Evidence of a Decline in Electricity Use by US Households

I absolutely hate the CFL and LeD lighting. LeD work great for under cabinet lights but I like the old bulbs better, I like the light emmitted from them better as they are a warmer light. I have also found that in my current house and in my shop these new lights do not last very long at all yet the old bulbs which I have cases of last years. Tried to switch over to new bulbs they keep blowing out, so back to the old bulbs.

I dropped my electric bill greatly by kicking my daughter out and by heating with wood, insulating hot water heater and pipes and replacing my windows. I will say that the LED lights have improved over the last couple years but I still like the old light.
 
You can choose to buy a warmer light in LED style, can be tough to find locally though, the LEDs should last a very long time.

We have switched over to CFL and LED lights, more efficient gas boiler, more efficient air conditioners, TVs, attic fan. All thats left is a variable speed pool pump. Cut our utilities down almost 50%, well a bit less if you factor in water but theres nothing we can do about that.
 
I find this article 'incomplete'. The author is correct to say that more efficient lighting has an effect, but thats only part of the story.

On its own, your lights are only a small part of your bill. Let's do some simple math. You are billed based on the kWh. That's to say a 1000 watt draw for an hour. Let's say your rate is 10 cents/kWh. Given that, an old 100w bulb is 0.1 kW. So it would take 10 hours for that bulb to coat you a single dime.

That being said, are led and cfl bulbs having an impact? Definitely. I'm just saying that there's far more to the story here.

Natural gas has become much cheaper than electricity. I know I was extatic to get rid of my electric furnace for a gas. I later did the water heater and dryer. People are doing this kind of thing because it makes sense.

We tend to swap out our electronics a lot as well. Many people are using their cell phones rather than a desktop. I think we can figure out which one uses more juice.

Led TVs have had an impact for sure. When you think about it, all of our electronics have gotten more efficient. Even our desktops use less overall power thanks to the built in power saving. Average Joe doesn't use his PC for gaming often like we do. That means the hardware is rarely stressed.

So what portion is lighting?

Household-Energy-Consumption-www.HVACRepairToGo.com_.png


So really we're just reducing that 10% down to around 2%.

But if you're on gas heating....a huge chunk there isn't included in the article. Same with water. Gas stove? Take off a little more.

And finally, we are more aware now about energy use. Wasn't that many years ago that nobody gave a crap how much power the newest video card sucks back. Now just about every review considers this in detail. People are consciously using less.
 
kju1 said:
I would hardly count an average of 10% as huge and thats from https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=99&t=3.
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more than just that. a streetlight costs about $20 per month to run. LED replacements are becoming available, with longer life and vastly cheaper to operate. You may say, ok, that is $5 in taxes per home, but it adds up to an incredible amount of money in terms of government budgets.
 
AK0tA said:
I absolutely hate the CFL and LeD lighting. LeD work great for under cabinet lights but I like the old bulbs better, I like the light emmitted from them better as they are a warmer light. I have also found that in my current house and in my shop these new lights do not last very long at all yet the old bulbs which I have cases of last years. Tried to switch over to new bulbs they keep blowing out, so back to the old bulbs.

I dropped my electric bill greatly by kicking my daughter out and by heating with wood, insulating hot water heater and pipes and replacing my windows. I will say that the LED lights have improved over the last couple years but I still like the old light.
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You will want to look for the 2700k LED bulbs.....they have the "yellow" light that I think you are referring to....I love them. I hate the blue colored light. Definitely stay away from the 5800k or whatever it is.
 
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Write a book and you can make money off of it forever. Meanwhile Shuji Nakamura has to fight to get paid for creating something that literally transformed the world. Makes sense.
 
jiminator said:
more than just that. a streetlight costs about $20 per month to run. LED replacements are becoming available, with longer life and vastly cheaper to operate. You may say, ok, that is $5 in taxes per home, but it adds up to an incredible amount of money in terms of government budgets.
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It's not just the cost of the fixture, either--it's the cost of periodically sending out a crew to replace the bulbs.

My employer recently changed out their parking lot fixtures. The low-pressure sodium bulbs they had before actually have similar efficiency to LEDs, but have a shorter life (requiring more frequent replacement) and the new LED fixtures are more directional. The new fixtures put out literally 50% less light (in lumens), but because the light is directional, it's still enough. They went from 2500W total down to 1,250W. And they got some rebates for doing it too, so the payback is pretty quick.
 
jiminator said:
more than just that. a streetlight costs about $20 per month to run. LED replacements are becoming available, with longer life and vastly cheaper to operate. You may say, ok, that is $5 in taxes per home, but it adds up to an incredible amount of money in terms of government budgets.
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Except TFA doesnt talk about streetlights it talks about residential energy consumption. Streetlights are not residential lighting they are infrastructure and arent billed to residential customers (unless you have requested one from your power company). They are in fact billed under commercial lighting and accounted for in a different number also in the linked document.

