Most bulb life ratings are for something like 8 hours burn times. Then a cool down period. That inrush current and the spike in heat, & cool down cycles, takes a toll on bulb life slowly over time. More you switch em, the modestly shorter the life is of everything, wall switch too.

I have a table lamp by the computer that has a CFL in it, so it gets used quite a lot, but sometimes I need the different location offered by the chandelier.

Have what used to be a bed lamp in hutch over the desk, at back of chair when sitting at computer, which has an incandescent in it, but I don't use it much. However, when I'm using the desk, usually use the chandelier ... so guess it's time to put one of the CFLs I bought lately that are currently reposing in that tough plastic bubble pack, to use in the former bed lamp.

Drat that large packaging ... I live 2 miles from a landfill that a while ago was licensed for 9 million tons, recently had licence enlarged to 17 million tons.

Just before the City of Toronto bought it - for $220 million. None of which comes to me ...

... but, hey - anyone want to drink some of my water???

Some of the neighbours have those water dispensers with the big jug on top ...

... not me ...

... much of that water is municipal water, filtered, etc., but most municipal standards are higher than for bottled water.

They pay a high price for that water.

Not me - I just fill a jug at the church or my friend's house in the city.

I'm a relative to the birdies, I guess ...

... cheep, cheep, cheep.

Initial preparation of income tax return last night - I'll have some to pay, unfortunately.

Did some calculations on an issue of how much income a person could develop of one certain type and be tax free ...

... would you believe over $49,000??

It helps if you're rich!

Have a great day, everyone.

ole joyful

Don't forget the other electric drains. Refrigerators/Freezers. Clean coils on them regularly. Check door seals and adjust door if needed to keep the cold in. If you have occasional use wall-warts, unplug them until needed. The little transformers use a touch of 'trisity continually. And a biggie: Use fans instead of the a/c when you can and keep the a/c filters clean too. The less you use the a/c, the more you save. If you have central air, you often can get a saver switch installed to cut your rates without noticeable loss of cooling.

Look at where the electricity is going and see about saving. Everyones use will be different. Some have to have a light on outside overnight. Others don't. Could use a timer or just shut it off. Don't overlook the potential for CFLs outside.

saved us an average of $20.00 a month!

we also wash clothes with cold water

plus 75% of our lights are cfl's.

A recent article in USA Today showed that customers with deregulated utility providers paid on average 30% MORE per kWh for their electricity than those in regulated markets.

Utility deregulation is one of those dumb ideas that only benefits the utility and their investors and costs the consumer a lot more.

- Since a 100 watt incandescent equivalent CFL bulb is only using 20 something watts, if you add that up over all the lights on any particular circuit, that is a lot less amperage, which means less chance of tripping a breaker or blowing a fuse - more helpful in older homes which may have too many things on one circuit.

- An incandescent bulb gets too hot to touch in under a minute - creating a fire hazard with anything that comes into contact with it. Ceiling fixtures often have warnings on them about using bulbs rated over a certain wattage (like 60) because of the danger of excessive heat build-up. I left one of the CFL bulbs on for hours and I had no problem holding on too it - while warm it was not uncomfortably hot. I can now put them in ceiling fixtures and get far higher light output with no danger of overheating. Likewise in summer I won't be adding to the heat burden by using incandescents which generate a lot of waste heat.

One possible downside of the CFL bulbs is that they are a little longer than the incandescents, which means you may not be able to fit them in all of your old fixtures. The 60 watt equiv CFL's were shorter than the 100 watt equiv ones though.

And supposedly they make some shorter CFL's now as well. I don't like the longer ones peeking out from my pendant lights - they hit my eyes wrong.

Scott my bill went down when I got a new box.

we did notice a HUGE drop when we got a new fridge and oven.

Despite what anyone might think, there is NO savings in running the AC/heat all the time. If you're not there, let it shut off.

Also, for those willing to get a bit more advanced with this, in the summertime, lower humidity = more comfort at higher temperatures and a wider range of temperatures. Some people might notice this effect in a negative way if they've had a new air conditioner installed recently. The new ones don't remove humidity as well as the old ones did (unless you're going with a variable-speed system with humidity control). Because of this, you might find yourself turning the thermostat lower to feel more comfortable and probably with a similar electrical bill as before, despite the new system being "more efficient."

While I'm on the heating/cooling area, get out that caulk gun and start sealing up your house. Seal around the windows, the baseboards, around the doors, around electrical outlets. Also don't forget to seal around recessed lights and ceiling electrical boxes (even better, replace those recessed lights with air-tight fixtures.) Also make sure weatherstripping on doors and windows is in good shape, especially at the bottom of exterior doors. Maybe even consider adding more insulation. If you've got some money to spend, replace the windows. Up to 50-65% of your heat loss/gain comes from the windows.

In some areas, such as garages, consider installing motion-activated timer switches for lighting. Then when you walk/pull into the garage, the lights will go on and will shut off shortly after there's no activity there.

One last one, unplug electronic devices you're not using. My cable box draws 60 watts regardless of whether I'm using it or not. Even if it's "off," it still draws 60 watts. Go around the house and these things add up. For example, when powered "off", a standard VCR draws 10 watts, DVD player draws 5 watts, clock-radio draws 8 watts, standard power brick "wall wart" draws 5-10 watts at idle. Add those up and then realize it's running 24/7/365, that's 8760 hrs. Let's assume I have 100 watts of these phantom loads in my house and that's $88/year, not including the 12% energy tax here.