On Mon, 26 Apr 2010 06:24:30 +0000 (UTC), (Don Klipstein)
wrote:

In article , Tegger wrote:
Rob Budd wrote in
m:

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.

Looking around my neighborhood, I see zero CFLs. In my VT neighborhood, quite
a green place, there were also zero (for good reason - they wouldn't light
until spring).

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.

She'll save even more by turning it off.