My Energy use Diary

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  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036
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    To emphasize moonrakerz's point, the use of one Energy saving bulb could save more in a year than the standby consumption for the whole house.

    Yet standby consumption is seen as the major problem by many!
  • Yes, Gordie Joe has hit the nail on the head. When I say there was no detectable difference I meant that my average daily electricity consumption remained unchanged at around 9 units per day.

    I still say the benefits of these bulbs are overstated - you often see claims that these bulbs will save x many pounds per year per bulb - obviously this depends on usage but we are very good at turning lights off in our house and there are only two of us anyway. In our case I dont think the savings amount to much at all.
  • setmefree2
    setmefree2 Posts: 9,072
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    Hi

    It's going to be a every little helps approach for us:D. Indeed, if everyone used these light bulbs we'd all be better of as a nation, I think:confused:..Though I take your point that I'm not going to save lots of energy or money.

    In the winter our electricity shoots up, however, I think that most of this is due to our tumble drier but abit will be due to lighting.

    Had another good day yesterday. Came in under 15 KH, despite the fact we had to charge the car battery.:money:
  • geordie_joe
    geordie_joe Posts: 9,112
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    moonrakerz wrote: »
    What about these "key words" ?
    "the benefits of these things have been totally overstated"


    - the benefits have not been overstated as I, and others, have shown - simple maths, they use MUCH less electricity.

    Nobody ever said you overstated them, they just said they have been over stated.
    moonrakerz wrote: »
    I really fail to see why these devices are poo-poohed, £17 against £82 for each light seems a no-brainer to me.

    Yes but the original post was about not being able to see the saving on a day by day basis. You figures were for the lifetime of a light bulb, which you quoted as 8000 hours. Using a light for 6 hours per day makes that 3.65 years for a saving of £65.

    Per day that saving is very small and I can easily see that a heavy user would not notice the saving if they were checking their meter daily.

    Then there is the other side, an energy saving light bulb only saves money and electricity when it is switched on. When they are switched off the cost the same as any other bulb that is switched off.

    I have 12 of these bulbs in my house but only the two in the living room save me any measurable amount of money. This is because the others are either never switched on or switched on for a very few minutes only.
    moonrakerz wrote: »
    Very true - most houses have more than one light - if you have kids, every b****y light is on ! :D

    If you have a bunch of kids who leave a lot of lights on the chance are you also have a bunch of kids who have every electric gadget known to man left switched on in their bedrooms. You washer, tumble drier and dish washer may appear to be on 24/7 too. This means you will be using a high amount of electricity, therefore the small amounts (per day) that the bulbs save may not be noticeable.

    After typing all that please don't get me wrong, I'm in favour of energy saving bulbs and know that save money compared to ordinary ones. The amount they save can be calculated, and has been in here many times.

    However, the amount of money you will save depends on how much you use the lights. If you are like me and don't use your lights much then you will save less money. If you have a large family that leave lights on a lot then you will save more money, but if you also have a lot of appliances running and consume a lot of electricity then the amount you save will be a small percentage of what you use.

    The claims that are overstated about these bulbs are the ones that say you can save MASSIVE amounts of money with these bulbs, or that they can reduce your electricity consumption by up to 35%. Or my favourite "If we all changed to energy saving light bulbs we could reduce our CO2 emissions and save the planet"
  • geordie_joe
    geordie_joe Posts: 9,112
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    Cardew wrote: »
    To emphasize moonrakerz's point, the use of one Energy saving bulb could save more in a year than the standby consumption for the whole house.

    Yet standby consumption is seen as the major problem by many!

    That's very true, but I think people jump on that band wagon because most things don't need to be on standby, therefore the electricity they are using is wasted.

    Just been off to look at the spreadsheet I made when I got my leccy meter thingy.

    According to that my one 100Watt bulb left on for 6 hours per day would cost £20.17 per year. A 14Watt energy saver would cost £2.82 per year making a saving of £17.35 per year.

    If I left all the items I have on standby for 12 hours per day it would cost £38.52 per year. That's more than the amount saved by two energy saving bulbs used for 6 hours per day. So if it's worth changing your living room bulb for an energy saving one it's worth turning things off instead of leaving them on standby.
  • moonrakerz
    moonrakerz Posts: 8,650
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    . Or my favourite "If we all changed to energy saving light bulbs we could reduce our CO2 emissions and save the planet"

    Actually you hit the nail right on the head there - but perhaps not in the way that you think.

    If we all DID change to energy saving light bulbs we would make a huge saving in electricity consumption - I will make no comment on CO2 emissions and saving the planet - because as you may well have gathered I am a bit of a sceptic on those points !
  • geordie_joe
    geordie_joe Posts: 9,112
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    moonrakerz wrote: »
    Actually you hit the nail right on the head there - but perhaps not in the way that you think.

    If we all DID change to energy saving light bulbs we would make a huge saving in electricity consumption -

    I am in total agreement with you there, my point was that some will save a lot more than others.

    But the main point is that changing to energy saving light bulbs will save money/electricity. That saving is real and can be measured, and has been on here. But that measurement should not be expressed as a percentage of your electricity bill, nor should it be expressed as "a MASSIVE saving". It should be expressed as one light bulb will save you £x per hour, then you should calculate how many hours your bulbs are on.
    moonrakerz wrote: »
    I will make no comment on CO2 emissions and saving the planet - because as you may well have gathered I am a bit of a sceptic on those points !

    Me too, I have no interest in saving the planet. I don't even think it needs saving.
    I certainly don't think changing to energy saving light bulbs, banning carrier bags and not leaving things on standby will save it anyway.

    I am interested in saving money, which is why I hang round here.
  • moonrakerz
    moonrakerz Posts: 8,650
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    ........and what did I see in The Telegraph this morning !

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/21/eantrust121.xml
  • geordie_joe
    geordie_joe Posts: 9,112
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    moonrakerz wrote: »
    ........and what did I see in The Telegraph this morning !

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/21/eantrust121.xml
    Just one of them can reduce your electricity bill by £74 a year

    I haven't done the maths, but I suspect you'd have to keep the light on 24 hours per day 365 days per year to save that much.
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036
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    setmefree2 wrote: »
    Had another good day yesterday. Came in under 15 KH, despite the fact we had to charge the car battery.:money:

    Car Battery chargers use very little electricity - around 30 Watts(on average - they start high and then trickle charge) so one left on 24 hours would use around 0.7 kWh
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