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Sam Goldwasser
 
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Default Dimmer vs savings

writes:

JANA wrote:
A dimmer will not save very much in power consumption. When the lamp is
dimmed, it is less efficient. Its heater resistance will go down a little,
thus it will not draw much less current in relation to the loss of light
output.

What you should really be going for, is to use a smaller wattage bulb, or
get rid of the dimmer and use a compact fluorescent lamp. These lamps are
about 85% efficient, and will consume much less power. It is not
recommended to use a dimmer on a compact fluorescent lamp, unless it is
a model that is designed to do so. If you try it on a dimmer and it is
not rated, there is a chance that both the dimmer and the lamp will be
damaged.


I guess what you meant was 15 percent efficient at producing useful light.
This is still 3 times the efficiency of a typical incandescent lamp.

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