In both my house and my parents house every fitting is a cfl including bathroom and porch etc. Cfl's do get duller over time but I frequently change bulbs around - my bathroom light is a 5W because otherwise it is blinding when I get up in the night for the toilet, my bedroom light is a 27W so I can see what I'm working on my bench.

My dad gets broken cfl's from the hotel he works at and I get given broken ones from people, they only either the tube breaks (dropped) or the inverter circuitry. I simply mix and match tubes with inverters to make working lights again and write the date of install on the side so I can tell how long it lasted.

Cfl's are so incredibly cheap now in the UK - 10 for £1 or 9p each at a local large hardware store. Incandecents are being phased out but many people I know are buying them in large quantities. Some people I know have traded down a power rating on incandecent lights - all 100W bulbs are now 60W, 60W are now 40W etc, and that isn't noticable, only if you put a 100W next to a 60W you can see the difference. Another thing are those 5 or 7 bulb chandeliers with 7 x 60W bulbs in them - incredibly bright! better to change to 7 x 3W? otherwise it looks horrible with one 60W in it.

 

Does anyone have any experience with these Monster Green Power Strips? You connect a computer or TV to the main outlet and when it is turned off, all of the other things plugged into the strip also get turned off. Seems like a really cool idea.

Monster Cable | Digital PowerCenter MDP 650 with | 121602 | B&H

 

I use CCFL's in all rooms in my house for general lighting. No problems, never had to replace any. The light is soft and pleasant. Bulbs are a little expensive, but their extended life and efficiency should offset most of the cost. No problems while reading, though I often use a 40W reading lamp, as my eyes have some age and require more direct illumination.

__________________
You don't need a quadraphonic Blaupunkt -- you need a curve
ball.

 

Doesn't say how much power it uses in standby . Probably not zero.

A lot of things don't like to be suddenly powered off. Newer peripherals don't use much power in standby. It might be useful to cut off your old, non-Energy Star stuff.

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de KI6RWX

 

CFL bulbs are nmore efficient but not as good as stated, we use philips ones, i am sitting in a room the size of two single beds (literally) and lit by a 18 W philips bulb, well for an equivalent to 100 W its pretty dim ! I think its time goverments went the whole hog: if your going to back and possibly impose CFL bulbs you MUST regulate manufacturers !, the old CFL bulbs we had from philips produced more lihgt than the junk I am trying to see by now ! a 20 W bulb would light a room that truly needed a 100 w bulb and here and I in about 1.5 square meters of space wondering why my eyes are tired under an 18 W CFL bulb.

The other big issue seems to be light colour, CFL's actually emit 2700 K light (rather yellowy more difficult to see by) I've just looked at http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/cat...energy-savers/ and they are advertising daylight energy savers. these are specified at 6400 K which is natural daylight colour and more visible. along these lines: why do you think its so damned hard to see by those stupid street lights in the UK found on estates ? because they are yellow: what a clever idea lights designed to not have a glare probem (yea like the light above you is a glare problem what about the idiot in the car with his halogen full beam on because the street lights ARE crap) well wonder why they don;t give you glare ? because you can't even see proporly by them.

There are many ways to save power, look at you largest items and when you could turn them off. DO NOT use standby for tvs etc. in the winter I don't turn my bedroom radiator on because my computer makes enough heat, at present with no heating on in the house i have to hottest room. look at what you need and what stuff does.

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I AM the exeption that disproves the rule in many ways but the rules still apply (unfortunately)

www.simonsphotography.org.uk/ - My other hobby
www.rushdenrotaract.org.uk/ - make a difference and have fun !


Never buy "Trust" products, all mine broke !!!

 

My neighbourhood got new power meters at the same time. The readout is digital and it started at zero.
My next door neighbours power meter reads almost double what mine reads. She is a single person and my wife lives with me.

Today it is sunny right now in the afternoon and my neighbour has all her incandescent lights turned on. I don't have any light turned on and they are all cfl.

I would not be surprized if my neighbour has her furnace and her air conditioning on at the same time. I saw her windows open and the air conditioner was running.
She wastes as much electricity as is possible.

__________________
Uncle $crooge

 

Those people piss me off! When I was growing up, we didn't waste anything, because we just didn't have it to waste. Nowadays, people think there is infinite resources, and they can just blow it into the atmosphere without consequences. My college roomate used to turn the heater to 80, and sit around in shorts. Drove me crazy! Nobody can live with me now because I dress for the seasons, rather than run the heat to 80 in the Winter and the A/C to 65 in the Summer. Instead, I dress for the seasons, and adjust the temp to the edgs of comfort. I get very few visitors LOL!

__________________
You don't need a quadraphonic Blaupunkt -- you need a curve
ball.

 

I'm with you, some people really amaze me. There are so many people I would like to see in a situation where they really have to make do and see ehat happens, at work if its cloudy they put the heating on, if its sunny the aircon, you really can't keep them happy, luckily I work on the shop floor (QC inspector) although I find it cold in the winter - too cold for comfort but I know theres not a lot to be done about it, with all the welding etc we have to have lots of extractors and I think the quantity of air going into the factory and getting heated only to be extracted again does not bear thinking about. At home we conderve everything, even water to flush the loo, when my dad lived on his own the water board came and changed his meter because they thought it was faulty he used so little (£ 2 p/w).

__________________
I AM the exeption that disproves the rule in many ways but the rules still apply (unfortunately)

www.simonsphotography.org.uk/ - My other hobby
www.rushdenrotaract.org.uk/ - make a difference and have fun !


Never buy "Trust" products, all mine broke !!!

 

Big misconception. Don't just turn stuff off, Unplug stuff. Cell phone chargers alone waste 40% energy just by being plugged into the wall. Many other devices too, the only way to be sure that it is not wasting energy is to just unplug it from the wall.

 

I daisey chain power strips for all my computer stuff, chargers, desk lamp, electronic amusment, etc. When I'm not using these things, I can disconnect them with a single, master switch. Or, by switching off the "slave" strips, I can strategically disconnect the appliances I'm not presently using.

__________________
You don't need a quadraphonic Blaupunkt -- you need a curve
ball.

 

we have switches on ALL sockets, nothing is left on standby, if I leave my computer for a few minutes I switch off the monitor

__________________
I AM the exeption that disproves the rule in many ways but the rules still apply (unfortunately)

www.simonsphotography.org.uk/ - My other hobby
www.rushdenrotaract.org.uk/ - make a difference and have fun !


Never buy "Trust" products, all mine broke !!!

 

Flush the loo?? HA!
Is a loo a hole in the floor like in India? Here in Canada we have toilets.

The new toilets "save water". They flush with such a small amount of water that they don't work and then you must flush and flush and flush and flush and flush and flush ...
They don't save water and are a nuisance.

__________________
Uncle $crooge

 

we have a normal loo unit but I'm as comfortable acurately throwing a bucket of water out of the last shower i had to flush it. we also use rain water when there is enough to go round

__________________
I AM the exeption that disproves the rule in many ways but the rules still apply (unfortunately)

www.simonsphotography.org.uk/ - My other hobby
www.rushdenrotaract.org.uk/ - make a difference and have fun !


Never buy "Trust" products, all mine broke !!!

 

My water conserving "loo" tends to clog from time to time. I just use a little plunger action to get it going. I don't have to flush and flush. It's a little inconvenient. I'm sure technology will continue to advance on this front, however.

__________________
You don't need a quadraphonic Blaupunkt -- you need a curve
ball.

 

My old toilets use enough water to do the flush properly.
My son and daughter got their bathrooms renovated and they used new toilets that don't work. The old toilets that used enough water are not available anymore.

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Uncle $crooge