Hey guys I have been reading on here and elsewhere about lighting and wiring. I am building a new house this year and am weighing out options. I want to do it right. I am having a hard time thinking that wiring my home the same way my childhood home was wired makes sense. There must be a better more energy efficient way. One thing I stumbled upon was Lumencache system. I am thinking of ending up with a 12v system for lighting etc. and a normal 120v system for outlets etc. What are some things to consider? What is the most energy efficient way to do this? I am getting bogged down in a lot of technical details but what I am trying to get to first is a basic over view of what I want to do. Any ideas or directions on where to start with this would be great. My house will be a single story 32x42 home. with vaulted ceilings. Thanks guys! Ross

Conceptually, low voltage, low amp wiring and perhaps wireless on/off controls (no box, the wall switch sticks to the wall) makes some sense for reducing lighting upfront cost. But does it really come out less expensive? Operational costs I would expect to be the same as a 120V LED system.

For these I would suggest you to take help of any good electrician, who can guide you in correct way and you would be able to get more precise solution from them rather then us.

Um, not sure who you mean by "us", but I found that electricians know next to nothing about lighting in general and nothing about LED lighting.

ICFHybrid, that too was my experience with the licensed/bonded electricians that wired my new construction 2 years ago - they didn't know much about lighting, and they knew nothing at all about LED lighting. At least in my area electricians don't see it as part of their task to consider efficiency or ergonomics.

Right. Even the lighting company reps weren't much help unless you wanted to be in the market for multiple $200 overpriced fixtures. Even then, not so much.

The best thing to do is buy a selection of inexpensive different types, "colors" and intensities of fixtures along with some transformers, battery packs and jumper cables so you can try them out and learn about how it works. THen, you are a more informed buyer when you go to get the final selections.

I am going to use the "extra" oddball fixtures and lights in my mechanical and storage spaces so they aren't just a waste.

Anything other than conventional 120 Vac wiring would be cutting edge...maybe bleeding edge.

Few, if any mainstream electricians are qualified to evaluate alternatives and provide decision support.

Momentum now is with 120 Vac solid state (LED) lighting with ever higher (80+ lumens / Watt) efficiency, color rendering index, durability and dimmability; all accompanied by plummeting cost.

There has been talk for years about going to some sort of DC standard for both lighting and electronics, and its a great idea in theory, but with advances in lighting and sub 1 Watt standby power DC supplies, a DC standard seems unlikely.

It would be neat to somehow make a new bild "DC-ready" but I have no idea how to do that cost effectively.

It would be neat to somehow make a new bild "DC-ready" but I have no idea how to do that cost effectively.

One important thing is to provide an accessible space in which to mount quality switched transformers. Your low voltage lighting needs to run to the space and the space needs to be served with switched legs to power them. This allows the installation of quality low voltage fixtures that don't require a driver on each one.

Of course, there is a real shortage when it comes to a selection of quality low voltage fixtures. Nearly everything is set up for retrofit where each luminaire has it's own driver which has to be accommodated.