To the good people of NSC who know stuff

[T.G]

In my household an argument we often have revolves around turning off lights. My partners stance is that it is far more wasteful to switch lights on and off rather than just leave them on all day. The evidence she offers is that we use energy saving bulbs and it takes a while for them to get up to full light giving capacity. Any one here shed some light (I know!) on the situation

 

[Springal]

Not sure turning a normal light bulb on is the same kind of thing as constantly firing up a boiler / letting it go off / firing it up. Sounds shit to me

 

[Notters]

That's definitely an urban myth. Switch them off.

 

[Prince Monolulu]

Have you tried turning them off and back on again?

 

[pastafarian]

if you turn switches on and off quickly three times in a row the electric meter only registers usage on the "low" meter
you must have these new bulbs in every socket for it to work though

 

[beorhthelm]

well its defiantly bollocks. while it may take a minute for a CFL to warm up to give full light, leaving it on for an hour or two will use an hour or two of energy, which is wasted if your not there.

however, if you are around and constantly in and out of rooms every few minutes, the cycling of the bulb is more likely to lead to failure, so its not worth turning them off for very short periods (minutes)

 

[Postman Pat]

CFL LIGHTING
Since they are already very efficient, the cost effectiveness of turning CFLs off to conserve energy is a bit more complicated. A general rule-of-thumb is this:

If you will be out of a room for 15 minutes or less, leave it on.
If you will be out of a room for more than 15 minutes, turn it off.

The operating life of CFLs is more affected by the number of times they are switched on and off. You can generally extend the life of a CFL bulb more by switching it on and off less frequently than if you simply use it less.

It is a popularly held belief that CFLs use a lot of energy to get started and it is better not to turn them off for short periods. The amount of energy varies between manufacturers and models—however, ENERGY STAR© rated bulbs are required to endure rapid cycling for five-minute intervals to ensure that they can hold up to frequent switching.

 

[cooliobhafc]

End the argument and switch to LED, then you can leave them on as long as you like, as long as they are from a good manufacturer, they will last you a life time and it wont matter if you turn them on or leave them on.

 

[KingstonSeagull]

Get candles or move to the north pole for 6 months of the year... Smart....

 

[Triggaaar]

In my household an argument we often have revolves around turning off lights. My partners stance is that it is far more wasteful to switch lights on and off rather than just leave them on all day. The evidence she offers is that we use energy saving bulbs and it takes a while for them to get up to full light giving capacity. Any one here shed some light (I know!) on the situation

She's wrong.

A long time ago those long fluorescent tubes used a fair bit of energy to start - equivalent to leaving them on for about 20 minutes I think.

With any bulb, switching them off for just a second saves energy.

 

[half time scores]

I have often wondered how much of a saving ESL really give for half of the year considering the by-product of non ESL bulbs is heat resulting in the house is colder thereby causing an increase use of the boiler.

 

[1066familyman]

CFL LIGHTING
Since they are already very efficient, the cost effectiveness of turning CFLs off to conserve energy is a bit more complicated. A general rule-of-thumb is this:

If you will be out of a room for 15 minutes or less, leave it on.
If you will be out of a room for more than 15 minutes, turn it off.

The operating life of CFLs is more affected by the number of times they are switched on and off. You can generally extend the life of a CFL bulb more by switching it on and off less frequently than if you simply use it less.

It is a popularly held belief that CFLs use a lot of energy to get started and it is better not to turn them off for short periods. The amount of energy varies between manufacturers and models—however, ENERGY STAR© rated bulbs are required to endure rapid cycling for five-minute intervals to ensure that they can hold up to frequent switching.

Pretty much this^

It normally says on the box how many switch cycles the bulb is rated for.

 

[Notters]

I have often wondered how much of a saving ESL really give for half of the year considering the by-product of non ESL bulbs is heat resulting in the house is colder thereby causing an increase use of the boiler.

Boilers are very efficient as you're converting the stored chemical energy directly into the required (heat) energy, whereas coal and gas fired power stations lose energy during power generation and transfer to your home.

 

[The Rattler]

You're right, she's wrong. What was the question?

 

[Fran112]

Mmmmm lots of old wives tales, out of date info and misconceptions on here.

Back in the day, yes, fluorescent tubes did use more energy to start but since the introduction of electronic ballasts this no longer holds true.

The so called energy efficient lamps (you only find bulbs in motor vehicles and buried in your garden) are rated for many cycling on and off and you turning them off will not noticeably shorten their life. (Approx seven years.....allegedly!)

LED lamps are now rated for 25 years and cost pennies to run so the saving by switching these off is greatly reduced but is still worth having, in fact by changing all your lighting to LED can result in an annual saving of up to £50 per year, or ½ pint fosters per home game lol.

Easiest way to save energy on electrical items = Switch it off!

Oh and my grandiose job title, "Smart Energy Expert" lol!
.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Dave the OAP]

We have one of those smart meters and it shows you when you boil a kettle, use the hob etc...it is quite sobering to see. We have two sets of lights in the kitchen...halogen ceiling lights, which when switched on send the meter crazy and fluorescent strip lights underneath some wall units, which also are juicy but not as much as halogen.

We now switch everything off on a night too...that also helps the usage.

It is a very good gadget

 

[T.G]

I need this!! Where do you get it from?

 

[Dave the OAP]

I need this!! Where do you get it from?

If you are with EDF they supply them free. Most energy suppliers have them.

Takes about 2 hours to fit and they have to fit a new box thing which links to the display by wifi!

 

[Notters]

Mmmmm lots of old wives tales, out of date info and misconceptions on here.

There aren't though are there, everyone has said that it's bollocks? I do wonder what constitutes thumbs up on here sometimes

It is a very good gadget

Interesting, we put ours in a cupboard after two days as it didn't show us anything we didn't already know.

It's good that you can check your daily usage online though (we're with Ovo - would never use any of the "big five").