It pays to conserve electricity.

[polkanut]

John,

I guess I have the same aversion that my parents and grandparents have/had to throwing away something that is perfectly good.  This is what prevents me from throwing out my incandescent bulbs.  We have quite a supply of them, and will just use them up and then gradually replace them with cfl's.  As for the dryer, where our laundry room is located would require quite a long run of gas pipe, and again I can't justify kicking a perfectly good appliance to the curb.  We only run the dryer during off-peak electric rate times.

 

 

 

[mrb627]

CFL's? No Thanks!

I much prefer the halogen bulbs instead.

Malcolm

 

[iheartmaytag]

Our local company has been offering the Watt Saver where they cycle your compressor at 15 minute increments. I had the same aversion, I didn't want them controlling my A/C. People that are signed up said they only had two sessions last summer. They never cycle on weekends, or holidays. It is always on a weekday during peak demand.

They are starting a pilot program where they charge you by the usage within a peak period. This program requires a one year commitment, I have been tempted as just about all the heavy usage is done off-peak save for the A/C that I have to leave on for my mother who is home during the day.

 

[seamusuk]

We spend....

Hey Guys

Our bill on a prepayment meter is roughly £35/month($54 odd) when the heating is off but shoots up to £120/month($185) with it on(Victorian converted flat with high ceilings). Thats being charged on an Economy 7 tariff of 12.26p/Kwh($0.19) during the day and 5.78p/Kwh($0.09) for 7 hours overnight. This tariff is designed for off peak water and storage room heaters but the dryer and everything else also benefit from it.
Oh and there is £1.90/week(£2.95) fixed charge....

Seamus

 

[danemodsandy]

CFLs

I'm totally switched over to CFLs, with the exception of two fixtures that require decorative bulbs (and which aren't used all that much).

Not only have bills come down because of the bulbs, they've come down because of the reduced heat generation. In the Summer, having incandescent lights on can produce a fair amount of heat - which your A/C then has to work to get rid of.

I was very resistant to CFLs, because the early ones gave terrible light, making everyone look freshly embalmed, and because they were gee-holy SPENDY at first. Color temperatures are far better now, and prices are so low (about a dollar a bulb) that they're a better buy than incandescents ever were, because they last so much longer.

They work for me - anyone who tried early ones and wasn't impressed might take another look at them. My sole remaining objection is that they are dog-butt-ugly in lamps and fixtures where the bulb shows. [this post was last edited: 10/2/2012-14:59]

 

[mark_wpduet]

I keep my AC set at 71 and my power bill this past month was 155 dollars, and that was for 29 days!

Earlier this summer when we had 105 degree weather for one week, my power bill was 145 and the AC ran constantly.

Quite frankly, I thought they had been a lot better at reading the meters here, but apparently not. Last year, My bill was over 200 dollars and I had used a LOT of kw hours. I googled and found out how to read a meter, went outside with pen/paper and wrote down the current reading on the meter and compared it with the reading two days prior from the reading date on my bill, and my meter hadn't even reached the point that was read two days prior - it still had like 400 or more kwh's to go, so it was read wrong. Last month my bill was 109! They do not estimate in my area.

So sick of having to check it each month.

Do plasma tv's really use that much electricity?

 

[jerrod6]

My highest electric bill this year was in July $253 for 1,643 Kwh, lowest was last october for $95 which is usually when no AC or heat is being used.  I have a self reading meter in that it sends a reading every day around 8am to the company over the power lines, so when my billing end date occurs the company generates the bill that night and mails it.

 

I read that Ikea is moving toward selling only LED's by 2015.  I have LEDs in my kitchen and CFLs in every other room. I am switching to LED's as soon as I can.  They last longer and produce much less heat than Halogen or CFLs.

 

[washer111]

Yeah, Plasma's are pretty bad. The PC magazine I used to subscribe to mentioned the details. I THINK it was somewhere in the region of 500 Watts/Hour (Someone else might like to butt in here?)

 

[jerrod6]

Plasma TV

I have a 32 inch LED Tv in the bedroom and a 50 inch Plasma in the family room.  I like the picture of the plasma a little better but it does use more energy because it really creates heat.  If you put your hand a few inches away from the screen you can feel the heat jumping off of it.  They also warn you not to let young kids near it so they won't accidentally get burned.  I used to do sit ups in front of it but I had to move way back because of the heat.   It has a power saving mode which reduces the amount of energy it uses but it also reduces the picture quality.  I figure I bought it for the picture so I don't use it in the power saving mode.  For the most part I don't watch a lot of TV so the one in the bedroom is used more than the Plasma. 

