Would it waste more enery to leave a light on for maybe an hour or to turn it on and off several times during the same time frame? I tend to run around the house doing various chores during commercials and wonder which would be less wasteful.
2007-05-15 05:50:20 · 29 answers · asked by shell 2 in Environment ➔ Conservation
It only takes so little more to turn on than you don't get charged extra for it.Although there is some extra electricity when you turn a light on it's nothing to worry about.That means you SHOULD turn your lights off when you are not using them.
2007-05-15 05:56:04 · answer #1 · answered by hkyboy96 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Always turn your light off when you leave a room, even a little is a lot in the long run. Our school district did a study about if every class turned out the classroom lights just when leaving for lunch the results totally amazed me. You wouldn't think just a small amount of time would add up to so much of an electrical savings.
2007-05-15 16:51:14 · answer #2 · answered by b_friskey 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Honestly, your lights, unless they are florescent or halogen are not the real wasters of energy. A regular light bulb does not use all that much energy. Don't drive yourself crazy, while in the house turning off lights as you go from room to room and then back again. You aren't saving enough energy to make a difference.
However, do remember to turn off you lights when you leave the house, that makes a difference, it's wasteful to light up an unused house. But, if you are afraid of burglars, I would say in that case, better safe than sorry, better to leave a light on then lose everything you have just to save a little money. You have to weigh the pros and cons of every situation. Nothing is ever in black and white. I know we all want to do our best, but it shouldn't be done at the risk of life and limb. Also, meaning if you live in the country, as I do part of the year, if I don't leave a light on outside my house I can't find my front door and have been known to fall trying to get into the house. Not good when you are already disabled.
2007-05-15 19:38:44 · answer #3 · answered by lochmessy 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Seems to me most of the on/off waste is in the energy used to manufacture the bulb. So if you tend to run around doing things during commercials, leave a low-energy (flourescent) bulb ON where you are likely to go. But best for the environment and your purse to use as little energy as possible, so when possible keep everything LOW or OFF.
2007-05-15 09:50:20 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on the type of light you use. Compact flourescents are designed to work best if you leave them on for at least two hours. The older ones should be left on for a min of 2 hours everytime you use them. The technology is improving and it is recommended that the first time you use them that you leave them on for at least 2 hours, after that off and on is just fine. Either way... a light that's turned off used less energy than on that is on!
2007-05-15 10:10:55 · answer #5 · answered by gentle_flower02 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It uses more energy to turn a light on- because why would it use energy to turn a light off?? It just doesn't make sense, although I can understand why you were wondering because who knows with science.
It takes about 15 minutes of electricity to turn a light on, so if you think you will return to the room in the next 15 minutes and need the light on again, leave the light on- in any other cases, keep it off!!! (A bonus to turning it off is you won't forget to turn the light off if you never really do return to the room anytime soon.)
2007-05-15 09:43:30 · answer #6 · answered by Anynomous 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If it is a filament lamp then turn it off, but if it is a flourescent it all depends how long you are not going to need the light, as turning on a flourescent light requires more energy to "fire" the tube.by the way, when I did Ohms law, a 70 watt lamp would have to be at 116 volt to give 0.6 amp! i.e. W=VI.
2007-05-15 07:58:14 · answer #7 · answered by Adrian G 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It really depends on the type of lighting you have in your house. Most lighting in houses are incandescent lamps, and there is little to no advantage of leaving them turned on. The lamp life in most standard bulbs is only minimally affected by normal operation. If by chance you have fluorescent lighting in your house then you could reduce the lamp life significantly by multiple start/stop cycles so it could be more cost effective in the long run to leave them on for the entire time your active in the house.
2007-05-16 03:24:29 · answer #8 · answered by Bryan M 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In a nutshell: Incandescent lights (or bulbs) should be turned off whenever they are not needed. For most areas of the United States, a general rule-of-thumb for when to turn off a fluorescent light is if you leave a room for more than 15 minutes, it is probably more cost effective to turn the light off.
Check the link for full details.
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/lighting_daylighting/index.cfm/mytopic=12280
2007-05-15 08:11:07 · answer #9 · answered by Yahzmin ♥♥ 4ever 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Keep flipping that switch dear. Anyone who tells you otherwise knows next to nothing about lights and electricity. You may use more muscle by turning the light on and off but you will save kilowatts over the long haul.
2007-05-15 06:27:51 · answer #10 · answered by namsaev 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