How many folks use the energy saving bulbs?

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Some incandescents are slightly more efficient ( I think ) than others . But I do not consider any incandescent lamp efficient .

However , a heat lamp in a bathroom is not suppose to be energy efficient .

Wyr
God bless
 
100% LED now, with 2 known exceptions: The garage door openers won't work with LED bulbs, so they're the last CFLs in the house, and good riddance. But I see that if you Google "Do LED bulbs affect human health?" you get over 51M hits (today), so it may be worthwhile to look into that aspect of them.
 
I didn't say heat lamp, there are some incandescents that are sold as being more energy efficient to permit their sale. I don't own any but some are a bulb (halogen?) within a bulb and that's what exploded in my son's bathroom.
 
I'm surprised there's been so little discussion of replacing fluorescent T8s with LED equivalents. Savings are significant, but don't get the kind that brag you don't have to remove the ballasts -- those actually require the ballast, so when it fails, you're in for big bucks, and you have to feed them (they love electricity) while they're working. I've replaced over 50 of these in my houses and others', and aside from the hassle of taking the fixture apart, it was a real joy to toss the ugly old ballasts into my hazmat bin. I've been using Hyperikon bulbs (from Amazon); they come in different colors, they've been reliable, customer service from the manufacturer (when 2 did fail) was super, and they're only $10-11 when you buy in 24-packs. Costco also now sells a nifty shop-light kit for not much money with the fixture, line cord, and hanging hooks, and they're chainable. A neighbor here replaced all the fluorescents in his shop with super-white LEDs and the difference is stunning.
 
What do you mean by "new"?
I use halogen however I can get them.
Led's have catastrophic consequences to the human nervous system. This is widely known in the medical community.
Many utility companies that have replaced the 'inefficient' lighting have realized that they made a bit mistake. But this is a capitalist country - that's all some folks can see.
If that is true, I think we would all like to know. Where does this info come from? Can you direct us to it...or bring it here?
 
I have read that a study has discovered that exposure to LED lights can cause irreparable harm to the retina of the human eye but haven't seen anything about damage to the nervous system. I don't rush into anything new but am gradually running out of incandescent bulbs.
 
Sorry if I'm being cynical, but information can be true or false. On one hand, look at all the rumors surrounding the measles vaccine and the trouble that's causing. On the other hand, there's plenty of evidence that industry doesn't care about the health of consumers.
 
Sorry if I'm being cynical, but information can be true or false. On one hand, look at all the rumors surrounding the measles vaccine and the trouble that's causing. On the other hand, there's plenty of evidence that industry doesn't care about the health of consumers.
I've been using them for about 4 years now both personally and in my rentals. One thing I've noticed is all the brands I've tried have a pretty high failure rate in the 1st year. You really have to pay attention to their warranty return policy as well as it can be more expensive to mail some of them in for exchange than just buying new. My favorite are the ones that let you return them directly to the store you purchased them from (with proof of purchase or registration usually). I had one tenant that purchase 3 boxes of 4 LED light bulbs and requested to have them put in some of the harder to reach places. Of the 12 bulbs 3 where bad right out of the box. Which for some reason blew my tenants mind. He just kept saying " these are suppose to last 7 years how can the be bad already". I told him my experience with them and it shocked him even more. Something about the way LED's work gives some people seizures. I've never experience this just been told when tenant wants them replaced.

All that is to say I think the quality control on LED lights and bulb's is pretty low as well as their complexity leads to failure as well.

I'm not really trying to give an opinion one way or the other here just basically stating my experience. I'm going to keep putting them in when I change things out if for no other reason than it seems to make people happy when they know you have LED bulbs.
 
I decided to see how much I was saving with LEDs and twisties. I see why it was negligible on my electric bill. My before was four 70w incandescents for around eight hours per day. If I just left them off I would save ≈24¢ per day. Bottom line I can't get excited over such small savings.
 
I prefer the LEDs because they give brighter white color, they don't get hot to the touch, & they don't break as easily as other bulbs. I replaced fluorescent lights in my workshop with LED work lights & they are MUCH brighter. A single lamp lights up an area that took 4 fluorescent lights to light up.
 
I decided to see how much I was saving with LEDs and twisties. I see why it was negligible on my electric bill. My before was four 70w incandescents for around eight hours per day. If I just left them off I would save ≈24¢ per day. Bottom line I can't get excited over such small savings.
I believe that we all have to contribute to the good of the planet. If all the $.24's in the world were added up, we might save one glacier. And that one glacier might save Miami.
 
I believe that we all have to contribute to the good of the planet. If all the $.24's in the world were added up, we might save one glacier. And that one glacier might save Miami.

I agree. Every little bit helps. I like to think of it as if everyone’s $.24 were added together maybe we could take that money and cure cancer or rebuild a couple bridges that are wearing out. As to halting glaciers or saving a coastal city I don’t think wasted energy savings is there to reverse the course of nature.


