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I have a large home, with a wife and kid who can't seem to figure out how a light switch works. They think it only can be flipped on.
Having failed to teach my family how to properly work a light switch, I resorted to replacing all our bulbs with LED. The first month after the switch, our bill was about $60 less. There were no significant changes in the weather, so our AC use stayed pretty constant, so the majority of that $60 is related to the LED bulbs.
Our kitchen alone has 8 60 watt lights in the ceiling, and another 5 in the chandelier in the breakfast nook. So that's 13 bulbs (780w) in the kitchen alone that were staying on 10-12 hours a day. Switching to LED's, the wattage equivalent is 9 watts each, or 117w total. That's a huge decrease in energy.
Also switched out our old pool light, which was 300watts, with an LED, which is only 38w IIRC.
Very happy we switched. My parents can't understand why my electric bills are always lower than theirs even though I have a bigger home and more people in my home.
Occupancy sensor switches can be installed and i highly recommend to my clients (i'm an electrician) with large homes anyway. They have small on off switches that can be used to manually turn on/off also.
The problem with LED lighting is now you have to worry about surges blowing out the circuitry drivers that are needed to power a LED. If a surge blows an incandescent bulb nobody would care because of the small expense. If this happens to a circuit or multiple circuits with LED bulbs there goes you're savings right out the window because you have to replace them all.
Which lastly brings me recommending that all homes these days have whole house surge protection installed at the main panel. Not only for lighting but everything these days has some type of circuit board in it even something as basic as a dryer.
I really envy you guys that use energy efficient light bulbs. I've tried them in the lamps, overhead lights.. everywhere, but just like any other bulb they never last for me. All I do is replace light bulbs in this house.
The sun offers near-infinite energy, but the problem is harnessing that energy. Harnessing this energy requires solar cells and solar cell production emits greenhouse gases that are much worse than carbon dioxide.
Energy scholar Ozzie Zehner explains that the solar cell manufacturing process is one of the largest emitters of hexafluoroethane, nitrogen trifluoride, and sulfur hexafluoride.
Zehner writes, "As a greenhouse gas hexafluoroethane is twelve thousand times more potent than carbon dioxide … nitrogen trifluoride is seventeen thousand times more virulent than carbon dioxide, and sulfur hexafluoride, the most treacherous greenhouse gas…is twenty-five thousand times more threatening (than carbon dioxide)."
Come on. You know that is highly controversial and misleading. Solar PV is a relatively small user and their are alternatives if needed. It is also contained usage so escape can be limited if desired at not outrageous cost.
I have a large home, with a wife and kid who can't seem to figure out how a light switch works. They think it only can be flipped on.
Having failed to teach my family how to properly work a light switch, I resorted to replacing all our bulbs with LED. The first month after the switch, our bill was about $60 less. There were no significant changes in the weather, so our AC use stayed pretty constant, so the majority of that $60 is related to the LED bulbs.
Our kitchen alone has 8 60 watt lights in the ceiling, and another 5 in the chandelier in the breakfast nook. So that's 13 bulbs (780w) in the kitchen alone that were staying on 10-12 hours a day. Switching to LED's, the wattage equivalent is 9 watts each, or 117w total. That's a huge decrease in energy.
Also switched out our old pool light, which was 300watts, with an LED, which is only 38w IIRC.
Very happy we switched. My parents can't understand why my electric bills are always lower than theirs even though I have a bigger home and more people in my home.
Unless you pay a really ridiculous amount for electricity, They you must have been running those lights for 24 hours per day for 38 days every month....
We switched to LED and then I went and rebought more to replace them. I prefer the 3000k 60w at Home Depot. Lowes version was horrendous. They are $5 for a four-pack at HD. I love the slightly cleaner light over the standard 2700k incandescent color which tends to be a little yellow. Also replaced my cans for <$7 a piece with 3000k pots from Lowes.
We had 650 watts of halogen lighting in our kitchen.
Is now 70 watts of LEDs.
I no longer obsess over turning off lights.
Don't care about capital costs.
Come on. You know that is highly controversial and misleading. Solar PV is a relatively small user and their are alternatives if needed. It is also contained usage so escape can be limited if desired at not outrageous cost.
I've pre-wired for 18kW of PV panels, and actually have 12 kW installed. Strictly speaking, it isn't economic, but personal financial considerations were not my sole decision criteria.
Currently, PV wafer and panel production is relatively small. And, yes, there are ways to mitigate negative externalities associated with manufacturing (as with most all semiconductor manufacturing).
Nevertheless I like to point out to true believers of the solar church that ramping up PV production to a scale needed to power a significant amount of the nation's energy needs comes with a non-zero environmental cost.
I've pre-wired for 18kW of PV panels, and actually have 12 kW installed. Strictly speaking, it isn't economic, but personal financial considerations were not my sole decision criteria.
Currently, PV wafer and panel production is relatively small. And, yes, there are ways to mitigate negative externalities associated with manufacturing (as with most all semiconductor manufacturing).
Nevertheless I like to point out to true believers of the solar church that ramping up PV production to a scale needed to power a significant amount of the nation's energy needs comes with a non-zero environmental cost.
There is always some downside to any change. But the chemistry of semiconductor manufacture is unlikely to be a big one. And the damage of fossil fuel usage continues.
I don't have any panels and won't for a while as I still consider it an unwise investment. However I do believe we are hitting the costs where large utility scale implementation of solar PV is desirable.
The storage problem remains unconquered so we are still not in a position to replace all fossil but there is no need at the moment. We can replace a substantial part of the fossil generated energy with renewable while we try and solve the storage problem. Note that if we chose to Mead and Powell could be used for water storage sufficient to cover local needs as well as a good piece of southern CA. Have no idea if it would be cost effective though. It is efficient.
True. Personally, I think we should look more at climate engineering solutions -- all of which are currently little more than thought experiments. How about space sunshades or a Fresnel lens at the L1 Lagrange Point? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_sunshade
Or perhaps stratospheric injection of sulfate aerosols? Mt. Pinatubo's 1991 eruption injected something like 22 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, which "dimmed the sun" by reflecting enough sunlight back into outer space to reduce global temperatures by about 1 degree F for 3 years or so. Some serious people think this is a good technique until we can get our fossil fuel situation under control worldwide.
I buy the colored energy savers, and they make some rooms more pleasant. I have globe pole lamps in my living room from 1960's, and they have primary colors. Lighting can make or break the atmosphere and ambiance in any room or outdoor setting at night. Lighting is an art.
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