Lighting Our Lives:Energy Conservation Project

Shanna Rounds

How much energy are we using?

How much money could we save by switching to new, energy efficient bulbs?

Which lights do we use most often in the house? 3 kitchen, 1 dining, 1 living, 1 bath, 1 spare

room, 1 bed room, 1 laundry At how many watts is each light bulb

burning? How many hours do we burn each bulb

each week? How much does it cost per watt per hour? Could we save money by buying energy

efficient light bulbs at $4.99 each?

Seven day collection period

Data sheet next to each light switch to record each time a light is switched on/off

Note the wattage of each bulb Energy Star website calculator

Writing down each on/off = annoying. We used the lights less than normal.

No pen! Oops, did not write it down every time…

The err, therefore, is that we did not get the true total number of hours that we would use the lights during a normal week.

Hours Used

Light Watts

Total Hours

Kilowatt Hours

Cost KWH

Total Cost

kitchen overhead 80 15.82 1.2656 .1417 0.18above kitchen sink 60 13.98 0.8388 .1417 0.12stove 40 30.55 1.222 .1417 0.17dining room lamp 40 33.73 1.3492 .1417 0.19bathroom 160 4.82 0.7712 .1417 0.11living room standing lamp 100 4.35 0.435 .1417 0.06bedroom overhead 100 0.82 0.082 .1417 0.01spare room overhead 100 5.03 0.503 .1417 0.07laundry overhead 100 0.67 0.067 .1417 0.01

Total Cost…Week: $ .92Month: $3.68Year: $44.11

Total KwH…Week: 6.53Month: 26.14Year: 313.62

Old School Bulbs (Incandescent)

Wattage

Lumens Energy Efficient Bulbs

Wattage

40 450 9-13

60 800 13-15

75 1100 18-25

100 1600 23-30

150 2600 30-52

So, according to this information we can conclude that if we switched to energy efficient bulbs…

Total Cost…Week: $ .28Month: $1.13Year: $13.66

Total KwH…Week: 2.01Month: 8.03Year: 96.38

WE SAVE…$30.45 / year217.24 KwH / year

We have only 9 bulbs we use often. In Sitka, these bulbs are often $4.99…so

buy them on sale. Order them on-line. $1.99

X 9 = $18.00

These energy efficient bulbs last longer than incandescent bulbs.

In the end, I think it is worth it for your wallet, and especially the environment!

I ask you to expand this: How about just replacing the two most

frequently used bulbs? How about if you got just five friends to

change their household bulbs? We would save

the earth … 1058 KwH ! Consider that if whole countries, like China,

are moving to outlaw these old bulbs, isn’t it time we learned watts up?