 

I think mine is 525 watts per hour

 

[polkanut]

Our total electric usage from 8/6-9/6 was 579KWH.  Off-peak we used 386KWH, and on-peak usage was 193KWH.  We do go to bed quite early (9-9:30pm). 

 

[DADoES]

 
Power consumption instantaneously varies depending on how the screen is being utilized.  Each pixel has red, blue, and green phosphor elements, which are energized together in varying intensities to create the range of visual color.  Black takes the least power, all phosphors idle.  White takes the most power, all phosphors lit.  Any given, instantaneous picture is a combination of pixels generating an array of colors at range of brightness.  Maximum power consumption would be a full, white screen.

I put a Kill-a-Watt meter on my 42" plasma a few mins ago for a look-see.  It's 10 years old as of 9/28/2012, so likely is less "efficient" than the latest units, although there may not be all that much improvement over the years being as plasma display technology is what it is.  The label on the unit does not reference wattage, but does state 120v, 5.0 amps, which would be the maximum, which is 600 watts, which would only occur on a full-white screen at maximum brightness.

It's not a good idea to set the brightness/contrast at maximum.  Makes for an unnatural picture and "wears" the phosphors faster.

Monitoring the meter for a few minutes on a typical local ABC News broadcast, the lowest was about 187 watts, with a spike to 325.  Average hangs between about 200 and 275, which is equivalent to 2 to 3-1/4 100-watt light bulbs.

A larger screen would of course pull accordingly more power.

Yes, they generate some heat ... I suppose equivalent to a CRT of the same size.  Plasma IS a form of CRT technology.  Instead of a single focused electron beam firing at and moving across the screen from a fixed point, each pixel contains three miniature electron "beams" that fire directly inside the pixel.

 

[qsd-dan]

I guess I have the same aversion that my parents and grandparents have/had to throwing away something that is perfectly good. This is what prevents me from throwing out my incandescent bulbs. We have quite a supply of them, and will just use them up and then gradually replace them with cfl's.

Yeah, I'm the same exact way. Hell, I'm probably the only one left in California that exclusively uses a CRT TV, lol. Just use the incans in bathroom fixtures or other fixtures that get low long term use. CFL's don't like being turned on/off for short periods of time. I was actually putting the rest of my CFL stash in the bathrooms to kill them off in a hurry, lol. I just HATE the quality of light they put out!

I've been phasing in Phillips Endura LED 60 watt equivalent bulbs in areas where I prefer warm light (family room, living room). Consumer Reports rated them very high and reviews on the internet have reflected the same. They put out lots of light (over 800 lumens) while using a scant 12.5 watts. They also can be used with a dimmer.

 

[combo52]

Energy Saving

Some notes

 

Plasma TVs and even LED screens use far more power than an equivalent size CRT TVs if the CRT TV in question has a solid-state chassis, if you go back to all vacuum tube style TVs then it gets a lot closer to the current sets.

 

LED and CLF bulbs both use about the same amount of power and put off about the same amount of waste heat.

 

CFLs will probably be around for a long time, they are probably about the 2nd greatest invention next to the original light bulb itself.

 

LED bulbs do offer some great advantages and will get much more popular over the next decade.

They usually dim able, they are mercury free, they have a longer life and they do not break if handled roughly or dropped.

 

The use it up wear it out philosophy has long been a practice of mine, but it probably makes little sense to burn 300 pounds of coal just to save a 60 watt incandescent light bulb. Like wise it makes no sense to keep using an electric clothes dryer if your home has natural gas service, sell it or give your dryer to someone that does not have this option. Take a cue from the US government or big businesses neither would ever waste energy in this manor in this day in age.

 

 

 

[cadman]

Warning: Rant Ahead!

When I was a kid, my first major collection was light bulbs (don't laugh!). There were so many different styles, bases, vintages, applications, etc and most were available on a kid's allowance. How cool to power up a real Edison-Mazda lamp and experience living history when you're in 6th grade!

