Help with Eco sensitivity?

Question

How much electricity does a regular incandaccend 60w light bulb use? I wanted to change mine to cfl bulbs but was told that the 60 it uses is not enough to affect the energy quotient in my home. thanks for any help.

Answer 1

It all depends on how much you use your lighting...  Since you are charged by the electric company per KWH  KiloWattHour (  every 1000 watts per hour ) you would need to reduce your usage by at least 1000 watts per hour to notice.

So if you use 1 60W light bulb for 12 hours a month you would have 720W used.  If you replaced that one bulb with a 13W bulb and used it for 12 hours you would have a total of 156W used.  You would still get charged from the utility company for 1000W of power.  

Now if you used 2 60W bulbs for 12 hours you would have 1440W of power.  If you replaced both of those bulbs with 13W  you would have 312W of power used.  Now you would see a savings.  Instead of paying for 2 KWH you would only be paying for 1 KWH.  Which is probably a saving of only about 8-10 cents.  

But how often do you use your lights?  probably a lot more than 12 hours per month.  The savings gets bigger the more you use them and the more lights you replace.

Answer 2

I switched all of mine a long time ago and they were all 60s. It was recommended by PG & E and they even gave me the bulbs to make the change. Regardless, it's a green thing.

Answer 3

Hey, go ahead and spend 10 times more for a flourescent bulb that is no good for reading.

Answer 4

A regular 60 Watt light bulb uses 60Watts of Electricity and gives off the same amount of light (measured in Lumens) as a 13 watt compact fluorescent bulb. The CF bulb will also last much longer than a standard bulb. So while it may seem more expensive, consider that over the life of the bulb, you will be paying around $37 more on energy for the regular bulb, plus you will have to probably buy 5 of them in the same span of time as the CF bulb. So yes, it will affect the "energy quotient" as well as the finances of your home.