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yeh, light bulbs are the least of your energy usage. they don't print that on the packing though.
major consumers of power in your house are the hvac, elec water heater, and elec range (if you cook a lot).
my power bill averages somewhere between $130-$150; back in the fall we had several weeks of nice weather and we left the hvac turned off for over a month. my power bill was $60 for that month. I would guess half of it was for the water heater.
I begrudgingly use CFLs in only those lights which stay on for extended periods of time every night or if I am traveling and leaving a light on. In those cases I have noticed it lowering my electric bill by a few dollars a month. For anywhere I actually need to see I use incandescent. I've yet to find a decent LED light in an affordable price range. I hope improvements are coming soon. CFLs just are not worth the mercury pollution risk to the environment, IMO.
CFLs just are not worth the mercury pollution risk to the environment, IMO.
My understanding is there is less mercury in one these bulbs than would have been emitted into the atmosphere if you're using regualr bulb. Secondly for it to enter the atmosphere it has to be vaporized, in the case of the bulb it would first have to be broken and then evaporate. Most of these bulbs are going to be contained in a landfill....
When our rates when up because the rate controls went away, I went to home depot and purchased enough daylight 60 and 100 watt equivalent bulbs to replace everyone in the house. The are pretty cheap at HD. Not only did our electric bill not go up, when everyone else's did, but we've yet to replace any bulb in the house since then. Before that I had to buy a package of incandescents with the food shopping every two weeks and keep replacing bulbs. We have one that has been running almost continuously for two years and has not burned out yet.
When our rates when up because the rate controls went away, I went to home depot and purchased enough daylight 60 and 100 watt equivalent bulbs to replace everyone in the house. The are pretty cheap at HD. Not only did our electric bill not go up, when everyone else's did, but we've yet to replace any bulb in the house since then. Before that I had to buy a package of incandescents with the food shopping every two weeks and keep replacing bulbs. We have one that has been running almost continuously for two years and has not burned out yet.
Sounds like you have a lot of surges. Oh, they also make 10-year incandescent bulbs. This country should have put their resources into LED and skipped CFL's altogether.
No doubt. I would go to LED right now if they were perfected and didn't cost a dung-load.
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I just got my electric bill and where is says "Compare Your Usage"
