Cut Your Lighting Costs in Half

OK, you probably already know that CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) save lots of watts while delivering comparable brightness, and though they might take some getting used to, you also might have come to expect that they are the future of residential lighting (I explained why LED bulbs are not, here). If you don't already use CFLs wherever possible, perhaps the prospect of putting money in your pocket might help you speed up the transition you know you'll make someday anyway.

I did a quick audit of all the light bulbs in my house - every bulb (garage, balcony, patio, closets, etc.) - counted up the combined wattage - then determined which bulbs I could replace. After spending about $140 on CFL replacements, and removing some dimmers attached to ceiling floods (I miss you, dimmers, but I know you waste too much electricity and don't work with my new bulbs!), a sum of the wattage afterwards showed that I had cut my total potential usage (if I turned on every bulb simultaneously) from 2,795 watts down to 1,279 watts (a 54% drop). When taking into account the CFL replacements for only the lights I use most often, the reduction was actually around 65%!

Estimating that lighting contributed to about half my normal electricity usage (before the bulb replacements), and that the lighting cost equalled, on average, about $30 per month, at 50% savings, I should be able to pay back the cost of the bulbs in about 9 months, years before they start burning out. As the bulbs get cheaper and energy prices continue to rise, though, the payback period will only decrease.