Then one day CFL's arrived. At first there was only one on store shelves, the Philips Earth Light. It was a monstrous affair and cost over $20 a bulb back in the mid 90's. The light output was lousy, the temp operating range, even worse, but it was billed as lasting over 20 years, and this thing was really built. If you were willing to spend that much money on a lightbulb you expected some quality.

Since that day the light quality has gotten much better, warm up times have been reduced, but the lamps themselves are total junk. But what do you expect when you're trying to compete with an incandescent lamp that costs pennies to manufacture? Open one up sometime- the absolute cheapest electronic components slapped together with barely enough solder to keep the parts in place. Parts counts have been slashed each year in order to reduce cost, but at the expense of safety, longetivity and radio interference suppression. Not only do you have a switching power supply running in each of these lamps, but the low-V parts require rectification and voltage drop, and a decent design will also have components monitoring initial current draw during tube 'firing', steady-current regulation to maintain brightness, thermal protection, switching supply isolation from mains, perhaps ferrites for RFI and the parts necessary to handle end of life use (igniting and maintaining output). A lot of this stuff gets cut to save cost, especially on the cheaper Chinese units. Yes, I realize these lamps save on the energy bill, but at what cost? Too much radiated RF hash, too much money to China, and needless complexity for a light bulb.

 

[cadman]

PS...

For those that still have a soft spot for incandescents, you can still buy American Made. The ones available at our local big box store are Sylvania, made in St. Mary's, PA. I buy 'em on sale, 4 for $1. And the longetivity is most impressive!

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/made-america-mission-us-air-force/story?id=13430426

 

[sudsmaster]

I routinely dry bed sheets, spreads, etc. on the line. I think they come out better that way than in the dryer.

Used to dry bath towels on the line as well, but got tired of the stiffness they'd acquire.

My dryer is gas and I haven't noticed a big hit in the gas portion of the electric bill by dropping the line drying of the bath towels.

The Neptune spins them pretty dry anyway.

Time of use might not get me much... I don't have A/C, and the biggest loads are probably ones that have to run 7x24 anyway: the fridges (2) and chest freezer (1), plus a koi pond pump (the fish would die if it shut off and on again).

 

[petek]

Believe me I've tried lots of different ones over the years, more losers than winners and the purported longevity is questionable however I'm having better luck with the newer ones. In fact the Meijer house brand 60 & 70 watt equivalents in a pack of 6 for $3.99 are very good so far and if one blows I won't be cursing as much under my breath. Our dining-room chandelier takes 6 x 60 watts and I need 6 more just to light up the living-room fully so that's a lot of power saved, especially in the winter when it's dark so early. I just wish those LED's would hurry up and get cheaper so I can use them on the outdoor lights.

 

[danemodsandy]

Cory:

I hear you about the hinky electronics and offshore manufacture of CFLs.

However, much of 21st-Century life is boiling down to trying to find the least objectionable choice in the marketplace, not the best choice. I would personally love to be able to purchase a high-quality CFL or LED choice made in America.

And once China falls apart economically - as it will - I hope I will have that opportunity. Until then, my choice is, feed China a little, or feed Mid-American Energy a lot.

It stinks, but those are the times in which we live.

 

[twintubdexter]

just be glad...

...you don't live here, at least right now. On Monday Edison's electric rates changed from summer, about 46 kilowatts at baseline, to winter rates, about 9.6 kilowatts at baseline. It was 111 degrees on Monday, 108 Tuesday and a "cooler" 105 today. I'm sure my 2 central air conditioners already drank up the baseline juice allotment.

 

[sudsmaster]

I've had good results with the FEIT 75 watt equivalent daylight bulbs. Costco periodically has them on state instant rebates, so they wind up costing less than $1 per bulb. FEIT used to make relatively crappy CFL's, but now they are pretty good. I also like their 100 watt equiv warm white bulbs - which are more compact (thinner tubes) than past ones and give good light.

As for LED's, yes they are instant on and work better in cold temps, but they often are not any more energy efficient than CFL's. I use several in my fridges and freezers, where they work great. Also for a living room lamp on a timer, and the porch light. Low lumens but for these applications it doesn't matter.

I've also had good results with Fluorex 300 watt equiv outdoor flood lights. I even have them hooked up to motion detectors. They give great light and fire up very rapidly. As I recall, they use 65 watts, each, but generally I have them on only a short time (unless I need the light to work on stuff in the courtyard at night).