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Why You Should Care About High Performance Lighting |
When builders design and construct homes, usually the last thing on their list is what lighting design to implement. Most times, a minimal lighting package is installed with a single hard-wired source or switched outlet for each room, and the assumption is made that the homeowner will supply whatever additional fixtures they may want to have, or recessed can fixtures are installed as the basic lighting throughout the house. In either case almost all fixtures will use incandescent lamps. This can provide an attractive quality of light but it generates a lot of heat, which increases energy required for air conditioning; these fixtures are very inefficient. Lighting that is both high quality and high efficiency based on the use of top quality fluorescent fixtures can provide a very good residential lighting environment.
So why should you care? You should care because your customers care, and in a market-place where there is often little difference between builders’ products, a small competitive advantage may be all you need to keep a home-buyer from looking elsewhere. At least, that was the consensus builders came to at a meeting IBACOS held in May to discuss lighting. As part of a quality home, high performance lighting design not only improves the look and feel of rooms, but can also reduce the energy required for lighting and cooling. An educated consumer will nine times out of ten choose a better quality lighting design, but the key is being able to show them the difference. One specific study done at a lighting demonstration in Rochester, New York, found that 78% of the consumers visiting their demo home preferred the high performance lighting design, and 97% of those consumers would pay more to install a similar lighting scheme in their homes. The facts are clear: if the consumer sees better lighting, the consumer will pay for better lighting.
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In photo 1, a kitchen is lit by a low quality florescent fixture. The result is a dreary room with little character. In photo 2, the same kitchen is lit by recessed incandescent downlights. The result is a warmer, more inviting space, but heat build-up and energy use are high. In the third photo, under and above cabinet high quality fluorescent lighting provides excellent indirect light for the entire kitchen with complementary task light on the counter. |
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If You Build It, They Will Come
The best way to show your customers how good a well-lit home looks and feels is to build a demonstration room, or if you can, incorporate a high performance lighting design into an entire model home. A good lighting design is difficult to describe in a marketing package or even an advertisement. A demonstration room provides potential buyers the chance to actually see what their home could look like with an advanced design. Not only will the lighting shine, but everything about your homes will look brighter.
How Do I Get Started?
If you’ve never considered employing a high performance lighting design in your homes, it can be a daunting task. Some builders, like the ones at the meeting we held in May, had no idea how to apply advanced designs. Lighting designers, who understand high performance lighting principles, can provide significant guidance when starting to consider how to upgrade your lighting packages. Even if for just one house or a selection of the most important rooms in one house, the suggestions the designer makes can help mold your entire strategy and give you the eye to look for other appropriate options. Other resources include books and websites such as the Demonstration and Evaluation of Lighting Technologies and Applications program at the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Lighting Pattern Book for Homes by Russ Leslie.
For more information on the advantages of incorporating high performance lighting design into your homes, see the “Advanced Residential Lighting Design” article in the January 2003 issue of the Quality Home® newsletter.
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