If you haven't yet "seen the light" and changed over from wasteful, hot, outdated incandescent bulbs to modern, cool, efficient compact fluorescents, now is a great time. With warmer weather here, all that extra heat put into your house from incandescent light bulbs is very unwelcome.

To give you an idea, if you have ten 100 watt incandescent light bulbs operating in your house, they are adding 1,000 watts (3,413 BTU) of heat. That's almost as much as a portable electric heater. Not only are you paying for all 1,000 of those watts, but your air conditioner also has to take that heat back out of your house, increasing your cooling bills.

If you pay the national average electric rate of about 8.7 cents per kwh, changing ten 100 watt incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescents during the summer cooling season will save you about 10 cents for every hour that you have lighting and cooling both operating.

Even if that's just 6 hours per day, that's a savings of 60 cents per day, or $18 a month. Not bad for a $27 investment in two packs of 26 watt compact fluorescents at Sam's Club. The bulbs will pay for themselves in less than two months.

A good place to start saving is with kitchen "can" lights. You normally see 65 watt floods installed in these. With compact fluorescent (CFL) floods, that drops to 13 watts per bulb -- for lighting that's actually brighter. In my mom's kitchen, I changed out eight 65 watt floods for eight 13 watt CFL floods, and she likes the quality of the light a lot better. Before, you could really feel the heat from all those bulbs -- all 520 watts of it. Now, with just 104 watts, the kitchen is very noticeably cooler, and the light looks cleaner and brighter.

The next best bet for CFLs are table lamps that are used several hours a day.

A few places where CFLs aren't good are won't pay off: Enclosed fixtures (often CFLs won't fit in them, and the heat buildup inside could shorten the bulb's life). Closets, attics, or other places where light bulbs are turned on infrequently, or only for a few minutes at a time. (CFLs don't last as long as they're supposed to last when turned on only a few minutes at a time, and the energy use of an incandescent bulb only used a few minutes a day is negligible.)

Also, some CFLs aren't compatible with cold locations. They can be great in outdoor fixtures, and a big money saver since a lot of people use outdoor lights for many hours of every night. But if you live in an area with cold winters, you need to make sure that any CFLs you intend to install outdoors are rated for use in temperatures as low as what you are likely to see. You can usually find this information on the bulb's packaging.

Ken

The biggest risk of putting a CFL in an enclosed fixture is that it wouldn't last as long as it's supposed to. At the low prices these bulbs are available for now, that's becoming less of an issue. It's probably worth a try.

In NJ last year, the state subsidized these bulbs so you could buy them for $1 each. Just passing this on in case somebody can find an electrical supply store that still has them in stock. (Ours has finally run out.)

I slightly modified the recessed fixtures in my bathrooms to take the 13 watt CFLs. (All that was required was to substitute a different translucent cover which gave a little more space.) Many recessed bathroom fixtures will take the 13 watt "twist" style CFLs with no modifications, because these bulbs are only very slightly larger than a standard 60 watt bulb. When I put the 13 watt CFLs in the bathrooms, I was amazed that the light actually got brighter, as compared to a 60 watt incandescent. I think this is due to the fact that the light is a whiter color and travels through the translucent cover better than the yellowish light from the incandescent.

I'm slowly getting rid of any fixtures I have that won't accept CFLs and replacing them with ones that either come standard as fluorescents or which will accept a CFL.

If some of you are keeping your air conditioning turned so cool that I get goose bumps when I visit - how about setting them for higher temp?

I've complained to some local stores about the coolness in their store. Coming from the outdoors heat, one almost needs a jacket, for gosh sake!

Save power, guys - tread lightly on the earth.

I'd appreciate it if you guys in the Ohio Valley area would reduce your demand, for about half of the pollution here north of Lake Erie comes from your area, much of it from those dratted old coal-burning electrical generators in the Ohio Valley.

We had several smog alert days, recently - were asked to try to drive less, cut other pollution-generating factors.

My eyes get itchy sometimes, which I think may be caused by the smog.

My Dad had breathing problems so serious sixty years ago that he sold his farm here and moved to farm on the Prairies - had 40 years of good health.

Enjoy your summer, all.

ole joyful

Unfortunately, it's the demand side that matters. A Canadian or New Yorker is just as happy to turn on his electric lights and appliances as a person who lives in the Ohio Valley, and if you're creating a demand for that power, you're just as much a part of the problem as anyone else. That's one reason I posted this thread advocating CFLs.