Keeping lights on or off?

BexTech

Cardew wrote:

So left on for 12 hours every night it will use less than a Fiver a year.

A fiver is still a fiver, better off in my pocket than someone elses, plus if you add up all the people who are happy to waste that amount of money and energy it's quite a sum.

Contains_Mild_Peril

Cardew wrote:

Agreed - that is also a reason/theory; same argument is used for keeping PCs running constantly.

I always thought that PCs shouldn't be left running for very long periods because they're likely to overheat, thus shortening their life.

My grandad, for some bizarre reason which I've never asked him, has a fluorescent light in his bathroom - the one room in the house where it's likely to be switched on then off again shortly afterwards on a regular basis. It strikes me as the silliest possible location for a fluorescent light. If you're quick you could have finished using the toilet and washing your hands before it finally stops flickering and comes on properly.
As others have mentioned, ordinary (including energy-saving) lights use less electricity when switched off then on than when left on for the same period of time.

roswell

I think your confusing floresent with compact floresent, bathing in the dark wouldnt be much fun though.

Cardew

BexTech wrote:

A fiver is still a fiver, better off in my pocket than someone elses, plus if you add up all the people who are happy to waste that amount of money and energy it's quite a sum.

I wonder why you feel the need to partially quote me. I did also say:

Whilst any saving is worthwhile

However as the poster said, it is left on for security reasons and that is for him to decide if it is a waste or not.

Some people think that having a computer and posting many hundreds of times on a forum like this is a far bigger waste of money, energy and time. It seems you and I don't share that opinion.;)

krishna

I remember reading a thread about this on here a year or two ago. If I have time I'll see if I can find it. There was a link in that thread to a webpage from someone in the US who provided detailed calculations which showed that switching off was better all round. I had been one of those in the school of thought that believed one should keep flourescents on if they were likely to be needed again within around 15 mins. The data provided on that website convinced me that I was wrong.

Edit
Here's one of the threads: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=6667

It refers to this website: http://www.lightingdesignlab.com/articles/switching/switching_fluorescent.htm

Wasn't the one I had in mind, but seems to do the same thing