Pestering the 'rents... About lightbulbs!

[Oval_Overload]

Today I installed 4 Sylvania CFLs in my house... and that brings my total to 25 CFLs, and all on circuits used every day.
Looks like years of pestering my parents to buy Compact Fluorescent bulbs has finally paid off. My dad always hated the things. I'd recruit my mom to buy them, but he would get mad at me for installing the bulbs. It got to the point of him actually removing the CFLs I put in and installing 100 watt bulbs in their place. After that, I made a point of changing burnt out bulbs before he came home, so the CFLs would go unnoticed. It worked. He eventually resized that I had installed CFLs all over the house, but that was months later, so he had to admit there was nothing wrong with them.

Here is what I've replaced so far:
11@100 watts
6@60 watts
8@65 watts

Almost two kilowatts (1,980 W) of infernal lights replaced with 375 watts of fluorescent lamps.

Anyone want to take a stab at how much greenhouse gas I've prevented from entering the atmosphere, or how much money I've saved my parents, based on 3 hours use per day?

[trebuchet03]

Worst case scenario, you're 100% coal powered.... MN is more around 62% coal powered... BUT, you live in a city that happens to have a Coal fired power plant - so I imagine it's safe to assume that's where your juice is coming from.

1.341 pounds of CO2 per kilowatthour generated - based on a quick google search resulting in the 1999 average... If you're near an older plant, it's likely higher - if near a newer plant potentially lower. Source

For every hour all of those incan's lights are on, 2.655 pounds are emitted.
For every hour all those CFL's are on, 0.503 pounds are emitted.

Saving: 2.152lb per hour - 18.9% less

Now if you're region requires peaker plants - between the hours of 4 and 6pm (maybe even longer) - there's even more savings between those hours as peaker plants have low uptime and typically efficiency isn't something that's invested in.

--------
I did the same thing with my housemate (changing bulbs while everyone was out)... I can't tell if he's noticed or not in the past couple months (he hasn't said anything). But he lurks on this board

[Oval_Overload]

Wow, Thanks Trebuchet! I was expecting more like 12% reduction in CO2. Great to hear such a big difference can be made by such a small change.

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by Oval_Overload

Wow, Thanks Trebuchet! I was expecting more like 12% reduction in CO2. Great to hear such a big difference can be made by such a small change.

Be sure to put it into perspective around other things in your house

The source escapes me, but lighting accounts for something like 7 (or was it 9) percent of the household power budget

[Ryland]

One thing I do is buy a number of brand and sizes of bulbs, so when I change a bulb I can try different colors and brightness for that application, that way the people you live with feel like it's an improvement rather then a compromise.