The Easiest Energy Saving Tip with the Quickest Payback -- Lightbulbs

This might be a boring one for people already deep in the energy saving game, but I'm going to mention it anyway since it makes so much sense. So here are the basics. Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs) use 75% less power than a standard incandescent bulb. So 4 CFLs use less power than 1 standard bulb. Not to mention they can last 13x longer than a standard bulb. But let's be conservative while we do the math. Let's assume that a 13w fluorescent replaces a 60 watt incandescent, but lets say the fluorescent only lasts 8x longer. The CFL claims it lasts 8,000 hours so let's assume the incandescent will last 1,000. Here it goes:



Cost of CFL: $3 (going on the high side)
Cost of energy over the life of the bulb = $0.10 (cost of a kilowatt hour) x 13 (watts) / 1000 (watts / kilowatt) x 8000 (number of hours) = $10.40
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Total Cost = $13.40

Now for the standard incandescent bulb:

Cost of 8 standard bulbs: $1 (going on the low side)
Cost of energy over the life of the bulb = $0.10 (cost of a kilowatt hour) x 60 (watts) / 1000 (watts / kilowatt) x 8000 (number of hours) = $48.00
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Total Cost = $49.00

Total savings over the life of 1 CFL bulb = $35.60

Now figure that at 8 hours per day, that CFL will last you 3 years. So you save almost $12 per bulb per year. Plus you don't have to get on a ladder every 6 months to change your light bulbs. Now think about how many bulbs you have in your house.

And there's another benefit. Incandescent bulbs give off a lot of heat, which is why they are such a waste of energy. In the summer, your A/C actually has to work harder to cool your house down from the heat of the light bulbs. With the CFLs, less heat = less A/C usage. Hard to quantify, but definitely a savings.

I will admit a few drawbacks with CFLs. They can take 15-30 seconds to reach full brightness. Longer with the floods for some reason. The color isn't always considered as "true" and the dimming bulbs don't reportedly work very well (some are reported to flicker when you dim it too low) and they are a lot more expensive. But in the end these bulbs have come a long way. And they pay for themselves many times over with energy savings.