Has anybody seen any significant saving on their electric bill with compact fluorescent bulbs?

Question

I've been seeing conflicting reports.

Answer 1

I haven't had a comparable bill yet, since govt contractors called and fitted the new globes.

They failed to tell me that these new globes contain mercury, and are a serious health hazard when they do fail. I believe in the US the packaging carries a warning, but not here in Australia. Not that I got tosee the packaging anyway. Would have been nice to have been informed......

Answer 2

I saw a very small savings from compact fluorescent bulbs alone.  But when I started turning off COMPLETELY my computers and TV's, etc., I saw a significant savings after only 2 months.   It is mildly inconvenient, at first to wait for stuff to warm-up, but it was all worth while when I saw how much my bill was down.

Answer 3

they are about 4-6 times more efficient then incandescent lights.

incandescent lights convert about 1-2% of the energy they use into light while fluroesent bulbs convert about 8%.

Answer 4

I receive annual reports from the Electricity provider, and shifting from conventional to fluorescent lights caused about 5% annual saving for my home, however, the rise in cost of electricity wiped most of that saving.

Answer 5

Part of the challenge of actually measuring energy savings from small upgrades (like CFL's) on your bill is that your electric bill changes so much from month to month anyway.  

If you have a friend come stay for the weekend and she takes three extra showers, and uses your hair dryer for an extra hour and a half, and opens your refrigerator a couple of times, but the utility read your meter a day earlier and it's only a 30 day month instead of a 31 day month and last month you went out of town for a weekend and didn't use your lights or hairdryer at all, then how can you possibly know if your CFL's saved you $5 that month?

I'm sure you've seen the math about how much CFL's save.  A 60W bulb that is replaced with a 15W CFL bulb will save you about $5 per month if it runs 24 hours per day.   If you replace ten lightbulbs with CFL's, but then only run a few hours a day, you might see $10 in savings.  

Don't get me wrong.  In the long run, you will almost certainly see your bill go down.   And you'll definitely be saving energy, and money.   But, for reasons described above you just might see a HUGE drop in your bill the first month, just because of month-to-month changes.  Or you might see no drop at all.

It's a great question.  

Good luck!

Answer 6

Yes, an average of $3.00 a month but the flip side is the power company keeps raising their rates so it becomes a catch 22.

You try doing the right thing but thanks to the greed energy companies it becomes a matter of your survival in stead.

Answer 7

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, right now, are more efficient and " eco-wise" then anything else most consumers can get a hold of (ie. incandescent) and currently save over 2000 times their own weight in greenhouse gases.

But since my house is completely on solar / wind and we REALLY need to watch usage, every light is fitted with s***w type (typical 110v lamp socket style) LED bulbs. They emit the same luminosity (typically 45) but at only 1watt rather then a 45w compact or 10w CFL. However they usually cost twice as much as CFLs which is twice as much (or more) as compacts. Still LEDs would be the way to go by far.

If you want to really lower you utility bill I have a step by step guide that would walk threw everything you need to do. You can find it at http://www.agua-luna.com/offgrid_guide.h... or feel free to contact me.

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions,

Dan Martin

Retired Boeing Engineer now living 100% Off-the-Grid with my family, using Alternative Energy & loving every minute.

for more info visit www.agua-luna.com

Answer 8

I have converted all my lighting in my home to compact fluorescents.  My savings in electric usage is down 18% from what it was when I didn't have fluorescents

Answer 9

I did!  A few years ago, I moved from a studio apartment (living alone) to a bigger apartment (with someone), and when that happened, we switched all the regular light bulbs to energy efficient bulbs.  Even with the extra rooms, extra time that someone was at home, and extra electronic equipment, the electric bill was cut by about 40%.  I can't say that that much of a decrease would be standard, but in my case the savings were pretty significant.

Also, I can't remember how often regular bulbs need to be changed, but I've moved again since then and all the bulbs moved with me.  I haven't had to replace one in three years.

Answer 10

They don't save anything by converting to fluorescent bulbs, because they don't produce the same amount of light as an incandescent bulb. If you compared them precisely using the amount of light emitted then there would be only the saving from having fewer bulbs needing replacement over the life expectancy of household bulbs. Incandescent bulbs are more susceptible to surges and dips in the amount of power being supplied to homes! Therefore they expire earlier than fluorescent bulbs! If you use strictly fluorescents in your home then you have a darker home than previously!