The Rebellion Against Flourescents

This idea goes unproven, but it’s just logical. I can’t tell you how many pennies or what amount of energy is saved, I can just tell you that in my head this makes good sense even though it goes against popular culture today. I use traditional light bulbs in the winter.


Let’s back up. We know that incandescent bulbs use more electricity than their new replacements, the compact florescent. But do you know why? Both light and heat are energy produced by bulbs. Fluorescents produce very little heat, while incandescent produce a good bit of heat. We pay for that heat in the form of higher electricity bills.

This is a brilliant way to save money in the summertime. My summer manta is to reduce heat inside my home. This way the AC runs less and I save electricity on the heat producers as well as the heat remover! It really can be that simple. Cook outside, hang clothes to dry, use fluorescents, insulate windows, air dry hair; these are all ways to reduce heat inside the home.

If these are the actions that are taken to help cool the home, then reason would stand to reverse these actions in the winter. When we produce heat inside of the home, it lessens the load on the heating system. I’m pretty sure that it takes the same amount of energy to heat a space, no matter what method is used, but let your electricity do double duty! Cook inside, use the clothes dryer vented indoors, use incandescent bulbs, keep the windows insulated, and use a hair dryer.

That little bit of heat that comes from the light bulb can actually preheat your ceiling allowing the furnace heated air to stay closer to the floor (where we really want it). The savings come from the purchase of these bulbs. I’m sure that all of you have noticed that the bulbs that used to cost us about a dollar a piece on sale are considerably less expensive now. I have seen incandescent bulbs marked 2/$1 and even 3/$1. That is a big difference from the fluorescents that cost 3/$10!

So I challenge you this year to test this method our for yourself. Use a few old cheep bulbs, heat up your house, and save a little change!