Re: energy conservation

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Dave Houston" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

<stuff snipped>

> >As a result, the bulbs have languished on store shelves for a quarter
> >century; only 6 percent of households use the bulbs today."
> >
> >That's far less penetration than I would have ever imagined.
>
> It's hard to get trustworthy data. I've seen a 0.9% figure for CFL
> penetration but it wasn't clear whether that was just the US or covered a
> wider realm.

I've seen a variety of figures for "penetration" and $ savings.  X-10
modules may shorten the life of CFLs or there may be other factors in my
environment but I experience far shorter bulb life than any figures suggest.
The penetration figures could easily not be the same loyal individuals each
year, but a rolling wave of people trying them, disliking them and returning
to regular bulbs.  There's lots not to like about CFL's.

> The problem is that residential lighting represents a small part of total
> energy use. HVAC and hot water represent more than 80% of the energy used
in
> the typical home. That leaves lights and appliances to share less than 20%
> and I suspect appliances use the majority share of that. Transportation
and
> retail shops use a far, far larger share of the total. So, even if
everyone
> switched to CFLs it would make almost no difference overall. A few flights
> to Europe or South America will dwarf the energy saved by the folks
touting
> CFLs.