So my fiance and I have a recurring argument about leaving lights on in the house at night. I have always been raised not to do that, and to turn lights off as soon as you leave the room. He likes to have a light on by our front door to scare off intruders and one downstairs in case he needs to get up in the middle of the night so he can see.
His argument to me is always that leaving a light on only costs a few cents a month. So I recently did the math with the help of this website: How much electricity do you use?
One light bulb, left running for 12 hours a day costs us $3.33 a month and $40 a year. That means we lose $80 a year running the two light bulbs at night. And that's only because we live in Oklahoma where electricity is cheap.
Perhaps the figures will convince him that we should turn off those lights, and keep a flashlight by the bed.
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- Callie Campbell
- Oklahoma, United States
- Nature-loving flake and writer in Oklahoma. Known to be a train zealot and vegetarian cook.
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2 comments:
It's funny that you had this discussion with your fiance, as mine had one with me as well just a couple days ago. Sometimes, when I go in a room to grab something, I forget to turn the light off when I leave the room. I don't mean to, I jut forget because I'm not thinking about it. It is quite a waste of energy. I do like to leave my porch light on as well, but I bought compact flourescent light bulbs that save energy. It's true though, porch lights deter criminals. For me it's more about the wasting of energy than the cost I incur, but saving money is never a bad thing! =)
I collect old magazines and one of them from 1930 had an article about why a homeowner should electrify their home. It explained how much juice each appliance used. The cost was ten cents per kilowatt hour, about what we pay NOW! So imagine how much conscious we would all be if electricity cost 10 times more than it does. Electric bills of $800 dollars per month instead of $80. None of us would EVER leave the light on.
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