Reduce Energy Cost of Light

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Conserves energy used for lighting, as well as energy used for cooling in the summer. Also reduces landfill waste since energy efficient bulbs last longer.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
By using energy saving bulbs, you save money on replacement bulbs (since they last longer), energy for lighting, as well as energy for cooling (in the summer).

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
I like the warm lighting from incandescent bulbs, but many of the newer LED and fluorescent bulbs have a nice warm color. No huge lifestyle benefit here, although you'll need to replace bulbs less frequently and will have a cooler house in the summer.

What We're Doing
There's actually more you can do than just replace all your bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. Given a little thought, there are a lot of ways to reduce your lighting energy costs. Do you have a front porch light that is on all night long? Consider putting in a motion-sensing light that just comes on when someone is out there. Does your lighting fixtures have placements for lots of bulbs? Consider using fewer bulbs, or lower wattage if you don't really need the light that bright. Do your kids frequently leave bathroom and closet lights on? Consider installing a timed or motion-sensitive light. We installed 4-watt LED lights in our kids' closets instead of the standard 60 watt bulbs. They're definitely dimmer, but how much time to you really spend in your closet anyway? Now when they get left on, they waste 1/15 the energy. LED lights are still pretty expensive, but last about forever and are very cool and efficient. The LED lights also come on instantly, unlike florescent bulbs which can take a little while to come up to full brightness. Be aware that many of the LED lamps have an unpleasant blue color cast - the "warm" balanced ones are better for most home applications although a little less efficient. In the picture I'm showing an LED bulb (the small one) next to a fluorescent bulb in our bathroom fixture. Be aware that in hot summer months, a lightbulb that is on will cost you more than double the energy usage of the light. For example, a 60 watt bulb will cost around 150 watts of energy to run - because all electricity from a lightbulb in your home is converted to heat, which must then be removed by an inefficient air conditioning system. On the other hand, operating lightbulbs in the winter gives you an energy advantage - you get light and heat together which reduces the load on your heating system.

A Little Humor
Q: How many Real Women does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None: A Real Woman would have plenty of Real Men around to do it.

Q: How many cops does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: None. It turns itself in.

Q: How many Marxists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: None: The light bulb contains the seeds of its own revolution.

Q: How many nuclear engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Seven: One to install the new bulb, and six to figure what to do with the old one for the next 10,000 years.

Q. How many Socialist Workers Party members does it take to change a lightbulb.
A. Four. One to change the bulb, one to write about it for "the paper", one to sell you "the paper" and another to follow you home and ask why you weren't at the bulb changing, if you plan to make the next one and if you were still as committed.

Q: How many women with PMS does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One. Only ONE!! And do you know WHY it only takes ONE? Because no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb. They don't even know the bulb is BURNED OUT. They would sit in this house in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it OUT. And once they figured it out they wouldn't be able to find the light bulbs despite the fact that they've been in the SAME CUPBOARD for the past SEVENTEEN YEARS. But if they did, by some miracle, actually find the light bulbs, TWO DAYS LATER the chair that they dragged from two rooms over to stand on to change the STUPID light bulb would STILL BE IN THE SAME SPOT!! AND UNDERNEATH IT WOULD BE THE CRUMPLED WRAPPER THE STUPID @*!#$% LIGHT BULBS CAME IN! WHY?! BECAUSE NO ONE IN THIS HOUSE EVER CARRIES OUT THE GARBAGE!! IT'S A WONDER WE HAVEN'T ALL SUFFOCATED FROM THE PILES OF GARBAGE THAT ARE 12 FEET DEEP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE. THE HOUSE!! IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY TO CLEAN THIS... I'm sorry...what did you ask me?