Question about interior lighting.

[newracer]

Not to be too flip, but isn't this true for pretty much everything, both electronic and mechanical?

Probably, it was something specific about the starters. It was stated they should be on for at least 15 minutes.

When my kids were younger at my previous house I installed switches that shut off after a set time with no movement. They would also come back on with movement. It worked well but I may have trained my kids to not use switches as in the new house they leave lights on a lot. Maybe I need to install the switches again, I still have several that I reclaimed from a building being demolished.

[BladesNBarrels]

I have an engineering degree in "Illumination". Seriously, it's a thing.

Anyway, the power usage on start-up on the fluorescent is only a minor part of the equation. The more important part of the equation is that the surge of electricity used to start them up degrades the electrodes inside the lamp and each on/off cycle significantly degrades the life of the lamp much more than just leaving it on.

In other words, a fluorescent lamp that is left on forever actually has a longer life (in hours 'on') than one that is turned on and off excessively.

Thanks for that illuminating insight. It lightens my concerns.

[DenverGP]

In other words, a fluorescent lamp that is left on forever actually has a longer life (in hours 'on') than one that is turned on and off excessively.

But it'll cost you more money in wasted electricity than the cost of replacing the tube.

[Not_A_Llama]

Worked in a high-rise building in Las Colinas, TX that got around "peak usage" for AC by cooling a huge water reservoir under the building at night (off-peak). They then used that chilled water to cool the building during the day. Someone creates these schemes and others figure out ways to get around them.

Not really a scheme, but a reflection of the costs and expenses for the electrical company. The type of peak use you were dealing with was the daily cycle of high energy use around noon. The electrical company has low-cost base generation that runs through the day (traditionally cheap coal). At high use periods, especially around noon when industry is working and air conditioning is on, the electrical company has to bring in additional expensive generation (traditionally natural gas). You’ll see this peak/offpeak residential pricing in Texas, and here (implicitly) in the Xcel air conditioning “saver switches”

The other type of peak is how much is being used at once. It’s partly about maximum usage, and by proxy, how much can come online at once. Most residential electric tariffs don’t concern themselves with peak rampup, because a single house won’t be able to generate enough surge to make a difference. A large piece of moving machinery or an induction furnace kicking on, though, can slow down turbines enough to drop voltage and and frequency. The electric company then needs to compensate elsewhere on the system, either with spinning reserves or other correction services (battery, in some cases!).

You weren’t gaming the system, so much as you were helping to optimize the system and getting rewarded for it.

In your case, the water chilling was essentially an energy storage mechanism; a physical battery. It cost money to build, and the electric company paid you to use it.

[Gman]

It's a scheme.

scheme
skēm
noun
1.
a large-scale systematic plan or arrangement for attaining some particular object or putting a particular idea into effect.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing. The higher pricing is a disincentive to consumption. Otherwise, production capacity has to be increased to meet peak consumption. That costs money and has limited applicability, so no full return on investment and pricing has to go up for all consumers to pay for the added infrastructure.

[Not_A_Llama]

Yep. It’s just that most people are going for the 1.1 definition right under the one you quoted, especially with the bit about people trying to “get around”:

1.1 A secret or underhand plan; a plot.

[GilpinGuy]

I've replaced all my bulbs with LEDs and my bill (the electric portion) has dropped significantly.

I'm calling you out here Sturv. What do you call "significantly"? 10% reduction in electric bill?

[Irving]

I'm calling you out here Sturv. What do you call "significantly"? 10% reduction in electric bill?

Well, I used the word significantly because I used to always be rated mid-pack when they send out those reports, and then I was always better than even the super savers or whatever the rating is. I haven't really kept track of the actual amount. I'll see if there is any historical data I can access to give a better idea. It's entirely possible that the power company just changed their ratings and now they rate me differently, but nothing else has changed.

[GilpinGuy]

Well, I used the word significantly because I used to always be rated mid-pack when they send out those reports, and then I was always better than even the super savers or whatever the rating is. I haven't really kept track of the actual amount. I'll see if there is any historical data I can access to give a better idea. It's entirely possible that the power company just changed their ratings and now they rate me differently, but nothing else has changed.

OK. Not to be a dick or anything, but we've been up here 18 years and our bill has been within a few bucks a months the entire time. Going to new (expensive, government mandated) bulbs did nothing to our bill at all.

[BigDee]

The flickering of fluorescent lights has always bugged me and I’ve never been a fan. Fluorescents also contain mercury and they’re terrible for the environment if not disposed properly.

I put on a pretty massive Christmas light show at my house and my parents house. My parents house consists of mostly incandescent lights and my display is completely LED. My parents electric bill goes up a couple hundred bucks when they run the Christmas lights and mine only goes up about $15. Both of our shows are synchronized to music and involve hundreds of strands of lights being turned off and on.

Ditch the fluorescents and go with LED.


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