I hate LED street lights. They glare worse than the old sodium ones, are brighter (this is not a good thing), and are generally more of a pain in the ass to deal with. I dont know what it is with people (not implying you) who feel the need to run lights all the time, especially outside. Lights should only be on when they are necessary.
 
If you don't live in an incorporated areas and you have streetlights, then you are paying for them every month. Our neighborhood pays $80/house/year. Note, other states may be different.
 
jiminator said:
If you don't live in an incorporated areas and you have streetlights, then you are paying for them every month. Our neighborhood pays $80/house/year. Note, other states may be different.
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Then your neighborhood requested them. But thats still a minority of streetlight usage and not within scope of the article.
 
For the same people who brought you terrible CFL's:

Phase 1 get everyone on LED
Phase 2 lower prices just a little as a show of good faith
Phase 3 Freak out bulb sales drop to nearly nothing due to product longevity
Phase 4 fix product longevity by cost downing the sh!t out of the product or flat out counterfeiting bulbs so they fail just after you've lost that receipt for a $10 bulb.
 
gunbust3r said:
For the same people who brought you terrible CFL's:

Phase 1 get everyone on LED
Phase 2 lower prices just a little as a show of good faith
Phase 3 Freak out bulb sales drop to nearly nothing due to product longevity
Phase 4 fix product longevity by cost downing the sh!t out of the product or flat out counterfeiting bulbs so they fail just after you've lost that receipt for a $10 bulb.
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Ah, but I have a workaround! Some bulbs are easy to modify to reduce their power rating further, so the LEDs aren't driven so hard. In some Feit Electric bulbs, you simply remove a resistor and it cuts the consumption (and light) in half. I did it with a couple 40W-equivalent bulbs that I wanted to use in lamps, but were too bright.
 
Now if the damn Hue bulb prices would just come down more. Their basic warm white bulb isn't too bad but i would be nice if it had a higher lumen output.
 
Burticus said:
I still want to know what to do with my giant box filled with incandescent bulbs that are still good (and half of them are brand new, 10 years + old). I've been using them outdoors because if they blow or break, who cares. But now that LEDs are finally fairly cheap I'd like to just be done with all of them.

One thing that still sucks though is LED floodlights are still expensive. I have tons of exterior flood lights that I have to keep buying and feeding glass floods. $5-6 for 2 at HD, or $20 for ONE outdoor rated LED one. UGH.
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When I put LEDs in my kitchen they were $75 each. Perhaps do some math and figure out when a good price point will come along that not only makes operating the new lights cheap enough and the cost low enough that it doesn't feel like such a loss to toss the old ones even if they are still good.

That's what this is anyway, it's the feeling that you are being wasteful. So work it out, do the math, then you can do it all with a smile (y)

And on a side note, maybe we are also using less power for other reasons like smart phones and tablets replacing home computers for many people.

I just think this is part of the whole.
 
Installed indoor and outdoor LED lighting on all my rentals, primary reason wasn't cost, it was just less maintenance for the weekly rental cottage stuff. You get tired of changing fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, the reliability on the better gear is definitely there now. The long term monthly rentals I actually don't care as much but I do change them to LED if I have to do maintenance.
 
Nytegard said:
I tried some of those more eco-friendly bulbs, but they don't seem to work on the wiring at my apartment. And it's getting harder to find the older bulbs, so I fear when a bulb blows.
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If you live near Dallas, TX, I have a box of 60w oldie bulbs you can have for frees! :)
 
I love people with the genuine, hard-felt belief that lower wattage bulbs are bad. Conspiracy, price gauging, whatever. *Throws cans of oil into the river* FREEEDOM!!!

Most of my house is CFL's and LEDs. The good is they light generally better than old bulbs. The bad is I've had a seemingly disproportionate number of these new "last a zillion years" bulbs die. Even my first LED bulb, which I *specifically* got because it was rated for enclosures, is dying in an enclosure after only about a year.

I live in a city-owned power area and my electric bill doesn't break $50 in the summer, so it's not like I am desperate to reduce my power for cash savings. I just want to do my part for ~the environment~ etc. It is funny that the total light-based wattage output of my house is what used to be like two moderate-wattage old bulbs.
 
Burticus said:
I still want to know what to do with my giant box filled with incandescent bulbs that are still good (and half of them are brand new, 10 years + old). I've been using them outdoors because if they blow or break, who cares. But now that LEDs are finally fairly cheap I'd like to just be done with all of them.

