On Jun 13, 11:11 am, HerHusband wrote:
Pushing everyone over to CFLs from incandecent bulbs is supposed to
save a lot of electricity, right?
Well, how much power does it take to cook a roast for a family of five
in your average electric oven? Bet we'd save a lot more money if we
forced everyone over to microwave/convection systems.

I think ANY step you can take to save electricity is a good one, whether
it be to save the earth, or simply to reduce your electric bill. But
convenience and practicality play a big part. Most people won't change
their lifestyles just to save electricity.

Switching from an incandescent to a CFL costs less than $5, the bulb will
last years, and the light output is usually the same or greater than the
incandescent. There's very little negative effect to the consumer. Of
course, a CFL isn't the right alternative for all applications, but in
most cases it's a win-win situation.

How about:

The CFL light is harsher and not nearly as pleasing as the light
available from an incandescent.

The ones that I've tried that are screw in replacements take a long
time to warm up. I just bought 2 at HD for the kitchen. At night,
it takes at least a couple of mins for them to get to anywhere near
acceptable output. For the first minute+ they are like a night
light. Oh, and btw, you wouldn't know how fast they reach any light
output, because it's never specd.

And the ones mentioned above were indoor flood type. When I tried to
screw them into the existing ceiling cans, they would not fit because
while the bulb is the right size, the neck near the base is wider to
accomodate the electronics. I had to go buy extenders, which now
leaves them sticking slightly out of the fixture.

Plus most can't be dimmed, and those that can are only dimmable over a
narrow range.

So, I'm not so sure the observation about conventional electric ovens
vs microwave is so far off. I'm not saying they can't be a good fit
for certain applications. But I think there is plenty that is
negative about them, including that they contain mercury, which
creates more hazardous waste. And instead of telling people the
truth, there are nuts running around like those in California that
want to pass laws that ban incandescents. It also doesn't do much
good to claim they are peachy keen, and have folks try a couple
thinking they are just like regular light bulbs, then give up on them
because they don't work well in the particular application. It
would be far better to be honest about their shortcomings, so people
can use them where they make sense. In my case, so far, that's the
garage, basement and closets.








On the other hand, a microwave doesn't work well for cooking many foods
(baking a cake, making cookies, etc.). And upgrading to a convection oven
means hundreds of dollars (and I don't think a convection uses any less
electricity, it just cooks faster and more evenly). Either option would
mean a major change in behavior for the average consumer.

Our local electric utility has charts of most household appliances and
their average monthly costs (All one line, watch the line-wrap):

http://www.clarkpublicutilities.com/...trol/appliance...
stOfUse

It's interesting reading, but you have to factor your own usage patterns
into the equation. If you do a lot of baking, the electric usage of your
oven is going to be much more significant than it is for a person who
rarely uses their oven. We probably use our oven less than 5 hours a
month, so it's not a big part of our total electrical consumption.

Finally, in many areas, people use gas for their cooking and heating
needs. So, based on the overall population, the electric use of an oven
probably isn't as significant as lighting, which is electrically operated
for all homes (I don't think many people use gas lights or candles as
their primary lighting source these days?).


Don't see why whether you use gas or electric oven makes any real
difference. The energy still has to come from somewhere.