Buying light bulbs - compare LED, CFL & incandescent

[John Raabe]

http://www.green3dhome.com/Community/Articles/SheddingSomeLightonBulbOptions.aspx


75 watt incandescent costs $287.50 over 10 years.


15 watt CFL costs $65.50 over 10 years.

[MountainDon]

Yessir!  Our average $50 a month power bill must have something to do with having nothing but CFL's or FL tube fixtures for the past few years. I must admit to using 23 and 26 watt versions in most fixtures and lamps though. My eyes require the brighter light in order to read.

[ScottA]

Our electric bill dropped by about 50$ a month when I chnaged all our bulbs to CFL.

[RainDog]

Our bill went down substantially as well. Fifty bucks sounds about right. If I've had to change one since, I sure don't remember it. Things last a long time.

[OlJarhead]

I've been shifting to CFL's in hopes of lowering costs but I like the light from incandescent better.

The problem -- as I see it -- with the CFL lights is the mercury used to make them.  Very toxic and bad for the environment.  So I can save money but I'm not doing mother earth any favors (or the Chinese workers dying of mercury poison that are making them)...alas, I can't save the world though and these might save my pocket book!  besides, they will help with the solar costs when I get the cabin's solar power up and running

I must admit I'm getting used to the brightness though and might come to like these.  They certainly brighten up the office and since I run the lights from 7:30am to about 10PM almost nonstop that would be:

4x60watt incandencent = 240 watts (I assume adding them together since I run 4 makes sense) x 10 hours would be 2.4kWh right?  So running them for 14.5 hrs must be 3.48kWh

Which is 3.48x30days=104.4kWh per month or $5.95/mo on the electric bill

CFL's would be 13 watts (that's what mine say on them) each so 4x13=52watts x 14.5 = 0.754 kWh

Which is 0.754x30days=22.62kWh per month or $1.29/mo

My annual savings for 4 lights would be about $50 according to my math on just 4 lights...hmmm

What am I doing wrong here folks?  Becuase I have a $200 monthly electric bill and if I replaced ALL my lights I just can't see them all saving that much.

Erik

PS.  I calculated my electric at $0.057/kWh -- need to check that but I am pretty sure it's what we've been paying.

[OlJarhead]

One of the things I worry about is that you aren't supposed to throw these bulbs away either...so what to do when they go bad.  I assume there is somewhere to take them??

I've also heard that if you break one there is a lengthy EPA procedure that must be followed to protect you from the Mercury (and the environment) which worries me since 90% of the people that do break them won't even think about that...but maybe they will last long enough that the poison doesn't concentrate long enough to hurt anyone....

[kenhill]

Electric water heater?
Electric stove?
Electric Dryer?
Dehumidifyer?
Air Conditioning?
Hot Tub?
Security lights?
Tube TV running all day?
Old Fridge or Freezer?
Beer Fridge outside?

Could be any of those things.

[MountainDon]

Just off hand I do not have links to the info I need to back this up.

But what I've read is that the amount of mercury in one CFL is considerably less than the mercury that would be released by burning coal to generate the electricity that would not have been saved if incandescents were used.


My Lowe's and HD both have recycle boxes for CFL's. Place them in a plastic zip lock bag and drop them off.

As for breaking a CFL, I've read that threat is overblown. And when was the last time I broke a bulb of any kind?  I don't recall.

I believe that CFL's will prove to be a stop gap measure as LED technologies advance and their prices drop.

To add to Kenhill's list... if the refrigerators and freezers are old they use much more than new appliances do. Ditto on A/C units.

[OlJarhead]

Just off hand I do not have links to the info I need to back this up.

But what I've read is that the amount of mercury in one CFL is considerably less than the mercury that would be released by burning coal to generate the electricity that would not have been saved if incandescents were used.


My Lowe's and HD both have recycle boxes for CFL's. Place them in a plastic zip lock bag and drop them off.

As for breaking a CFL, I've read that threat is overblown. And when was the last time I broke a bulb of any kind?  I don't recall.

I believe that CFL's will prove to be a stop gap measure as LED technologies advance and their prices drop.

To add to Kenhill's list... if the refrigerators and freezers are old they use much more than new appliances do. Ditto on A/C units.

That's good to know -- I just see the warning on the light and wonder -- and have seen something from Uncle Sam (EPA) about disposal etc. but can't remember all the details.

I think the key for us would be to get water heater blankets (we have 3) and to turn them down to maybe 110 instead of 120 -- that might help.

We already turned the heat down to 70 during the day and 67 at night and have seen maybe a 10% reduction in power consumption (I think last month's bill used 10% less power YoY which amounted to $48 savings -- so that is a BIG one!).

Don't get me wrong though, I am all about trying to save electricity but becuase I want to cut the bill down.

I'm also always in favor of taking care of the environment -- it might sound like I'm not interested but I am, I just don't believe in the means some employ to try to do so -- specially...never mind

OK, so water heater blankets would be good for sure.  We bought a new Reem AC pump two years ago and it's far more efficient and has saved us quite a bit it seems....we've got Low-E windows which helps etc etc but it's a big, old house and we're always looking for ways to solve electrical consumption issues.

Specially since I'd like to get usage understood better for when we're running a little solar power up at the cabin.

One thing I will say, my meter currently monitoring MW usage tells me it's costing me about 50 cents a month...have to double check it, but that seems pretty low since the computers run over $2 a month each (and there are 5 running in this house and mine has two monitors currently running....

[paul wheaton]

Your water heater should be kept at 130 or higher to reduce legionella bacteria.  Insulation is the big helper with hot water.  Turning the heat down is dangerous.

Fluorescent bulbs .... such a complicated space ....  I've been phasing them out and going back to incandescent.  There is so much misinformation about them it is unnerving.   And then all of the details about for or against are too much for a forum post. 

I have a friend who is a big fan of fluorescent bulbs and pinching pennies on his electric bill.  He took a long trip to mexico and I stayed at his place for four months.  In seven years, his lowest power bill was about $60 for one month.  During my stay, I averaged $15 per month and 90% of my light bulb use was incandescent. 

I remember seeing something from the power company that said something about how your best energy ROI was fluorescent light bulbs.  That was entirely based on buying them at a price that is MASSIVELY subsidized by the government - so they conveniently cut out how much we paid for them via taxes.  Further, the lifespan comparison is based entirely on use that favors the fluorescent:  leaving it on for long periods of time.   

I think the gub'mint should heavily subsidize laundry drying racks.  And insulation for hot water tanks and pipes.  And contraptions that help your fridge work more efficiently.   Since chest style fridges are ten times more efficent, maybe we should see those introduced commerially with big subsidies?  Or maybe subsidies for folks in the country to build root cellars.  All of these things will have a far greater impact than fluorescent light bulbs. 

Or here is an even better idea:  how about if we just don't subsidize any of it?  How about if fools pay 10 times more for power by being wasteful?

As for the mercury toxicity thing:  the argument is that the mercury pollution in the bulb is offset by the mercury that is not polluted when the bulb uses less power.  So I guess the power generation has lots of mercury pollution?  If that is true, which I suspect it isn't, then, WOW, shouldn't those places stop polluting so much?  Because it seems to be that running your clothes dryer is gonna cause a freakish amount of mercury pollution!

I gotta stop - I'm getting too worked up over this.

[RainDog]

Love it! 

[John Raabe]

Mercury issues: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp#Mercury_emissions
Good overview article on CFLs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp

In my rural area our recycling center has drop off boxes for both tube and compact florescent bulbs - which contain small amounts of mercury. We can also drop off batteries, paint, and used motor oil.