Cost of Leaving Lights On

mrscat, Sep 27, 10:38pm
I still have my mother in my head whereby every light had to be turned off the moment you left the room. I would love to leave some lights on after that and wonder what the cost is , just 100w bulbs. I know with her it was a cost consideration.
lilyfield, Sep 27, 10:49pm
0.1 kw per hour
Change all bulbs to eco ones and you save 80 % of this

Needless to say I also turn everything off, including all stand bys ar all times
johotech, Sep 27, 11:21pm
About 2.5 cents per hour. Cheap? No.
Leave one light on all year, and it will cost you $219. Multiply that by the number of lights you want to leave turned on.

Compare that to a LED lamp. A 6 Watt LED will cost you $13 per year if you want to leave it on all the time.

Add in the cost of replacing the 100W lamp a few times, and $20 for a quality LED light is actually cheap.
stevo2, Sep 27, 11:21pm
0.1kw per hour = approx 3 cents per hour per bulb at 100 watt bulbs. Change to a 10 watt led and pay 3 cents per 10 hours each.
Edit johotech, you beat me to it.
lythande1, Sep 28, 2:11am
It's not a major cost but it does add to the bill. depends how well off you are. Rich? Well be extravagant then if you don't want to turn them off.
Poor? Turn them off.
rojill, Sep 28, 10:36am
Where does common sense fit into this picture or is it a casualty of modernism.
mrfxit, Sep 28, 7:43pm
The other consideration is that Eco bulbs don't like being flicked on & off a lot + the power start up costs of eco bulbs is many times that of conventional bulbs.

So . what you do is this . >

Fit std bulbs in places that are only on for a few minutes or turned on /off many times per day.
Fit Eco bulbs in places that need longer term lighting.
Fit LED bulbs in places that need permanent lighting
lythande1, Sep 29, 12:04am
They asked. if you can afford to be extravagant and want to well.
fordcrzy, Sep 29, 5:07am
our new house has sealed 12W LED downlights which look really nice and arent "heat chimneys" tat let all your heat out of your room like normal downlights. even though they are only 12w i still find myself turning most of the lights out. funny to think that most of the time our house is reasonably lit up for just 48W of power
rita197, Oct 1, 6:35pm
Just leave the lights on if you like. The cost is minimal and having lights on is cheerful and safer.
smallwoods, Oct 1, 7:54pm
Say for instance you are doing up the kitchen, which would you go for?
LED down lights or recessed Eco bulbs?

I tend to leave the kitchen lit all night as the lounge is at the opposite end to the light switches, the wife turns all but one off, so when I come in to make a drink I need to walk right through to turn them back on before starting, just bugs me.
juliebabe, Oct 2, 2:11am
I wonder why you recommend "Eco" CFL bubs, they are horrible and filled with mercury.

We would all be better to go straight for LED's so the manufacturing costs will come down.
johotech, Oct 2, 2:42am
Not sure what you mean by "recessed eco bulbs"? Do you mean CFL or something else?

Anyway, for a kitchen renovation you should certainly go for recessed LED. Your electrician should organise the lights for you, so he gets the correct type for the job. Nearly all of them should be able to be covered with insulation and many have a zero side clearance from timber which makes it much easier to get the correct locations.

Usually, I would use 10 or 12W flush recessed LED fitting around the kitchen area. Generally they are spaced at about 1.2-1.5m apart.

Definitely get them put on more than one switch, as depending on the size of the kitchen, you might need about 6-8 of them or more, but often you will only need half of them on.

Also get 2-way switching put in for some (half) of them, that you need to make your cuppa.
russ18, Oct 2, 3:36am
Yep, nothing worse than blindness from a million lumens at 6am when you just want a coffee.
mrfxit, Sep 14, 10:59am
What fits where for best effect totally depends on what light fittings are already in the dwelling or about to be fitted.