Free Money - Save a Tree
By floor9 on Jun 16, 2007 in Technology
I’m breaking from downtown for a second. Last summer, I replaced every light in my house with compact florescent bulbs. From my outdoor security lighting to my interior recessed fixtures and every bulb in between, I’m 100% florescent. And you know what? My electric bill went down by an average of $15 - $20 per month. You might scoff when you hear that I paid about $100 to make the jump (including replacing two exterior fixtures), but the bulbs paid for themselves after about six months.
Just look at my master bathroom. I used to have two 60-watt bulbs in a recessed enclosure and two 60-watt bulbs in a dome fixture. I now have two 23-watt bulbs recessed (giving me roughly the same light as two 100-watt bulbs) and two 13-watt bulbs in the dome. Not only do I have more light, but I’ve gone from 240 watts down to 72 — less than a third of what I was using before!
My outdoor security lighting? Remember, I live in a fairly rough area, so it’s dusk-till-dawn lights all around my house. There’s one at the front door, one at the back door, one on my shed, and two floodlights covering my driveway. Five bulbs. Used to be three 60-watt bulbs and two 100-watt bulbs; now it’s three 13-watt bulbs and two 23-watt bulbs, for a total draw of 85 watts. That’s less than one-fourth of my previous usage. Unfortunately, when cold weather hits (under 30 degrees), the outdoor bulbs get a little dimmer. They’re still bright enough to provide ample light, but it is noticeable.
If you’re interested in switching, learn from my experiences:
- A rough rule of thumb is that a compact florescent uses one-fourth the electricity of its incandescent counterpart. 13- to 15-watt compact florescent bulbs are approximately the same as 60-watt incandescent bulbs. 23-watt bulbs replace 100-watt bulbs.
- Some bulbs come on instantly. Others take one second to turn on. Some bulbs come on immediately at full brightness. Others come on at about 75% power, then take 30 or so seconds to reach full power. I haven’t figured out any rhyme or reason, but generally, the brighter the bulb, the faster it comes on.
- Do your entire house at once. I’ve convinced friends to switch, only to find out later that they only replaced one bulb and were giving up because they didn’t see a $50/month electric reduction.
- Do not buy the $1.99 bulbs at Ollie’s. Get a multi-pack from Lowe’s, Target, or Wal-Mart.
- The bulbs may stick out slightly in fixtures such as wall-mounted lights or standing floor lights. Try the spiral bulbs, and make sure you can return them if it really bothers you.
- Leave your dimmable bulbs as incandescent for now. Dimmable CFs exist, but they’re about $10 a piece. Wait a few years.
As a bonus, I’m sure the switch has also cut down on my central air usage. Incandescent bulbs use about 90% of their electricity draw to generate heat, making them essentially space heaters that give off light as a by-product. CFs do give off some heat, but I can grab one of my 100-watt replacements while it’s on (though it really doesn’t feel very good). The difference is probably in the neighborhood of a buck a month at most, but hey — a buck is a buck.
Has anyone else done this? More downtown to follow; I just wanted to share.
I dunno, man-
I agree that saving that kind of money and energy is definitely a good thing- but there’s something about florescent lighting that just seems so…I dunno…dry?
For the outside lights, it doesn’t make much difference. But interior stuff- I’ve tried the florescent bulbs..but just never really dug the light they put off.
Jersey | Jun 17, 2007 | Reply
You will definitely notice a difference if you’re in a color-sensitive environment (if you’ve painstakingly matched your wall color to your carpet to your furniture, for example). The color temperature of a regular incandescent bulb is around 2700 degrees kelvin, while most florescent bulbs are up around 3500k - 4000k. Although 4000k is a much more “pure” white (daylight, IIRC, is 5500-6000), it can be quite a sytem shock to someone who’s used to seeing the interior bathed in the pale yellow of incandescent. The result can be brutal; colors look wrong and everything appears harsh.
The good news is that in the last year or two, manufacturers have started making low-temperature CF bulbs that closely mimic the warmth of incandescent bulbs. You’ll get the same massive energy savings, but your colors won’t be all screwed up. I’ve found that price is about the same, too. The manufacturers all have different names, but look for “color-corrected”, “incandescent color”, “tungsten”, “soft white”, “low-temperature”, “2700k”, anything like that. Some even print the temperature on the back of the packaging. Whatever you do, stay away from the “daylight” bulbs; they’ll just make it worse.
The next time you’re at Lowes, try one out. Lowes will let you return CF bulbs if you’re dissatisfied, so the worst you’ll be out is a return trip to Lowes. And who doesn’t love going to Lowes?
floor9 | Jun 17, 2007 | Reply
And worthy of a separate comment: The above reason is why I recommend not getting the discount bulbs from Ollie’s. I can see a major difference between their light versus you average $10 4-pack of bulbs from Wal-Mart. The cheaper bulbs are white, whereas the Wal-Mart bulbs are a pale yellow, much like an incandescent.
floor9 | Jun 17, 2007 | Reply
Semi-related-
You should NEVER buy anything from Wal Mart.
Period.
Jersey | Jun 17, 2007 | Reply
I’m printing out this post to take to the store with me. My latest obsession has been trying to cut our electricity bill…I have a single CF bulb in one of my track lighting fixtures and I’m finally used to the light it gives enough to just convert them all.
IKEA sells these bulbs in lots of varieties, IIRC. Also, BJ’s sells multi-packs but I’m not sure if the pricing is comparable to Lowe’s.
Amanda | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
I have some of the $2 13-watt Ikea bulbs, and they’re good on color temperature. They also come on instantly. They take about 30-60 seconds to warm up to full power, which I cancel out by placing one-second-to-start, start-at-full-brightness bulbs on the same switch.
The rate caps currently in effect on electric companies will expire in 2010. PPL’s COO has stated that they’re planning on a 30% hike, though statements made in subsequent conference calls strongly suggest a much larger hike. This amounts to around $30 per month for the average customer. No word from Met Ed, but I’m with you — I’m trying to nail down my electric bill now before it gets out of hand.
floor9 | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply