[Speedie]

Why not turn off or at least dim all the street lighting after about 10 pm?? Think about all the lighted road signs that run all night. And when do the squares shut down lighting?
How about the giant villages signs on the cart bridges?

Lots of ways to save power and trim costs

We are all paying for these power bills somehow in fees or taxes

[CCristella]

OMG join a club,find something to do…..get a life!!!!!

[Retiredsteve]

Originally Posted by MartinSE

Why not? It's not a lot of work, they serve no purpose while I sleep - well, some people feel they act as a thief deterrent if you program them to go on and off and if someone is up and walking around.

Someone calculated 64kw per year. So, if 100 million homes left on the LEDs that would add up to 6.4 Billion watts. That is about the amount of 2 - 500 Megawatt coal fired power plants that we could shut down. Every little bit helps.

Watch how many people defend their right to waste.

[TrapX]

Originally Posted by Toymeister

So, if this was. 24 hours on question, would you shut the light off? 7x24x365 =61,320 watts or 61.320 kilowatts

61.32 x $.0898732 = $5.51.

So, Retiredguy, as a recipient of the Retiredguy "You're Cheap!" Award (a distinction that I am very proud of) is over FIVE dollars enough to shut off the light?

Your rate of $.089 /kwh is well below the typical norms.
That might be for the energy only, and does not include a delivery fee, and roughly 15% in taxes. Those would apply to incremental usage calcs

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by CCristella

OMG join a club,find something to do…..get a life!!!!!

Found this thread to be rather interesting sorry you feel it is a waste of time.

[LianneMigiano]

Originally Posted by Michael G.

I swear when I walk around the house at night, I don't need any additional lighting.

You may change your mind if /when you stub your toe or fall and injure yourself in the dark.

[kathyspear]

Originally Posted by LianneMigiano

You may change your mind if /when you stub your toe or fall and injure yourself in the dark.

After sunset I insist that we keep a light on in our master bathroom because it also lights up the bedroom somewhat. I, too, am afraid of tripping over something as I walk through/into those dark rooms (cat, cat toy, whatever) and breaking a hip. It’s money well spent, IMO.

k.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by kathyspear

After sunset I insist that we keep a light on in our master bathroom because it also lights up the bedroom somewhat. I, too, am afraid of tripping over something as I walk through/into those dark rooms (cat, cat toy, whatever) and breaking a hip. It’s money well spent, IMO.

k.

I would suggest that you buy at least one or two plug in emergency lights that will double as rechargeable flashlights when the power goes off. I have several night lights, but it didn't occur to me that, when there is a power outage, everything goes off. Last year, I was left in total darkness during a power outage, and I had to feel my way around until I located one of my flashlights. Now, I have two emergency flashlights that automatically come on when the power goes off. They illuminate the room and can be used as a flashlight. They were only about 10 dollars each on Amazon.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by Michael G.

On a related note, did anyone figure the electrical usage for all those green lights that glow on microwaves, computers, charging devices, clocks on appliances, lights that glow on garages door openers.

I remember reading once those earlier appliances took a lot of electric power just standing-by.

I swear when I walk around the house at night, I don't need any additional lighting.

Those are known as parasitic or idle loads. They are a major source of waste in this country, and some companies are working to reduce them:

-----
There has been a veritable explosion in the number of electronics, appliances, and other equipment plugged into, or permanently connected to, America’s homes—65 devices on average in our study. Most are consuming electricity around-the-clock, even when the owners are not using them or think they have been turned off. This always-on energy use by inactive devices translates to approximately $19 billion a year—about $165 per U.s. household on average—and 50 large (500-megawatt) power plants’ worth of electricity.

https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/f...le-load-IP.pdf

[villagetinker]

We converted every lamp in our house from the original (130v incandescent) to LED back in 2013, bought Cree LED lamps with a 10 year warranty (actually had 3 replaced!), and we continue to turn off unused lights to this day. Several are on timers or other automated controls, the rest are manual. We also have several LED nightlights for late evening trips to the bathroom or fridge.

[dougawhite]

If you truly want to contribute to reducing electric use then focus on your big items, not small ones. Your A/C is the biggest hog. Set your daytime temp to 78 or more. If you don't do that than you're all talk and no action when it concerns reducing electricity usage.

[Two Bills]

If everyone reduced their consumption, the power companies would probably raise prices to cove lost profits!

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by kathyspear

After sunset I insist that we keep a light on in our master bathroom because it also lights up the bedroom somewhat. I, too, am afraid of tripping over something as I walk through/into those dark rooms (cat, cat toy, whatever) and breaking a hip. It’s money well spent, IMO.

k.

I completely agree with you.

We have motion sensing night lights in every room. I prefer to think of it as being cautious, not afraid. Expect everyone knows someone that fell and broke something, a hip, leg, etc. And never fully recovered at our age.

I prefer to not live my live in fear, but that doesn't mean I don't take precautions I didn't take when I was younger.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by dougawhite

If you truly want to contribute to reducing electric use then focus on your big items, not small ones. Your A/C is the biggest hog. Set your daytime temp to 78 or more. If you don't do that than you're all talk and no action when it concerns reducing electricity usage.

Why either/or? I don't know about other people, but I can do more than one thing at a time. I agree with raising your thermo stat. Anything above 72 is a good thing. Each of us can do their part.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

If everyone reduced their consumption, the power companies would probably raise prices to cove lost profits!

Well, yeah, and in Florida FPL is fighting home solar. And for a good reason, they paid a lot of money to build out the infrastructure to get the power from their plant to your (everyones) home. The business model calls for amortizing that over a long period of consumption. If people reduce their usage and/or switch to solar then the power company is stuck trying to pay off the huge bill they incurred putting all those wires up.

However, they are a sanctioned monopoly, so we do get some say in how they operate, and we need to exercise that say by voting for forward people that are not in the power companies pockets. I know that is a pipe dream, but I can always hope.

The BEST electrical solution is distributed generation (houses with solar wherever possible) and the "power company" eventually being phased out and all those power lines removed and recycled.