Does it waste electicity turning lights on and off?

Question

Because I want to save electricity I always turn lights off when I leave a room. But I've heard that it wastes A LOT of electricity turning lights on (like, it uses up a lot of electricity to kick start the lights) ... so it's a good idea to just keep lights on in rooms if you are still sort of using them. So which is better?

Answer 1

i heard a man on the radio (from some environment kind of corporation) saying that its always better to turn the light off/on than leaving it on continuously, even for a short amount of time.

peace and love

Answer 2

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed

Answer 3

it's pretty obvious you lack a basic knowledge of electric current and the principles of the light bulb.  Sleep through our high school science class, did we?

no, turning the lights off when not in use is the better option.  Not to mention you'll burn out the bulb faster by leaving it on.

Answer 4

mythbusters? hahahhah.  if you need a light, turn it on. but when youre not using a light turn it off to save electricity. simple as that.

Answer 5

No. do not do that. It will also shorten the life of filament. for short time allow them. better. think of it.

Answer 6

You could leave all lights on so your bills can costs more but then you help the utility company make more money and create more jobs. Not bad at all.

Answer 7

If you plan on leaving  the room for more than:

-About 15 minutes for an incandescent light, turn it off

-About 25 minutes for a flourescent tube

-About 40 minutes for a CFL

-For a LED, don't bother.   It uses so little energy anyway its not worth bothering with.

Answer 8

You don't kick start lights.  Turning them off when you don't need them is better.  I used to hear the same c**p about televisions warming up.  I used to know a family that left a TV on all day even when no one was watching it because it "saved' electricity.  Even at 17 i found that to be amazingly ignorant.

Answer 9

it does take energy to turn on a light especially a fluorescent light. the time period is about a tenth of a second so don't flicker the lights, but turn them off every time you leave the room.

Answer 10

I know that leaving flourescent lights on will conserve energy and also save the bulbs. However, turning off the regular kind of light bulbs when you leave the room will save the bulb, I don't know about the energy.

Answer 11

no, it cost more to leave them on

Answer 12

There are two kinds of fluorescent lights based on the kind of ballast they use. Older technology used a magnetic ballast and it did have a significant wake up period... would use the power of an incandescent bulb running for 40 seconds or more, depending on how many times they started and stopped while coming on.

None of the modern electronic ballast flourescents use more than 15 seconds of energy to start up.

In general electric circuits have lower resistance when cold, so allow more energy to pass through them when cold. Electric motors may require a delayed-burn fuse to get started... while the motor may use 8 amps continuously, they may pull 22 amps for half a minute. That makes it practical to leave the moter running  5 minutes rather than stopping. Maintenance on the motor, however can make it worth while to run it even 20 minutes rather than restart it.

But having a motor running unattended can be a problem for safety.

LED lights will restart with almost no increase in energy used.

Answer 13

There was a mythbusters that did that, and it's more to leave them on.

Answer 14

yes it is a wast of electricity and it burns out your lights faster

Answer 15

If you have flourescent lights, and you will be out of the room for less than 20 minutes, leave them on. Otherwise,  just shut them off.

Answer 16

According to the Mythbusters on Discovery channel, it was such a small difference that it really didn't save anything either way.  So if you are going to be out of the room for a short time, you might as well leave them on, but if you will be gone a while, then turn them off.

Answer 17

I dont there's any much electricity needed in a kick start just an ordinary routine, ie on & off ur consuming electricity generation by not switching it off! Electricity is not stored like a battery & u dont need heavy electricity to just start an ordinary bulb, u need energy & the will to just go over to ur socket n just switch it on n off?

Answer 18

that is false. it doesnt take any more energy to turn a light on