Our Electricity Usage Post-CFL (2006 no CFLs)
Regular readers of this blog will recognize that in June, 2007 we replaced 83 of our 95 light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps. Since that time, we’ve averaged savings on our electric bill of $42.77/month and now have cumulative electric bill savings of $513.21. This does not include the savings due to the longevity of the lamps, we haven’t replaced one thus far, with our incandescent lights we would replace nearly 2 per month – that’s about $60 in non-replacement costs to add in as well.
On the raw electricity side, we’ve now saved 1560 kwH, or 1.5 MWH, which amounts to around 3,000 lbs of CO2 and about 12 lbs of NOx, SOx, and mercury (more than enough mercury to offset the small amounts in our total CFL fleet.) From a quality of light perspective, no one even notices. We’ve even grown accustomed to the 20 second warm up period and don’t notice it at all now.
From a project perspective, the initial investment was $332 and 3 hours of my time to acquire the CFLs and install them. My expectation was that we’d save $516/year and so far, we’re ahead of that curve by nearly $60 when lightbulb replacement is factored in.
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Great Mike, I’m glad to hear it as we have begun replacing regular bulbs with fluorescents since your last email about this. Also since we had to have a new roof put on due to hail damage, we had roofline vents installed and two of those big thingies – turbines? They turn when the wind blows. While I haven’t compiled any data, our electric and gas bills have been much lower this summer and we get cold at 72 degrees so we keep it on 74 most of the time when we run the a/c. Thanks for setting the example and I will share it with our other kids.
Thanks for the comment Sharrie, this is one of those rare times when doing a good thing for the environment and economic interests intersect to create a win/win. If only every household would step up and do this, we’d see a big difference in our energy demand on the electricity side.
Sorry to hear about the roof!
Gives new meaning to the term “green” belt 🙂