In article , Tegger wrote:
Rob Budd wrote in
:

On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 22:37:15 +0000 (UTC), Tegger
wrote:


Consideration of all this is how I come to the conclusion that CFLs are
not all they're cracked-up to be when it comes to saving money. They
probably do save money, but the amount saved is surely very, very small.


I switched most of my lights to CFL a few years ago. As a result, I
saved enough electricity that the power company changed me to a lower
rate structure, which gave me additional savings. They said I
qualified because I had reduced my power consumption by more than 10%
than the same period the preceeding year.



If I save 10%, that amounts to ten dollars a month. I am not going to
bother with CFLs if the hassle means only ten dollars a month.



And unless you are a total retard, that porch light does not need to
be on 24/7 just to make sure you have "light when needed"

I should have been clearer: By "all the time", I meant "all the time after
it starts to get dark outside". And that I see absolutely everywhere. I
walk a lot, and thus have lots of time to observe people's lighting
behavior. I'd say that, comparing outside-lighting left on all the time,
CFLs outnumber incandescents at /least/ ten-to-one.

My experience is that even in the left-winging University City section
of Philadelphia, on-all-night outdoor lighting has houses having CFL
outnumbering incandescent by more like 3-to-1, likely closer to 2.5-to-1.

In the neighborhood of my closest friend other than my boyfriend (near
but outside Lansdale PA), I find the ratio to be fairly close to 1-to-1,
definitely *a lot less* than 2-to-1. In my boyfriend's mother's
neighborhood (Aldan PA), most outdoor lighting by households is
incandescent. In my mother's neighborhood (in Abington township PA),
I see outdoor lighting by households being incandescent but maybe by a
small margin.
And, I was counting fixtures rather than watts.

My mother enjoys savings compared to incandescent for her porch light,
whether or not she turns it off daytime.

- Don Klipstein )