Own Philips Hue smart home lights? Then save money now with this top tip

I'm a huge fan of Philips Hue smart home lighting, and have Hue smart bulbs or lights of some description in almost every room of my house.

I also live in the UK, which is being subjected to some crazy energy price rises right now, and as a result I'm keeping a close eye on exactly what energy I use each day.

So my interest was well and truly peaked when, watching Philips Hue announce some awesome new products at its IFA 2022 event, I heard mention that different smart bulb colours were markedly more energy efficient than others.

Now, I love my coloured lighting so I immediately reached out to Philips Hue to ask about not only the energy efficiency of Hue smart bulbs, but also which color was the most energy efficient.

And, George Yianni, Head of Technology at Philips Hue got back to me. This is what he said:

“The fact that Philips Hue bulbs are controllable brings a lot of benefits for their energy consumption. For example you can automate them with a motion sensor or a schedule to ensure they are only on when light is needed. Also, by dimming them down or setting them towards a color you can significant reduce their energy consumption. For example our standard A19 bulb uses 6.2 Watts at full brightness but only 1.7 Watts at full brightness purple, so purple is good for your energy consumption using on 27% of the maximum power.”

So, purple is the colour that Philips Hue owners should learn to love, as it uses just a quarter of the energy as a standard A19 bulb does display white light. If you want to have some environmental coloured lighting on in your home but don't want to break the bank while doing so, purple is the colour to choose.

And, actually, Philips Hue smart bulbs are great ways to save money on lighting bills

I did a bit of digging into lighting costs in general, too, due to the cost of living crisis, and found out that actually LED-based smart lighting as used by Philips Hue is much more cost effective than traditional incandescent bulbs. As a heavy Philips Hue user this was very relieving news!

In fact, incandescent lamps use around 10 times the amount of energy of LED lamps, while an LED bulb can last up to 22 years and use up to 90% less energy than standard incandescent bulbs. So basically with LED lighting you're saving money and helping the environment.

My takeaway from all this? Both in the short term and the long term, it makes sense to buy LED lighting and, if you can, buying smart LED lighting gives you even more control over how much money you pay on lighting bills. After all, even non-colour changing smart LED lights can be dimmed, while colour-changing varieties let you literally opt for colours or warmth shades that are far more cost effective to run than just straight white light.

I'm going to make use of this top tip not just with my indoor lights, either, but also go purple when turning on the best Philips Hue outdoor lights I run in my garden, too.