(ding!)
Our electric bills have suddenly gone sharply down in the last three months. Like, 30% or so. Debb and I have been trying to figure out why this could be–we haven’t really changed much, and in fact, rates have increased in our area. And rates wouldn’t matter, anyway, our bill have a little bar chart of electric usage, and we can see the amount of energy we’ve been using has significantly dropped.
The best we can figure is that we changed nearly all our lightbulbs to fluorescents. That’s the only difference we can pinpoint. And if that’s true, buying them on sale at Home Depot–8 bucks for four of em–is really paying off. Screw the “will give savings over two years” bit, they’re already saving us money.
May 1st, 2007 17:14
Huh. Two of the blogs I read posted about CFLs within hours of each other.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/05/compact_fluorescent_lights_are.php#comments
You’ll enjoy the comments. (Unironically meant.)
May 1st, 2007 19:13
Just don’t drop one.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=aa7796aa-e4a5-4c06-be84-b62dee548fda
May 1st, 2007 23:37
Well, see, PZ Myers and the Pharyngula crew debunk that article. (Not that it didn’t happen, and yes, CFLs are hazmats, but, well, read the thing.)
May 2nd, 2007 01:22
I get mine at Wal-Mart (now Penn & Teller approved) for $.97 each. I was floored when I saw then on Oprah for $6.00 each. Thought I bought the wrong thing at first.
May 2nd, 2007 02:44
Also, I dropped one a few months back and just vacuumed it up, I’m still alive.
May 2nd, 2007 11:56
Yikes. I just bought some for the first time last night, and naturally dropped and broke one. I blithely swept it up without even realizing what mortal perils I was dealing with.
Probably shouldn’t have swirled my fingers around in the debris and licked them either.
May 2nd, 2007 19:31
Turns out the alleged $2000 cleanup bill was — shall we say — hokum.
May 2nd, 2007 22:10
Maybe I should have put a smiley after my post. Oh wait, we don’t like that sort of thing. NM.
May 4th, 2007 11:00
For me, I am able to run the A/C at night and keep buttoned up during the day. My daughter and her mooch ass BF have moved out and their showers and laundry are on somebody else’s meter.
I made the move to compact fluorescents two years ago. I have one reading lamp that is a three-way incandescent. I have it mounted in a steampunk system that has as its base an oak office chair with four antique wheels and early 1900s lab apparatus. I am unable to read by fluorescent. If you have naught but fluorescents in your house, I suspect you either read too little or too painfully. Either that, or you watch too much dope TV.
Recently, I had to empty my pool and sanitize it walls to sump, to plumbing, to pump, to filters and back. The chemical outlay had become ridiculous. The supplies to sanitize were under $50 and the refill was about $90 from metered city water. Chemical input is way down and the system is now run 6 hours a day instead of 24. Net, net, net, it’s about tree-fiddy a quarter. The premier pool service wanted $650 for the same job and I still had to pay for the metered water. The pump motor is five years old. The newer motors are quieter, more efficient and cheaper. I am going to replace the old one. It will go on to a backup compressor(curbside find) I have that has no motor.
I have just purchased some un-crated generators that were Katrina surplus. They were achingly cheap. I also have a case of blue FEMA rated tarps that are available for little more than shipping. Two will cover my 4 BR house completely. The other 10 will either become goodwill sealers or barter material.
If any here live on the Gulf Coast, now is the time to buy. After the first disturbance of the season, the prices will relaunch.
Lantern Bearer
May 4th, 2007 16:48
Uh. Thanks for the free insult there, but not all people are bothered by reading under fluorescents. Though actually come to think of it, I have a small halogen lamp at my desk for reading, so I don’t really think about it.
May 4th, 2007 23:01
Ramble much?
May 5th, 2007 01:28
I think we need to come up with emoticons for your ding! and ga-dung! faces.
May 5th, 2007 11:29
ding! ga-dung! ding! ga-dung! ding! blue moon…..
May 5th, 2007 19:41
Oh, yeah, those squiggly flourescent bulbs make a huge difference. I have a three-bulb lamp that’s drawing 30w instead of its usual 135w without a significant drop in brightness. They’re getting cheaper all the time, and make me feel like I’m living in the 21st century.
May 16th, 2007 14:49
mmm…sweet sweet intellectual arrogance.
The reason you can’t read under flourescent lights and others can is because your eyes process the wavelengths differently. Also, the small coiled flourescents give off a slightly different light than ballast-based tube flourescents.
Thanks for playing though, and adding yet another stereotype to folks from Louisiana/Gulf Coast.
February 24th, 2008 02:16