Best examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage for 2025

Real-world examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage

Let’s start with the concrete stuff: real examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage that you can copy today.

Think about a typical home:

• A kitchen with bright overhead lights that stay on all evening.
• A living room where the TV glow does half the work.
• A porch light that burns all night, every night.

Now imagine swapping those old 60-watt incandescent bulbs for 9-watt LEDs, adding a motion sensor to the porch light, and setting your living room lamps on a schedule. You’ve just cut lighting energy use by more than half with almost no lifestyle change.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), residential LEDs use at least 75% less energy and last up to 25 times longer than incandescent lighting (energy.gov). That single stat underpins most of the best examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage you’ll see below.

LED bulbs: the baseline example of efficient lighting

If you want one simple, high-impact example of energy-efficient lighting options and usage, it’s this: replace every incandescent and most halogen bulbs with LEDs.

A quick comparison for a standard A19 bulb:

• Incandescent 60W: ~800 lumens, lifespan ~1,000 hours
• Halogen 43W: ~800 lumens, lifespan ~1,000–2,000 hours
• LED 9–10W: ~800 lumens, lifespan 10,000–25,000 hours

Using an average U.S. electricity price of about 17 cents per kWh (EIA 2024 data, eia.gov), running a single bulb for 3 hours a day over 10 years looks like this:

• Incandescent: about $112 in electricity
• Halogen: about $80 in electricity
• LED: about $19 in electricity

That’s one bulb. Multiply by 20–30 bulbs in a typical home and you see why LEDs are the best examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage from a cost perspective.

Where LEDs shine as practical examples:

• Kitchen cans and recessed lighting: Swapping six 65W incandescent floods for 10W LED floods can save around 330 watts when they’re all on. If those lights run 4 hours a day, that’s roughly 480 kWh a year saved, or about $80 at average U.S. rates.
• Bathroom vanity lights: LED globe bulbs give the same brightness with a fraction of the wattage, and they handle frequent on/off switching better.
• Bedroom and living room lamps: LED A19 and A21 bulbs with warm color temperatures (2700K–3000K) mimic the cozy feel of incandescent without the heat and wasted energy.

These are everyday, boring, very effective examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage that quietly cut your bill every month.

Smart lighting: examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage with controls

Once you’ve switched to LEDs, the next layer is smarter control. Smart lighting doesn’t just look cool; it gives you better control over when and how lights run, which means less wasted energy.

Smart bulbs and smart switches

A common example of energy-efficient lighting options and usage is swapping always-on hallway lights for smart bulbs controlled by schedules and motion.

Picture this:

• Hallway lights turn on automatically at 20% brightness from sunset to midnight.
• After midnight, they only turn on when motion is detected, and they shut off after 2 minutes.

Compared to leaving a 60W incandescent on at full brightness all evening, running a 9W LED at 20% brightness only when needed is a dramatic energy cut. Even if the actual savings vary, the pattern is clear: lights are on less often and at lower brightness.

Smart switches give you similar benefits without replacing every bulb. They’re especially useful for:

• Hard-to-reach fixtures (stairwells, high ceilings)
• Rooms with many bulbs controlled by one switch (kitchens, living rooms)

Dimmers as another example of energy-efficient usage

Dimming LEDs doesn’t just change the mood; it can reduce power use. A dimmed LED at 50% brightness often uses roughly half the power, depending on the driver and dimmer pairing.

Real example:

• A dining room chandelier with six 9W LED bulbs = 54W at full brightness.
• If you usually run it at 50% brightness, you’re closer to 25–30W.

You’re not going to retire early on that savings alone, but when you combine dimming with shorter run times and more focused task lighting, it becomes one of the more realistic examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage in everyday life.

Outdoor and security lighting: high-impact examples include LEDs and sensors

Outdoor lighting is where many homes quietly waste the most energy. Porch lights, driveway floods, and security lights often run all night, every night.

Here’s a common before/after example of energy-efficient lighting options and usage outdoors:

Before:

• Two 100W halogen floodlights over the garage
• On from dusk to dawn, every day of the year

After:

• Two 15W LED floods with built-in motion sensors
• On only when someone walks or drives by, for 2–5 minutes at a time

The before scenario uses about 730 kWh a year per fixture (100W × 12 hours × 365 days / 1000). The after scenario might use under 50 kWh per fixture annually, depending on traffic. That’s an order-of-magnitude difference.

Other strong examples include:

• Pathway lights: Low-wattage LED fixtures, often solar-powered, that only run when it’s dark.
• Smart porch lights: LED bulbs on a schedule or photocell, switching off automatically at sunrise.

The pattern is simple: pair efficient LED fixtures with sensors or schedules so lights are on only when they add real value. These are some of the best examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage because they replace long, unnecessary run times with short, targeted bursts.

Task lighting vs. overhead lighting: smarter usage examples

Not all brightness is created equal. One underrated example of energy-efficient lighting options and usage is shifting from blasting a whole room with overhead light to using focused task lighting.

Desk and reading lamps

Instead of lighting an entire home office with a 60W ceiling fixture, a 6–9W LED desk lamp aimed at your work surface often gives better visibility with less glare.

Example scenario:

• Old setup: 60W incandescent ceiling light on for 6 hours while you work.
• New setup: 9W LED desk lamp on for 6 hours, ceiling light off.

That’s an 85% reduction in power for that task, and the lighting quality is usually better because it’s where you need it.

Kitchen task lighting

Under-cabinet LED strips or bars are another real example of energy-efficient lighting options and usage:

• Instead of running a 100W overhead fixture while you chop vegetables, you use a 10–15W LED strip directly over the counter.

You get more useful light on the workspace and less wasted light elsewhere.

