HOW MUCH ENERGY IS SAVED BY OFFING THE LIGHTS?
"Don't forget to turn off the lights when you leave the room!"
You could have grown up hearing this expression from your parents, grandparents, or other people. Turning off the lights as you leave a room was a common practice. But can turning off your lights actually save energy and lower your electricity bill costs?
Continue reading to get the answers you need to frequently asked questions like how much energy is saved by turning off the lights and what advantages there are to doing so.
BENEFITS OF OFFSETTING LIGHTS
Contrary to popular belief, turning your lights on and off doesn't consume any more energy than leaving them on.
One of the simplest methods to conserve energy is to turn off the lights when you leave a room. Even while it's not the only option to conserve energy on house lighting, turning off the lights is a great place to start.
HOW TURNING ON AND OFF THE LIGHTS CAN AFFECT THE BULB
While quickly flicking the light switch will shorten the lifespan of any type of bulb, doing so has no impact on how much energy you use.
INCANDESCENTS
In general, incandescent light bulbs' lifespan is unaffected by turning them on and off. You've surely heard how ineffective incandescent lights are, though. An incandescent bulb generates heat with 90% of the energy it consumes and light with 10% of it. Although customers are switching to LED and CFL bulbs for greater sustainability and energy efficiency, incandescent and halogen lightbulb sales still account for a sizable portion of the market.
When you leave a room or if you still have incandescent lights in your house, you should switch them off.
Considering changing your light bulbs? To find out how much you can save by switching from incandescent to CFL or LED lighting, check out our lighting energy savings calculator.
LUMEN EMISSION DIODES (LED)
The most effective light bulbs for residential illumination are Light Emitting Diodes, or LEDs for short. They are often unaffected by how often you switch them on and off, much like incandescent bulbs.
In our blog on LED home illumination, you can find out more about illuminating your house with LEDs.
SMALL FLUMINATING LAMPS (CFL)
The first energy-efficient replacement to the incandescent bulb, compact fluorescent lights were not well received when they were originally released because of their high price and fragility. As producers created a more robust, reasonably priced, and energy-efficient bulb, the LED assumed the title of the greatest type of illumination.
CFL lights are still used by both businesses and consumers, however quick switching shortens their lifespan. CFLs require a tiny energy spike when they fully illuminate, unlike incandescents and LEDs. Even though CFLs need a brief surge of power to start, shutting off the lights still saves energy.
Rapidly turning on and off and on can shorten the life of a CFL. The U.S. Department of Energy advises shutting off CFL lights if you will be gone for more than 15 minutes and leaving them on if you will be gone for 15 minutes or less. According to additional studies, fluorescent lights should be turned off if you plan to leave the room for three to five minutes or longer. In either case, don't try to conserve energy by leaving your CFLs on all day.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO SAVE ENERGY USING DIMMER OR OTHER LIGHTING CONTROLS?
Depending on the type of bulb you use and whether its construction is compatible with dimmers, dimmer switches can aid in energy conservation. Dimmers lower the amount of lumens that a lightbulb emits. Because they require the same amount of energy even if they produce less lumens, incandescent lights are less efficient when dimmed. Although dimming an incandescent light bulb may increase its lifespan, the energy savings are modest.
If dimmed, CFLs and LEDs made for dimming may be more effective and have a longer lifespan. It's crucial to get lights that work with dimmers. If your lights aren't dimmable, attempting to do so might reduce their lifespan.
WHAT AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY IS WASTED IF THE LIGHTS ARE LEFT ON?
You need to know the following information to calculate how much energy you can waste by leaving the lights on:
how much energy is used by your bulb. You should be able to find the light bulb's wattage rating on the bulb box.
how long your light bulb was on while you were away from the room. Calculate about how long you leave the lights on each day when you aren't in the room; then, increase that number by 30 to get how long you leave the lights on each month.
How much your public utility or energy cooperative charges per kilowatt-hour. This information may be found on your monthly energy bill.
Estimating costs:
To find out how many kilowatts your bulb uses each hour, divide its wattage by 1,000.
After that, multiply the kilowatts by the estimated number of hours that the lightbulb was left on while you were out from the room. This will estimate the amount of electricity lost.
To calculate the cost, multiply the quantity of kilowatt-hours by the per-kilowatt-hour rate charged by your utility.
Here's an illustration: Assume you have ten 60-watt incandescent light bulbs in all, including two each in your bedroom, living room, and dining room. When you aren't in the rooms, you frequently leave them on for four hours each day. A kilowatt hour costs 10 cents in your cooperative. The computation is shown below.
60 x 10 = 600 watts overall
600/1,000 =.6 kilowatts overall.
Lights on for 4 x 30 = 120 hours each month
Each month, 120 x.6 = 72 kilowatts are wasted overall.
Turning off the lights each month might save you $7.20 (72 x.10) that is squandered!
To do our daily chores, our homes must be well-lit. To conserve money and power, we may always turn the lights off more effectively.
Visit benweilighting.com for more details about domestic lighting. To contact the distribution cooperative in your area, visit our contact page.
