Lights off or on?

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Lights off or on?

Downsizer Forum Index -> Energy Efficiency and Construction/Major Projects

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jettejette

Joined: 01 Jun 2013
Posts: 225

Posted: Fri Nov 07, 14 2:46 pm Post subject: Lights off or on?
Does it really save substantial amounts of electricity turning off lights when you leave a room when you have energy efficient light bulbs? I follow my Dad's example and turn off everything when I leave a room. My husband on the other hand leaves everything on, saying that the savings are miniscule. Thoughts please!

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri Nov 07, 14 2:54 pm Post subject:
1 x 10w bulb can be on for 100hrs for one unit. Even if it's something like 20p a unit that's 100hrs for 20p. There are other variables, I'm sure energy saving bulbs actually use more energy than they state but it's still going to be quite cheap. On the other hand, if everyone leaves on a couple of bulbs that's still a lot of electricity used.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Fri Nov 07, 14 3:54 pm Post subject:
It depends how long you're leaving the room for - energy savers tend to take longer to get up to full brightness so you might end up spending more time waiting for the lights to warm up if you're in & out quite often.

mark

Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 2191
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Nov 07, 14 3:57 pm Post subject:

frequent turning on and off reduces the life span of a Compact Fluorescent bulb quite a lot. The lifespans quoted are based on normal use.
In toilets etc they last loads shorter and quickly lose their full illuminating power (go dim) !

This can be a concern if you are concerned about increased mercury use or the fact that the bulbs are mainly manufactured then transported from china.

If you ensure you leave 20 minutes between switching off and on or vice versa and limit yourself to 30 on off cycles a day their should be no concern.

With higher tech more expensive lamps you can switch more frequently

With LEDs you don't need to worry the same.

onemanband

Joined: 26 Dec 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: NCA90

Posted: Fri Nov 07, 14 7:31 pm Post subject:

mark wrote:

Mythbusters did a fairly scientific study of this.
IIRC the conclusions were .........
Traditional light bulbs - if you are out of the room for more than 0.36 seconds then it is worthwhile turning the light off. They took into account reduced lifespan.
Fluorescent tubes - because of higher starting current the time was about 20 seconds.
Can't remember results for modern bulbs, but IIRC it was similar to traditional bulbs.

The overall conclusion of the experiment was to switch off lights whenever you leave a room. Reduced lifespan is negligible compared to electric saved.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45521
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Nov 07, 14 9:10 pm Post subject:
what they said wear your night vis goggles for a low energy life

mark

Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 2191
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Nov 07, 14 11:02 pm Post subject:

onemanband wrote:

mark wrote:

The mythbusters thing I think focussed on electricity used NOT on the life reduction of the compact fluorescent bulbs (which is much higher than normal and full tube) and hence mercury and shipping carbon used (ie full eco impact) . I got my data from the manfacturers websites so it should be right ! They have no reason to downplay the lifespan!

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