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I have a roommate who likes to leave a lot of lights on at night, although I hope I’ve started to break him of this habit by calling him on it every single time.
andrewbyline

I have a roommate who likes to leave a lot of lights on at night, although I hope I’ve started to break him of this habit by calling him on it every single time.

It might seem cheap and petty on my part, but there’s nothing cheap about wasting electricity, even at our current subsidized rates.

The problem is that most people don’t understand the basics of electricity, and how their meters tick off usage on a daily basis. If they did they would probably take more interest in how their power is used, and the savings that are possible through a little common sense and conservation.

Consider a basic 60-watt incandescent light bulb. They are available for less than a dollar, and last anywhere from 500 to 2,000 hours. Given B.C. Hydro’s current residential rate, 6.27 cents per kilowatt-hour, a bulb that lasts the maximum of 2,000 hours will consume 120,000 watts of electricity over its lifespan at a cost of $7.52.

That might seem like peanuts, but how many bulbs do you have in your home? Twenty? Thirty? And how many of those bulbs are 80 watts? How many are 100 watts or more? How many will last 500 hours and need to be replaced?

Now compare the cost of running that 60-watt bulb with a comparable compact fluorescent bulb that lasts about 8,000 hours and runs at 13 watts. It would take anywhere from four to 16 basic incandescent bulbs to light an area for the same amount of time, but for arguments sake we’ll say that you have the best incandescent bulbs money can buy that last the full 2,000 hours. At a cost of $7.52 at current rates (which are going up) the cumulative cost of running four bulbs to 8,000 hours is $30.08.

Conversely, a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL) running at 13 watts will consume just $6.52 over 8,000 hours, a savings of $23.56. If you have 20 bulbs at 60 watts in your house that’s a savings of more than $460 in however long it takes you to turn over all the bulbs in your house. Given that there are 8,760 hours in a year, it probably would take the average household three to four years to save that money.

While compact fluorescents cost four to six times more to purchase, they are actually far cheaper in the long run when you consider the electricity savings and the fact that one bulb will last as long as four to 16 regular bulbs.

My wife and I recently purchased a house, and I’m slowly in the process of changing all my bulbs over to compact fluorescent. When a bulb that came with the house burns out I always replace it with a CFL.

Still, they’re not burning out fast enough in my opinion. For example, I have eight lights on a vanity mirror in my bathroom that run at 75 watts each, which means I use 600 watts of power for every hour the room is in use. If those lights were on for two hours a day, that equals roughly 50 cents a week, $2 per month, $4 on every bi-monthly power bill, and $24 every year.

Switching to comparable CFL bulbs, which use 36 watts, would cost 12.6 cents per week, 50.5 cents per month, $1.10 on every power bill, and $6.60 per year, for an annual savings of around $23. That’s just one room.

Given these numbers and the way nickels and dimes can add up to dollars, it makes no sense to even offer incandescent bulbs anymore, which is why Australia is planning to phase them out completely by 2009 in favour of CFLs. The U.S. is looking into a similar program for 2012.

And Canada? Nothing so far, but given the fact that most provinces outside of B.C. rely heavily on fossil fuels and nuclear energy it seems like this would be a relatively easy, painless way to cut greenhouse gas emissions and meet rising energy demands.

And bulbs are only one electrical device in the home where you can save. Everything from appliances, to heating and insulation, to the temperature of your water heater, to the way you use your television, stereo and other home electronics, is a potential source of saving.

For example, a desktop computer can use up to 209 watts per hour during normal operation, 145 watts when left on but idle, about 25 watts in sleep mode, and less than a watt when turned off. Although many people let their computers sleep in order to sidestep the booting process, sleep mode is still about 25 times less efficient than just turning your computer off at the end of the day.

For people opposed to new dams, run of river projects, and new fossil fuel generation stations in B.C. — all under consideration as the province becomes a net importer of energy — the best place to voice your opposition is through the choices you make.

Visit www.bchydro.com for energy saving tips, and to access various incentive programs offered by provincial and federal governments to make your home more efficient.

And if you want to know how much something costs to operate, just use this simple formula — (number of watts) x (hours of operation/life) x (rate per kWh) = (cost). For example, to find out how much it costs to run a 120-watt heater for six months a year (say 182 days, 24 hours a day), it’s 120 x 4,368 x 0.0000627 = $32.86. B.C. Hydro is applying for a six per cent increase in rates that will likely go through, so keep checking your bill for details.