attest to how difficult it is to do anything without light.

However, it isn’t just about the presence of light. It’s about the character of that light. We want it to be bright but energy-efficient, and we expect it to be on when we need it and off when we don’t. Achieving all of those goals is a tall order, but it gets easier all the time with the development of new lighting technology.

Once a building has even a little age on it, there may be upgrades available to help optimize those characteristics. In time, you may decide that there are enough such upgrades on the table to justify new lighting. Think about these elements as you get into such a project.

Learn About Types of Lighting

When your parents built a home or a business, it was simple. Each room got a ceiling fixture with incandescent bulbs, and that was basically it.

Things are very different today, and as you talk to Mr. Electric about your plans for the project, you will quickly find that you can go a lot of different directions with lights, both inside the building and outside the building. There are many different types of controllers, fixtures, and bulbs, each with its own distinct advantages.

Look them over with your contractor and decide what best fits your lifestyle, budget, and decor. You’ll end up with a very personal, functional, efficient lighting setup that works perfectly for you.

Position Lights Effectively

For this tip, think about a reading lamp. You can often get all the light you need for a small area by using a single lamp. Why should you illuminate the entire room when they only thing you’re looking at is a book or magazine?

The same is true of any room and any function. Sometimes focused lighting in a small space is better than very bright general lighting for a room. For example, some bright lights under your wall cabinets could provide perfect lighting for work done on the kitchen counter without an energy-hungry large fixture in the room.

And it’s not always for function that we might ignore the standard center-of-the-ceiling fixture. Track lighting is a beautiful way to illuminate photographs, art, or other wall features by catching a unique angle for the light to hit it.

Manage Lights Efficiently

Every light uses energy, so we have to accept that we’ll always spend some money on electricity. However, we can do more today to pinpoint that operation and minimize the hours of wasted light that we utilize in any application.

In this case, the controller is as important as the light itself. There are many different products that can help reduce wasted energy. They allow you to have lights on when needed and off when not needed, without requiring any extra steps for occupants.

Lights can be wired through a timer that automatically shuts them down after a certain length of time, in case occupants forget to do it. Motion-detecting lights for both inside and outside the building can ensure that lights are activated hands-free, then later deactivated when no more motion is detected. And just as you can remotely manage thermostats and appliances, there are apps that permit you to turn lights on and off remotely through a wifi connection.

No home, business, or other building can function without adequate lighting. And the fixtures that met our needs 20 years ago are well out of date today in terms of efficiency, functionality, and energy consumption.

When you reach a point where you’re ready to look into an upgrade, remember the factors we’ve addressed in this article. You’ll end up with a better outcome that saves energy, increases safety, and improves the performance of light in whatever application you have.