This Place is Just Bulb-a-riffic...

Given the pattern of usage we discussed earlier, the incandescent bulbs in our kids' rooms consumed around 0.64kWh per day. Our new CFL bulbs use only 0.112 kWh per day. Considering we have 306 days left in the year, our projected energy savings for 2011 would be: 196 kWh - 34 kWh = 162 kWh. Today, we add that number to our tally.

How Proper Bulbs Can Help the Fine People of WalMart

Having had great success in my daughter's room, I proceeded to change out all the incandescents in my son's room with Ecosmart CFLs. Both rooms are now WAY brighter, stay cooler, and each bulb only consumes 14 watts, as opposed to the 40 watt incandescents they replaced. Better still, the bulbs are SO bright, we don't need as many. With the quick tug of a chain, we now fire up only two bulbs instead of all four. So running the same numbers as we did earlier:

Who You Callin' a Tater Tot?

Having had good success with Ecosmart bulbs from Home Depot in the past, I decided to give them another try. I picked up four 2-packs of Ecosmart Fan Soft White CFL Bulbs to try as replacements for the incandescents currently in the ceiling fans of our kids' rooms. Total cost: $39.88

Now that's a pretty good investment, so I decided to hedge my bets before I opened all the packages and replaced all the bulbs. First, I took all the bulbs out of one ceiling fan, nearly incurring third-degree burns from the white-hot glass. I probably should've waited a second or two. Nonetheless, while taking care not to rupture the painful blisters that now covered my fingers, I opened one of the CFL packages and screwed them into the fixture. With baited breath, I hit the switch.

These 160 Watts Feel Like Dante's Eighth Circle

The rising mercury in Miami has recently forced me to once again employ the services of our ceiling fans, which got me to thinking about the attached lighting. Each of my kids has a Hampton Bay ceiling fan in their rooms, which provides lighting by way of four incandescent bulbs. Each bulb burns 40 watts. That would be a total output of 160 watts which, interestingly, is less wattage than some heat lamps on the market! No wonder I'm always burning up in this house :-(