By Jim Cavan

With winter looming and energy prices destined to rise, many people are looking for ways to save on their energy bill.

But while performing a full-on energy audit can certainly go a long way in helping consumers target long-term energy savings, such measures can also be prohibitively expensive. Indeed, it might take years to truly realize the savings that a comprehensive energy audit promises.

Enter Peter Ellinwood to save the day – and some money. Ellinwood, owner of Concord-based GreenPoma.com, an online retail site specializing in high-efficiency home lighting products and equipment, is one of few energy experts providing free audit services for prospective customers.

“Lighting audits weren’t something we intended to do, to be honest,” says Ellinwood, who launched GreenPoma.com in early 2009. “It came about after friends and neighbors asked us for advice about energy efficient lighting, and just kind of grew from there.”

Ellinwood helps clients find the “low hanging fruit” of savings in their own home, identifying which sockets and fixtures would be best suited for low energy light bulbs, dimmer switches, and the like. He’ll even draw out a comprehensive payback timeline for every sector of the home. In fact, Ellinwood is so honest, that he often recommends customers keep their existing incandescent bulbs in places like bathrooms, closets and basements if he can’t prove that a switch to an energy saving bulb would save them money while maintaining light quality and performance.

“We ask the homeowner a lot of questions, to understand how, and how often, they use the lighting in their house so we know what to recommend,” explains Ellinwood. “Our goal is to help people make confident and sensible buying decisions, not push products on them.”

Not surprisingly, that straightforward, educational approach has worked: Ellinwood claims that every residential lighting audit customer has made a purchase thus far. Of course, some of this success can also be attributed to the 10% product discount Ellinwood offers his lighting audit customers, which applies to initial and subsequent purchases and may be combined with volume discounts.

One customer lucky enough to experience Ellinwood’s straight-forward, honest approach to lighting consultation was Jere Buckley of Webster, NH, who was more than impressed with the former’s candor.

“I first heard about GreenPoma in the local paper, and I immediately became excited about the idea of going green and helping to support a local entrepreneur at the same time,” says Buckley. “During his visit, he described all the possible upgrades, but was also very candid about which retrofits were sensible and which one’s weren’t.”

“Drawing on Peter’s knowledge just made more sense than just guessing with all of the options at a big box store.”

Ellinwood and his wife first got the idea for launching GreenPoma after first trying out high efficiency compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) in their own home. At the time, many CFL options available on the market were large, bulky, and often cast an unflattering light. After searching and scouring for better, more attractive alternatives, the Ellinwoods eventually developed a product portfolio packed with lamps that were as attractive as they were efficient.

When asked how much of GreenPoma’s inventory can be considered “green”, owner Peter Ellinwood leans back in his chair, and, after no more than a few seconds of thought, responds unequivocally: “I can’t think of anything we have that isn’t green.”

Such is Ellinwood’s confidence in his business, which offers a wide range of lighting products and accessories – everything from LEDs to CFLs to dimmers and switches – that truly run the green gamut. Ellinwood prides himself on working with businesses and homeowners to not only save on electricity, but reduce the unnecessary waste and environmental impact of lighting equipment as well.

To that end, Ellinwood always reminds customers of the mercury contained in CFLs, making sure to prepare them to recycle these responsibly at the end of their useful lives.

Ellinwood’s claims the decision to start a green lighting business came about in large part because of the “wind at his back” – the recognition that consumers were voting for more sustainable products with their wallets, while the federal government has mandated higher efficiency levels in general service light bulbs starting in January, 2012. Now, with the still-lagging economy forcing many families to find smart ways to reduce expenses, making the small changes throughout the house have become as much a necessity as a potential windfall.

“Buying light bulbs used to be as easy as buying a carton of milk: do I want 75, 60 or 40 watt? With CFLs, LEDs and high efficiency halogen lamps out there now, the homeowner wanting to save money without sacrificing light quality and performance is confused about what to choose. With our free, no-obligation lighting audits, we’re able to help them break through and take action.”