One thing that still sucks though is LED floodlights are still expensive. I have tons of exterior flood lights that I have to keep buying and feeding glass floods. $5-6 for 2 at HD, or $20 for ONE outdoor rated LED one. UGH.
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I used these, they were on sale for $16.99 for a 2 pack. They are now $18.99 but still a good deal in my book. They are outdoor wet rated. http://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart...d-Light-Bulb-2-Pack-A6PR38P90WESD02/300401649

I run 4 outdoor flood lights all night long, the power savings paid off the bulbs quickly. I run them 10 hours overnight and power is 14 cents per kwh here, so about 40 cents a day or $12 per month in power savings. The returned 100% of investment in under 3 months.
 
I've found that every bit of energy efficiency I pay for more than gets offset by adding something new
 
kju1 said:
I dont know what it is with people (not implying you) who feel the need to run lights all the time, especially outside. Lights should only be on when they are necessary.
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It's called living in a high nighttime activity area. Lights + cameras dramatically reduces mischief on my property.
 
While I'm sure LEDs help, the 27 to 32 percent of millennials living at home may have impacted that along with the housing crisis. The figures are per capital and less aggregate homes will waste far less power.
 
TordanGow said:
I used these, they were on sale for $16.99 for a 2 pack. They are now $18.99 but still a good deal in my book. They are outdoor wet rated. http://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart...d-Light-Bulb-2-Pack-A6PR38P90WESD02/300401649

I run 4 outdoor flood lights all night long, the power savings paid off the bulbs quickly. I run them 10 hours overnight and power is 14 cents per kwh here, so about 40 cents a day or $12 per month in power savings. The returned 100% of investment in under 3 months.
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Thanks for the link. $10 a bulb still kind of hurts but maybe I can catch them on sale or something. Honestly I hate the look of the outdoor floods but there don't seem to be too many options.
 
TordanGow said:
It's called living in a high nighttime activity area. Lights + cameras dramatically reduces mischief on my property.
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That is a common fallacy. Lights at night do not reduce crime (which I assume you refer to as mischief). Numerous studies have shown that lights at night do not actually reduce crime and in some cases can actually increase it. Not to mention the costs and detriments to not only human health but the rest of the environment.

http://jech.bmj.com/content/69/11/1118
https://www.ncjrs.gov/works/
http://darksky.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Chicago-Alley-Lighting-Project.pdf

Cameras can be done with night vision and do not need light.

Also you dont need to have the lights on all night. Thats just plain stupid. Put them on a motion sensor at least. That would have a higher effect since you will startle anyone triggering them.
 
If only americans learned how to insulate their homes properly. Then they would save massively on both heating and cooling.
 
Shintai said:
If only americans learned how to insulate their homes properly. Then they would save massively on both heating and cooling.
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The problem isn't really learning how to do it. We know how, nobody wants to go back out and fix it though. New homes and "efficient" homes are going the route of 2x6 walls with adequate insulation, and most of the roof blown in insulation stuff is damn good.

Homes from the 60s-90s just suck though and nobody is going to go back and fix them.

The other thing is windows. Most windows suck...period.
 
Arcygenical said:
I am very well aware about the difference betwren colour temp and lumenosity. I am currently in the industry optimising that!


2800k lumens (at any wattage, cri and output) as per the incandescent standard of around 2.8kk is well replicated by the 3.0-3.2kk LED bulbs at 8-10x the efficiency per watt.

Though re reading what i said i suppose i see where the confusion laid. I meant "why would anyone want ANY lumens below 3000k, IS BEYOND ME." Emphasis mine.
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I do. But I was building custom/adjustable colour temperature and other niche LED systems at 140lm/W+ 6-7 years ago before leds were a thing.
Stuff as got much cheaper since and thermal design has got a little better but overall the tech has pretty much stagnated and got cheaper for the masses.

I still would rather pay more for an LED I will not have to change for the rest of my life. My favourite LED so far used 2700k, 3000k, 4000k, 5000k, 6500k and 660nm deep red. Thing is you don't get green response for shit outside of neutral white, plus a few other wavelengths here and there if you look, but can get CRIs approaching 98+ with my method. If I had to choose one colour, 3-4k for daily use and 2700k in bedrooms for homely piss yellow (vs abduction white). Another thing of note is abduction white causes you to stay awake due to the high blue/red ratio, this tricks your body into thinking it's midday. 2700k has its place if you study light in conjunction with biological factors.

P.s. low k/high CRI has its' uses in the bush especially hunting or working in nature. 2700-4000k is far, far more useful than generic 5-7k shit you buy for cheap at the store.

The other reaosn most don't get warm white is it has lower lm/w.. ohh god 20lm/w when you're already around 120-160lm/w...
 
I am elated to see LED bulbs dropping in price so much and so rapidly. When my house was built in 2012, the builder installed crappy contractor grade CFL bulbs in every fixture. Some lasted only mere months, and I am a stickler for turning off lights, so they weren't getting anywhere near "heavy" use, let alone "typical" use. As the CFL bulbs die, I've been replacing them with 5-6K LED bulbs, which I can now get cheaper today than a replacement CFL 4-5 years ago. Frickin' glorious!
 
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