Mom always preached turning the lights off to save electricity. Now, a number of technologies can help save electricity even when the lights are on.

Light emitting diodes (LED), induction lighting, florescent lights and mirror (spectral) reflector technologies can offer effective and energy-efficient lighting.

These new lighting technologies can work well to light farmyards and pens, buildings, farm shops and more.

According to Jackie Buysse, lighting and energy consultant of Premier Lighting, St. Paul, new light technologies use less than half the energy of traditional light sources.

“Old technology, when electricity was cheap, nobody cared,” Buysse said. “You’d turn it on, and we all went to town.”

Many farms are still using old lighting technology. The yard lights, for example, may include 250-500 watt fixtures. New technology can offer 200-watt fixtures that are at least as bright but save 50 percent of the energy costs of the old fixtures.

The U.S. Energy Information Admini-stration estimates that 511 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were used for lighting in 2009 by commercial and residential U.S. sectors. This represents about 14 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption.

Electrical energy use crept higher virtually every year from 1949 through 2007, but dropped in 2008 and 2009.

In Minnesota, the state legislature has mandated that all public utilities achieve an annual energy savings goal of 1.5 percent of their gross annual retail energy sales.

Individuals and farms have been able to take advantage of rebates from utility companies to assist in paying for new energy-efficient fixtures.

Traditional lighting can include incandescent lamps.

Tungsten halogen lamps, parabolic aluminized reflector lamps and ellipsoidal reflector lamps are included in this category. The light is produced when the tungsten filament is electrically heated to glow. Much of the energy is converted to heat, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Another traditional light is the metal halide lamp – a high-intensity discharge lamp that uses mercury and halide additives as light-producing elements. These lights have traditionally been used for stadiums, gymnasiums and agricultural operations. A high-intensity discharge lamp produces light by passing electricity through gas, causing the gas to glow. Examples are mercury vapor lamps, metal halide lamps and high-pressure sodium lamps.

Mercury vapor lamps are being discontinued/outlawed by federal regulations. Probe start metal halide lamps – old technology – are being phased out by federal regulations and are being replaced by pulse start metal halide lamps, an example of new technology.

Lighting technology in 2011 includes a variety of florescent lamps that produce light when electricity is passed through mercury vapor in a glass enclosure.

Compact fluorescent lamps come in various configurations, and in some cases, work in fixtures designed for incandescent light bulbs.

Buysse reminds users to leave a florescent light on for 12 hours the first time it is used.

Florescent lights are placed, not tightened into a socket.

There is also a difference between residential and commercial florescent light bulb quality.

Light-Emitting Diodes or LEDs use semiconductor materials that eliminate harmful emissions. The solid state LED light should last 35,000-50,000 hours. The LED light works well for lighting up task areas or providing portable lighting.

“LED lighting is excellent in situations where you are driving the light 8-12 feet,” said Buysse. “The technology is coming so fast that we will soon see something new in the LED lighting.”

Induction lighting is available as linear, circular, pear-shaped and regular-incandescent-shaped lamps.

The enclosed glass is filled with gases. These gasses are excited by radio frequency or microwaves from a coil that creates induced electromagnetic fields.

Induction lamps have no electrodes inside the chamber and have a long life.

Able to start and shut off immediately, induction lighting costs about five or six times a metal halide lighting system.

Induction lights should last 50,000-100,000 hours, and consume only one half of the energy of an equivalent metal halide system.

Induction lighting works well for yard poles or building peaks that are difficult to reach.

They also work in cold temperatures.

“In cattle yards, your primary concern is having some movement light in those yards,” she said. “If you have to doctor something, you want enough light. It is imperative that you have good quality light regardless, and a white light, not a yellow light.

“In my opinion, and what the industry is pointing to is induction. Very probably, in the next 18 months, you’re going to an LED application that is going to be comparable to induction. LED is more efficient than induction in terms of watts consumed.”

Depending on the type of lighting needed, lighting fixtures can also include spectral refractors or fixture lenses that can direct light without using additional energy.

Buysse encourages anyone interested in energy-efficient lighting to talk with their electric company and determine if there are incentives for purchasing new lighting.

In most cases, the new lighting will also pay for itself in energy savings.

“We’re talking about the profit margin at the end of the day, and while you have other things that relate to profit margins, such as feed and veterinarian and man hours, one thing you can control is your lighting,” said Buysse. “You can control that very efficiently by reducing your energy consumption, anywhere from 50-65 percent by just changing what lighting you have in your facilities.”

She added that every farm or ranch site is unique, as are its lighting needs. A lighting consultant can provide an audit of energy use and savings as well as recommended applications.