North Shore Home Services Association » cost to operate a light bulb http://northshorehomeservices.org/members A benevolent organization of respected business leaders serving Chicago's North Shore. Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:02:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Understanding Your Electric Costs (part 2) http://northshorehomeservices.org/members/understanding-your-electric-costs-part-2 http://northshorehomeservices.org/members/understanding-your-electric-costs-part-2#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:58:43 +0000 Managing Director http://northshorehomeservices.org/members/?p=623 Do compact fluorescent lamps save energy?
The newer compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) are more energy efficient than the conventional incandescent type lamps. However, there are some tradeoffs to be considered. CFL lamps usually have a different color spectrum than conventional “A” type incandescent lamps. They are slower to warm up (not “instant on”), some cannot be put on dimmers and, if the temperature falls below freezing (outdoor lighting or lights in a garage or shed), they may not turn on at all.
Disposal of CFL lamps are subject to hazardous waste rules and regulations in many communities; you may need to take these to a special disposal site instead of just tossing them into your trash.
On the up side, using the same formula as above, you can see that CFL lamps can reduce energy costs substantially.
A 26-watt compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) is roughly equivalent in light output to a 100-watt conventional light bulb. Burning 24/7/365, that CFL lamp uses 227.14KWH, or about $27.26 per year to operate. Quite a difference.
Now obviously your lights aren’t on for 24 hours a day, unless of course you have teenagers living at home. But you can see that it does add up.

Compact Fluorescent Bulb 3 by Chris Cummings

This is part 2 of “Understanding Your Electric Costs” read part 1 here.

Do compact fluorescent lamps save energy?

The newer compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) are more energy efficient than the conventional incandescent type lamps. However, there are some tradeoffs to be considered. CFL lamps usually have a different color spectrum than conventional “A” type incandescent lamps. They are slower to warm up (not “instant on”), some cannot be put on dimmers and, if the temperature falls below freezing (outdoor lighting or lights in a garage or shed), they may not turn on at all.

Disposal of CFL lamps are subject to hazardous waste rules and regulations in many communities; you may need to take these to a special disposal site instead of just tossing them into your trash.

On the up side, using the same formula from part 1, you can see that CFL lamps can reduce energy costs substantially.

A 26-watt compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) is roughly equivalent in light output to a 100-watt conventional light bulb. Burning 24/7/365, that CFL lamp uses 227.14KWH, or about $27.26 per year to operate. Quite a difference.

Now obviously your lights aren’t on for 24 hours a day, unless of course you have teenagers living at home. But you can see that it does add up.

]]> http://northshorehomeservices.org/members/understanding-your-electric-costs-part-2/feed 0 Understanding Your Electric Costs (part 1) http://northshorehomeservices.org/members/understanding-your-electric-costs-part-1 http://northshorehomeservices.org/members/understanding-your-electric-costs-part-1#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:39:50 +0000 Managing Director http://northshorehomeservices.org/members/?p=617 light by gábor suhajda

Funniest joke about electricity

Question: How much does it cost to operate a light bulb?

Answer: That depends on how many teenagers live in the house!

What is a kilowatt hour?

Basically electricity is billed in 1,000 watt-hour increments, or kilowatt-hours, or KWH. For example, a 1-watt light bulb burning for 1 hour equals 1 watt-hour or 1WH (1 watt times 1 hour).

A common 100-watt light bulb (typical “A” type lamp) burning for 10 hours = 1,000 watt-hours or 1KWH (100 watts X 10 hours).

Therefore, a 100-watt light bulb burning for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year = 873,600 WH or 873.6KWH

The cost for electricity, at my house anyway, for metering, distribution, environmental, transmission, instrument funding and about a half dozen other line items listed on my bill that I don’t understand (but I’m sure I need) is about 12¢ for every kilowatt hour.

At 12¢/KWH x 873.6KWH of usage, that light bulb costs about $104.84 per year to operate.

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