Where I live not that long ago in terms of the earth 14,000 years ago there was a couple miles of ice over my head with so much weight it pressed and gouged out the great lakes forming the greatest body of fresh water on the planet. It all went away because of climate change and allowed us to have the lakes and Canada.


Yesterday for the holiday we spent the day with my sister and husband at their Lake Erie cottage and all they talked about was how this spring the water level as up a foot or so and took away a lot of beach area and caused some winter bank erosion. Of course the cause was suspect to climate change even though in my short lifespan of 63 years I have seen it that high a few times. I mentioned how without climate change we wouldn’t have the lakes to enjoy. That didn’t go anywhere, so I asked them why they each drove an 8 cylinder car to get there that day. That didn’t work, so I asked them why they had an electric heater running at one side of the cottage and AC running on the other side of the room. Seems they had a logical answer for that as he is always warm and she is always cold now that they are getting old.


There are lots of good reasons for having better light bulbs but saving energy most likely isn’t too high up even though it is how they are sold. For every watt we save we seem to need 10 more watts for something new we didn’t know we needed. Just look at the average house being built now compared to 1950. In 1950 homes had a 60 amp load panel with fuses and homeowners couldn’t think of exceeding that. That quickly became 100a and now 200a is normal or more.


China and India are bringing on line a new coal power plant each something like every week as energy consumption equates to a better life and a longer life. That’s been proved in this country and we can’t blame the rest of the world for wanting that.


I really think 24 cents a day is just 24 cents a day in your pocket to do with what you want.
 
Great comments BUD16415, but I agree it's really tough to sell "common sense" these days.
 
Well argued Bud. But you have to try. It's the same with water bottles. Why should I have to carry a refillable one when I can easily ditch the plastic one when I'm done? Why should farmers struggle to keep growing crops in the midst of all the environmental "mishaps" that ruin their fields? (You've probably seen those bumper stickers that say "No Farms, No Food". I suspect you might even have one on your truck ;)) You might be able to stop immigrants from escaping the equatorial regions at the wall, but it won't stop fire ants or invasive plants from moving north.

I learned about the J-curve in middle school. You grow a species of bacteria in a petrie dish uninterrupted and they will thrive until the the dish can no longer support life.

You have to try.
 
Well argued Bud.


You are correct. Reminds me of around 1990 McDonalds caved into pressure to replace the foam food containers with cardboard. The foam was a cleaner product in terms of putting food in. It is made from a part of the oil refining process that is otherwise wasted it is a tiny fraction of the cost for them to buy. It kept food warmer. The energy to make the foam box was just a fraction of cutting down trees and grinding them to pulp then treating the pulp with all kinds of nasty things to break it down to raw fiber. Bleach it clean it squeeze it roll it print it and lastly assemble it. Then having to get rid of all the trimmings and other waste products. The lifespan of the box foam or cardboard is about ten minutes and then it gets discarded. The foam actually would break down in land fills faster and is good for soils. If the two products are burned the foam box gives off way less of that nasty CO2.


But it is perception and people perceive paper good plastic bad. I haven’t bought a garbage bag in 10 years. Wal-Mart gives me bags every time I go there.


As to drinking bottles of water that cost more per gallon than gasoline. People pay 9 bucks for a plastic refillable water bottle and feel good about it. If you get a drink that comes in a bottle and rinse it out and fill it with water you get told the plastic is leaching into your water and killing you. It is insane. I bought 3 one gallon OJ that had a nice pitcher shape and when the OJ was gone I have been mixing city water with ice tea or lemon aid powder in then for a year or more. Leftovers go in cottage cheese containers who need Tupperware.


Species have been moving around the world from the beginning of time. The wall is just to keep people out the entry points are to let them in. I have traveled all over the world and I have yet to find a country that just let me walk in on my own.


The J curve is correct and technology in things like farming is what allows us to go past it’s logical end point. We are doing just fine in this country as long as the government allows free enterprise to do its thing. The two farmers I know that got out of dairy 5 years ago because the deck is stacked against dairy farmer now just planted 1000 acres of corn and beans over the last week. The corn (great food) all goes to making alcohol to go in gasoline and the beans get squeezed for oil to make bio diesel. More money in fuel than food these days plus that drives food prices up.


Looking for a new bumper sticker No Farmers No Fuel.
 
I don't know about bio-diesel but ethanol gas has cost me plenty. In taxes for the subsidy, in lowered gas mileage for my vehicles and ruined various chain saw, weed eater, lawn mower and generator fuel system components. I'm just thankful that we don't get as much government as we pay for.
 
I don't know about bio-diesel but ethanol gas has cost me plenty. In taxes for the subsidy, in lowered gas mileage for my vehicles and ruined various chain saw, weed eater, lawn mower and generator fuel system components. I'm just thankful that we don't get as much government as we pay for.

Will Rodgers couldn't have said it any better. :)
 
I don't know about bio-diesel .


The interesting thing about pressing the soybeans and extracting the oil is the company here that does it also has a huge dairy farm. What is left over ends up as a supplement to their cattle feed and allows them an advantage. Nothing wasted.
 
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