Do Porch Lights Use A Lot Of Electricity?

As you take a walk in your neighborhood, you'll often see many houses with their porch lights gleaming brightly during your night walks. Since they're left algow all night, people often wonder if they use a lot of electricity. We looked into this issue and we have the answers to these bright questions.

The rates of how much you pay for electricity come from the kWH that your house spends on the electricity. For porch lights, this will depend on the wattage of the lights. An LED bulb with a low wattage can make your house brightly lit, but it will not use a lot of electricity in your home.

A lot of people have been wary of turning on their porch lights at night because of expensive electricity rates. Fortunately, we've listed down the best reasons why you should keep your porch lights on at night, as well as how you can compute the electricity your porch lights will use.

Do Porch Lights Use A Lot Of Electricity?

If you're fond of doing nightly strolls in your neighborhood, you'll probably see houses looking bright because of their porch lights. These lights come in a variety of types depending on the homeowners' preference, and they light up the home and prevent them from looking too dark.

If you are considering having porch lights for your home, you've probably wondered how much electricity it will consume and if it will rack up your utility bills. After all, with the lights turned on all night, it might cause your electric bill to shoot up without your knowledge.

Fortunately, porch lights do not use a lot of electricity. These porch lights use as much energy as they need based on the wattage of the lights that you use. The lower the wattage of the bulbs, the less electricity they will consume.

For porch lighting, the newer, more energy-efficient LED bulbs can provide better illumination to your home at a fraction of the cost of standard incandescent light bulbs. A 10-watt LED bulb is equivalent to the brightness of a 60-watt incandescent bulb, but it won't hike up the electric bill like you would expect it to.

Best Types Of Porch Lights

Now that we know that porch lights do not use up a lot of electricity, you're probably thinking about the different types of porch lights you can use for your home. There are a lot of different porch lights available on the market, and each one has functions that work better for different homes.

Here are some of the most popular porch lights for homes:

1. Spotlights

Aptly named for their function, spotlights provide a narrow field of light to focus on a certain spot. The light fixtures are great if you want to illuminate something specific in your home or garden because the light draws the eyes towards them. You can also illuminate a specific area if you want it to be lit all the time.

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Unfortunately, one of the spotlights' downsides is that they can sometimes be too utilitarian looking. These lights are mostly used for their function, so don't expect them to be too aesthetically pleasing for your garden.

However, newer spotlights have been designed with better materials to make them look better.

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If you are looking to lessen your electricity bills but you would still like to light up your home or garden, a perfect alternative would be outdoor solar spotlights. These lights utilize the use of small solar panels to power the lights at night.

2. Overhead Lights

If you're looking to illuminate just the porch area, then overhead lights will be perfect for your home. You'll often see these lights hanging directly above the house's main door. There are many different kinds of overhead porch lights, and you can typically find a style that suits your home.

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Overhead porch lights come in many different types. You will find that some of them are hanging, recessed, or flush mounted on the ceiling. Depending on the porch style, overhead porch lights can adapt to the look and feel of your space very easily.

3. String Lights

Add a touch of whimsy to your home by using outdoor string lights to your home. These lights will give your porch a little bit of ambiance, and also light up a bigger area because of the space it covers.

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Outdoor string lights also come in many different styles, so you can choose the look of the bulbs that will fit the design of your garden or patio. They also come off as very energy efficient because these lights typically come with LED bulbs and they last for a very long time.

4. Wall-mounted Lights

The most common porch lights you'll see in many homes are wall-mounted porch lights. They are popular because they are easy to install (all homes have walls) and there are more practical locations to mount the lights.

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Wall-mounted porch lights come in many different styles to match the look of the house. Over the years, modern light designs have also added new features like automated dusk to dawn functionality.

The lights turn on at night and automatically turn off during the day, so you won't forget to do it yourselves.

5. Post Lights

Generally speaking, these lights are not exactly on your porch, but rather, they illuminate the path leading to it. This is great if it takes your guest quite some time to reach the main entryway of your home because these will light up the path very easily.

Look at these solar post lights on Amazon.

Originally, post lights were wired underground leading to a switch inside the home. You can still get post lights like that installed, but there are also other available options. Solar post lights are great because they don't use electricity and the location of the post lights is perfect for gathering the energy it needs.

Should You Leave Porch Lights On At Night?

Generally speaking, porch lights were meant to be left on at night to provide light to your home's exterior. It makes it easier for people to enter and exit the home without having to turn all the house lights at night.

However, some people don't utilize their porch lights to their full potential. Some people just completely forget about it or they simply turn it on every once in a while.

Fortunately, a lot of people agree that turning on the porch lights is a good idea for many homes. According to an officer from the North Charleston Police Department, there are many benefits to keeping the porch lights on at night for you and your family's safety.

Turn on the porch lights at night to alert people of your presence in your home. Along with the indoor house lights, they will potentially deter burglars from entering your home because they know that there are people inside.

Open porch lights also help if anybody is coming home late at night. This way, you won't have to turn on all the indoor lights just to let them in. It will also be easier to see if there is anything left outside your home before you retire for the night.

However, it is also important to turn off the porch lights once in a while. Turn the porch lights off if you are going on vacation and when you go to sleep at night. Instead, invest in motion detector sensors and timers for your porch lights so it does the work even if you are not at home.

Final Thoughts

Don't worry too much about keeping the porch lights on, because, with the right kind of lights, you won't have to worry about an expensive electric bill. These lights will keep you and your family safe at night, and they'll definitely make your house look beautiful under its light.

Are you looking to do some upgrades on your home's exterior? We have some articles that might interest you:

Does Exterior House Paint Fade Over Time?

Are Glass Block Windows Soundproof?