On Apr 11, 8:41*am, terry wrote:
On Apr 11, 10:59*am, wrote:





On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:39:10 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski"

wrote:

On Apr 11, 6:12 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
"GE says the new bulb uses just 9 watts and provides a 77% energy savings
while lasting 25 times as long as the 40-watt bulb it's intended to
replace."

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/...b-lasts-years/

Assume a 40-watt bulb lasts 1000 hours.

40w x 1000 = 40 kwh x $0.15/kwh = $6.00 operating cost over life of bulb.

The new bulb uses 9 watts. So for the same period,

9w x 1000 = 9 kwh x $0.15/kwh = $1.35 operating cost.

Over the life of the bulb, the savings is considerable, about $116.

Right now, I'm not going to pay extra for a bulb that is going to last
longer than me. *They need brighter *bulbs and decent color. *I wonder if
they've done anything about that. *I did buy an LED nightlight for the
bathroom. *It is 4W, IIRC and bright enough. *It gives a very blue light and
in a blue bathroom it is kind of overkill on blue. *Good enough to take a
leak middle of the night, now something I'd want to live with all the time.

I imagine the price will come down over time, just as the CFL has in recent
years. *They went from $20 to $1 and improved the light color too.

I use quite a few LED lamps on my sailboat, where saving electricity
is a way of life. They are rapidly getting cheaper and better than
even a couple of years ago. "Boats" is a relatively tiny niche market
where everything tends to be far more expensive for no apparent
reason. Once they have decent LED lamps for the home and commercial
applications, expect quality to rise exponentially and costs to
plummet. I'm looking forward to it.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

In this house and for ten months of the year, especially at night when
lights tend to be on and it is cool or cold, we can use the
electrically generated heat of 'wasteful' non LEDs and CFLs. i.e.
incandescents inside the house.

It just means our electric heaters, using hydro generated power don't
cut in quite as often!

Although we use (re-used) fluorescent tube fixtures from an old
school, in workshop, kitchen, garage etc. (We saved a whole bunch from
going to he dump, including some reusable tubes. Some are electronic,
others old style).

Where we must try an LED is in the outside porch fixture which is on
most of the night; mainly for safety purposes. And also insurance
purposes, if someone did happen to trip up! The heat and light from
that is just wasted outdoors.

Elsewhere outside we have a couple of motion sensor lights that come
on for a few minutes each time. Haven't changed the bulbs in them for
quite a few years.

However for some 10 hours per night; electricity for that outside
porch light (long life/rural incandescent using 50 watts per hour),
for one year costs; 365 x 50 x10/1000 = kilowatts. Each kilowatt hour
costs about 9 or 10 cents including all taxes etc. So annual cost
about $18. So an LED or CFL (provided it works in cold weather without
hesitation) using one third the power might be cost efficient? The
existing bulbs usually last several years (last one changed earlier
this year) was the second of two bought some ten to fifteen years ago.
Our voltage rarely above 119 to 121 volts and probably pretty steady
at night when load is lower.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

But I like the most of the US pay near 50% more per BTU for electric,
so Incandesants are a waste as is electric heat.