As I’ve become a more aware of how I use and waste electricity, I’ve noticed I leave more lights on than I need to.
I suspect I have a Holmes-on-Homes basement. Whoever finished the basement probably did just enough to “finish” it so the house would have a higher resale value, but no more. Unfortunately, cheap design is usually inefficient design.
I used to leave 3 lights on coming down to the basement. Part of the reason for this is the long, middle room leading to my office. Though it’s about 16 feet from stairway to my office, the middle room only has one light switch by the stairway. There isn’t a switch by my office and that middle room is pretty dark without a light on. Before I started this energy efficiency challenge, I used to leave that light on. Now, I leave the stairway light on. The light from the stairway provides enough light to move easily through that middle room without tripping over something and breaking my neck.
Human beings don’t see too well in the dark, but if you’re anything like I am, you’re probably leaving more lights on than you need.
What’s the big deal? Really, how much can one light cost?
Let’s say the ceiling light in my dark, basement room uses a 60 watt bulb. (I actually use a CFL, but we’ll get to that.) I’m in the basement about 4 hours a day, so that light’s on at least 4 hours a day. 4 hours per day is 240 watt hours or .24 kilowatt hours a day.(What’s a kilowatt hour?) My cost per kilowatt hour is about 8 cents. So leaving that light on for one day costs a whopping 2 cents.
Big whoop. Bah. Most of us can afford 2 cents, right?
But as Benjie Franklin said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” This is particularly true with electricity. Over the course of a year, those 2 cents a day become $7.30 annually.
If you have 3 or 4 lights around the house you leave on like this – I’ve discovered 3 in my house – the cost is about $22 -$30 a year. Just a few light bulbs and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.
If you’ve replaced your light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL), congratulations. You’ve cut your costs by about a third. Still try to turn out the lights you don’t need, those pennies of kilowatt hours start adding up to dollars. We all like to save our dollars.
(Plastic bag footprint: 40! 2 more Posts, plus a trip to the grocery store – 8 plastic bags for veggies and fruit.)
