[Vision2020] Savings on Light Bulb Use
Jeff Harkins
jeffh at moscow.com
Tue Feb 1 06:46:16 PST 2005
In an earlier post, a "visionaire" was extolling the virtues of the savings
experienced by switching from standard incandescent light bulbs to "energy
saver" type bulbs. He said his experience generated savings of $20.00 per
month. I thought about that and realized that it was possible, but unlikely.
So that folks aren't misled about the possible savings that would accrue by
switching to the energy saving bulbs, here is an example.
The example is based on the Sylvania Energy Saver bulb. Sylvania
advertises that if you switch from an "ordinary" 75 watt soft white light
bulb (which produces 1,180 lumens) to their energy saver 67 watt light bulb
(which produces 1040 lumens) you can save $.48 per year (they assume their
bulbs - both types - have an average life of 750 hours - approximately one
year's use) and the price per kilowatt hour is $.08 (I think our price
locally is about $07 per KW. This computes to a savings of $ .04 per month
for each bulb in service. So, yes indeed, if you have a place with
approximately 500 light bulbs, you can save about $20.00 per month by
switching to energy saver type bulbs.
But also realize you will lose the use of some 70000 lumens (140 lumens
per bulb times 500 bulbs) over the course of the year. If you actually need
those lumens, you will have to purchase an additional 67 bulbs.
I think one would save more by switching to Geico.
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