Color temperature, brightness, and design: indirect examples that save energy

Here’s a less obvious example of energy-efficient lighting options and usage: using color temperature, brightness, and room design to get the same visual comfort with fewer watts.

Color temperature and perceived brightness

Cooler white light (4000K–5000K) often feels brighter and more “crisp” than a warm 2700K bulb at the same lumen level. That means in some workspaces, you can use a slightly lower lumen LED in a cooler color temperature and still feel like the room is well lit.

Reflective surfaces and wall color

Light-colored walls and ceilings bounce more light around the room, so each bulb does more work. The U.S. DOE notes that interior design choices, like lighter paint colors, can reduce the number of fixtures needed (energy.gov).

Real example:

• A home office with dark walls might need two 1000-lumen LED fixtures.
• Repainted in a light color, the same room could feel fine with two 800-lumen fixtures, or one strong overhead plus a task lamp.

These design choices are softer examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage, but they matter over time because they let you install fewer, lower-wattage fixtures without sacrificing comfort.

Commercial and office lighting: larger-scale examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage

Homes get a lot of attention, but offices and small businesses are where lighting upgrades can deliver serious savings.

Fluorescent to LED panel retrofits

Many offices still use 2x4-foot fluorescent troffers with T8 tubes. Replacing them with LED panels or LED retrofit kits is one of the most common commercial examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage.

Typical comparison for a 2x4 fixture:

• Old: Four 32W T8 fluorescent tubes = ~128W per fixture
• New: LED panel or retrofit kit = 35–50W per fixture

If a small office has 40 fixtures running 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, that’s over 2,000 hours per year. Dropping from 128W to 40W per fixture saves about 7,000 kWh annually. Using average commercial rates, that’s thousands of dollars over the life of the fixtures.

Daylight harvesting

Another advanced example of energy-efficient lighting options and usage in offices is daylight harvesting: sensors automatically dim or turn off electric lights when there’s enough natural daylight.

This is often paired with open-plan layouts and high-reflectance surfaces. The result is a system where lights rarely run at full power, especially near windows. According to studies cited by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (lbl.gov), well-designed daylighting can cut lighting energy use in commercial buildings by 20–60%.

Behavior-based examples of energy-efficient lighting usage

Technology helps, but behavior is still part of the story. Some of the simplest examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage involve no hardware at all—just habits.

Turning lights off when leaving a room

It sounds obvious, but it’s often ignored. The DOE’s guidance is straightforward: turn off incandescent, halogen, and LED lights when they’re not needed (energy.gov). For CFLs, frequent switching used to be a concern, but LEDs handle frequent on/off cycles very well.

Using daylight instead of artificial light

Opening blinds, rearranging desks near windows, or moving reading chairs closer to natural light are understated examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage. Every hour you’re comfortably using daylight instead of a lamp is an hour of savings.

Zoning your lighting

Instead of one switch that turns on every light in a room, break spaces into zones. Maybe you only need the kitchen island pendants on, not the whole ceiling grid. That simple zoning strategy is a very practical example of energy-efficient lighting options and usage that doesn’t require smart tech—just thoughtful wiring or plug-in lamps.

Putting it together: best examples by room

To make this less abstract, here are some quick, room-by-room examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage that you can steal outright.

Living room

• Replace all incandescents with dimmable LED bulbs (2700K–3000K).
• Use floor and table lamps with LEDs instead of blasting a central ceiling fixture.
• Add smart plugs or smart bulbs so lights turn off automatically at bedtime.

Kitchen

• Install LED recessed bulbs or retrofit kits in ceiling cans.
• Add LED under-cabinet strips for task lighting; use them instead of the full overheads when cooking.
• Choose bright but efficient LED pendants over islands.

Bedrooms

• Use warm, low-wattage LED bulbs in bedside lamps.
• Consider motion-activated night lights in hallways and kids’ rooms instead of leaving full lights on.

Bathrooms

• Swap vanity bulbs for LEDs with good color rendering (look for CRI 90+).
• Add a timer switch for exhaust fans and sometimes for lights in guest baths.

Outdoors

• Replace halogen floods with LED motion-sensor floods.
• Put porch and entry lights on photocells or smart schedules.

These are some of the best examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage because they combine efficient hardware, smart controls, and realistic human behavior.

FAQ: examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage

What are some simple examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage at home?
Good examples include replacing incandescent bulbs with ENERGY STAR–rated LEDs, using motion-sensor lights outdoors, adding LED under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen, and setting living room lamps on smart plugs with schedules so they turn off automatically at night.

Can you give an example of how much money LED bulbs actually save?
Yes. Replacing a single 60W incandescent bulb with a 9W LED, used 3 hours a day, can save around \(9–\)10 per year in electricity at typical U.S. rates. Over a 10-year LED lifespan, that’s roughly \(90–\)100 in energy savings, plus you avoid buying multiple incandescent bulbs.

Are smart bulbs really an example of energy-efficient lighting, or just a convenience gadget?
They’re both. Smart bulbs and switches are strong examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage when you use features like schedules, motion detection, and remote control to reduce how long lights stay on. The bulb’s efficiency plus better control is where the savings come from.

What are good examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage in a small office?
Swapping fluorescent troffers for LED panels, using occupancy sensors in conference rooms and restrooms, and adding daylight sensors near windows are all strong examples. Together, they often cut lighting energy use by 30–50% compared with older setups.

Is dimming lights always an example of saving energy?
With modern dimmable LEDs, dimming usually reduces power draw, so yes, it typically saves energy. The exact savings depend on the bulb and dimmer, but running lights at 50% brightness for the same amount of time almost always uses less electricity than running them at 100%.

If you remember nothing else, remember this: the best examples of energy-efficient lighting options and usage combine three things—LEDs, smart or simple controls, and thoughtful placement. Get those right, and your lighting will quietly cost less, last longer, and look better.