The average U.S. household has more than 40 sockets for light bulbs, ranging from table lamps to ceiling fixtures. Larger homes can have even more. In fact, lighting accounts for roughly $200 on our annual household electricity bill. Replacing incandescent bulbs with ENERGY STAR qualified CFL and LED light bulbs provide significant benefits for consumers.
You can save time and effort with ENERGY STAR qualified CFL and LED light bulbs because they last at least fifteen times longer than an incandescent bulb and use up to 90% less energy than a standard bulb. Each replaced bulb can save about $50 in electricity costs over its lifetime.
Simple Facts on Saving Energy and Money With Energy Star Light Bulbs
- Because ENERGY STAR light bulbs emit less heat, they make your home more comfortable. They are also safer to use in light fixtures that have delicate paper or fabric shades.
- If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in energy cost.
- The average ENERGY STAR LED light bulb is designed to last over 20 years on average based on typical household use. That’s long enough to watch your first-grader turn into a teenager!
What Are Energy Vampires?
Energy vampires are products in your home that require energy while not providing any useful function. This energy is sometimes called “standby power.” While standby power sometimes provides useful functions such as remote control, digital displays, and clocks, other products waste power. Electronic devices – cell phone chargers, camera chargers, battery chargers, or power adapters – when plugged in and not being used simply waste precious electricity. The average U.S. household spends $100 per year to power such devices.
The User Guide to Power Management for PCs and Monitors published by the U.S. Government makes an interesting point: Monitors usually consume at least twice as much electricity as the CPUs, and turning off the monitor is a big step in achieving significant energy savings.
To avoid wasting energy, simply unplug the device. This will eliminate any potential energy loss. For your home entertainment system, you can use a power strip or surge suppressor that can be turned off at the switch. Just remember, if you plan to record a program and the main switch is turned to the off position, the recorder will cease to function without power.