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Changing to efficient lighting is one of the easiest ways to save energy – and money – in your home. And with the range of efficient lighting that’s now on offer, you can make the change without losing the lighting looks you want.

To show New Zealanders just how easy it is, we took an everyday Kiwi kitchen / dining area and replaced every bulb with a more efficient option. The room had two table lamps with 40W bulbs, a chandelier that used six 40W candle-style bulbs, two hanging lights over the kitchen bench and twenty recessed 12V halogen bulbs.

We filmed the room – as it was – and then changed out every light. One table lamp got an 8W spiral CFL. The other, being on a dimmer switch, got a 28W new generation halogen. As well as being 30% more efficient, it’ll last twice as long!

The two hanging lights also have dimmable bulbs – 20W CFL spiral bulbs use 80% less energy than incandescents, and last six times longer than the old ones. To get the same light quality, we chose CFLs with a ‘warm white’ colour temperature. The new chandelier bulbs were new generation halogens – designed for decorative lights, so still ‘candle-style’ – but giving twice the life and a 30% energy saving.

Lastly, the recessed halogens were replaced with high- efficiency IRC halogen spotlights – 30% more efficient, and lasting 2½ times as long.

Having made all these changes (which only took around 20 minutes) we filmed the room again.

As you can see in the photos, and in our ad on TV, we couldn’t really see a big difference! But what we could see was a big saving – over the life of the new lights, the saving on this room alone was $551.61 over the life of the efficient bulbs!

If we could save this in one room, what could you save in your home? You’re already in the best place to find out – so have a look at our calculator and style gallery on this site to find out more.

Good luck and happy saving!

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