A home’s lighting accounts for 15 percent of its total energy consumption, a fact that’s both costly to homeowners, and “un-green” to the environment. It’s simple to reduce those effects, however — all you need are dimmer switches.

A modern dimmer switch works by rapidly opening and closing a light circuit, providing less energy to the bulb, and consuming less energy from the source.

In this 2-minute video, you’ll learn how to reduce your home’s standard on/off lighting switches using dimmer switches. The dimmer-switch project is a do-it-yourself project and requires only basic handyman experience.

First, determine whether you need a 3-way dimmer switch, or a single-pole dimmer switch. If your fixture is controlled my two light switches, you’ll want a 3-way dimmer switch. Otherwise, the single-pole choice is best.

Next, just follow the directions :

1. Cut the power to the light switch via your home’s circuit breaker
2. Remove the existing light switch plate and pull the switch from the wall
3. Disconnect the in-wall wires from the existing light switch plate
4. Connect the in-wall wires to their same-color wires on the dimmer switch plate
5. Push the wires into the wall and reconnect the power via the circuit breaker

The amount of energy that dimmer switches will save your home depends on light-types and to what degree you use the switch’s dimmer capabilities. One caveat, though — not all energy-saving light bulbs are dimmer switch-capatable.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, for example, don’t work with dimmer switches unless the bulb is specifically designed to be “dimmable”.

The rooms with highest wattage rates are typically the master bathroom and the kitchen.