October 13, 2012

Sustainable Saturday ~ LED Lights!

This week I want to highlight a project that my wonderful husband did in our kitchen. Of course, I also have to point out that today is his birthday! ~Happy Birthday to my smart, talented, dedicated, funny, handsome, amazing husband~ Not only is he all those things, but also creative and handy in terms of "greening" our home!

The story of our kitchen lights isn't a short one :) When we moved in I was amazed at how DARK the kitchen was. How can one successfully cut things with a sharp knife without light?

Before: Very Very dark kitchen

After - Amazing Lights!
The first step in fixing the lighting issue was adding more light. My awesome husband added track lighting to one side of the kitchen...amazing! I really had no idea he knew how to do such handy things. I thought this solved my kitchen issues, but then, the recessed lighting became an issue.

There are three strangely placed lights in the kitchen. First one, then another, then the first again would go out. It never occurred to me that we (ok, my husband) could replace them himself. I also had no idea that that was something that could be done without hiring someone! It did take some time to figure it out, so installation of the first one took longer, but by the third he had it down :) We bought retrofit lights and also installed new "cans." (I'm learning so much!

So my husband did lots of research and decided not only to replace the lights but to put in energy efficient LED lights. The result - we use 12 watts per light instead of 65 watts. As a great bonus, not only are the new lights much more efficient - less energy and less money - they are much brighter and more attractive. The photos below show the kitchen with the first LED light installed. You can definitely tell which one it is!


Success! We now have new energy efficient lights in the kitchen - which means I can see when I cook and it costs less to use them. Win ~Win.  I am so impressed with my husband - thank you dear!


4 comments:

  1. I am replacing each of our regular old lighbulbs with new energy efficient ones as they blow out. I then attach the reciept with the packaging for each one because most of them have at least 5 to 7 year warrnaties. Love starting to feel greener little by little!

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  2. what a great idea. we do the LED already and My kitchen is like yours lack of light.

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  3. Great ideas! The kitchen looks great with the added light! I love that you are using more energy efficient bulb, they really do work better, longer, and cheaper in the long run :-)

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  4. What a difference in the kitchen! We have recessed lighting, and love, love, love it.

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