Christmas lights=ecological vandalism.

[Glade]

Here's something that bugs me.
Christmas Lights.
Everywhere I go I see houses lit up with loads of lights.

How irresponsible is this? with adverts on TV and in the papers telling people to save energy, turn off lights when not in use, etc. And still we see this display of wasted energy.
There is no need. What is this doing to peoples carbon footprint?


SAY NO TO XMAS LIGHTS!!

So you're sitting at your computer, which consumes maybe 150 watts of power, using a monitor which consumes maybe another 70 watts if it's using a CRT, or less if it's a newer technology, but at the end of it all you're probably consuming the best part of a couple of hundred watts, and that's a computer which presumably will be in use pretty much throughout the year, and you're using it to complain about some Christmas fairy lights which consume only a fraction of that and are only in use over the Christmas season? Do you really need somebody to point out the irony?

If Christmas lights bothers you, and your so-called carbon footprint is such a big deal then you might want to consider switching your computer off. You could sell it or feed it through a shredder, or launch it into space or make a piece of modern art out of it or something.

 

[Toddy]

So, speaking as an electronics engineer, you'll not be a bitty biased then, maybe?

Love them or loath them, it's almost time for them bye for another year.
I put strands of leds through my apple tree, leaves, flowers and bluebirds, very pretty, but every strand comes with its own transformer and plugging eight of them in is a pain; I tell you, there's a fortune waiting to be made by the inventor of an integrated system for all these light up thingies.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Glen]

Actually, that reminds me - Halogen spot lights! They annoy me more than Christmas lights.

I've recently switched my kitchen light from halogen spots to LED spots. The halogen bulbs are 50w and the LED are 1.6w. That's a reduction in power use by 96.8%!!

Now, at work we have hundreds of the things. In a few areas, the 50w halogens have been changed for 30w versions but it could still be better.

Does anyone have to hand actual rough cost of use?

It will vary slightly from supplier to supplier, you can generally look at your last bill and see how much they charge per unit (1 KiloWatt Hour )

1 50W bulb for 20 hours = 1KWhour

Something to bear in mind though is that any figures taken in isolation are not necessarily representative of the "real life" situation. The smallest practical unit to break things down into, as a demonstration of this concept, is probably a single room.

Taking easy ( made up ) figures here.
If your in a room that's electrically heated ( in Winter ) and temperature controlled by a thermostat, if it requires an average of 2kilowats per hour to keep to your set temperature, then by putting 300W of lighting on and 200W of computer mean that it''ll only use about 1.5KW from the main heating source. Turning off the computer and using a single 10W bulb and it'll use almost 2KW from the main heating source. The reason being is you've got a closed system and all the energy is eventually coming out as heat.

So in that situation you might as well have the lights on, use the computer and feel more comfortable.

Lights in generally non heated rooms ( This will be probably all of them in Sumner ) or ouside lights ( if you must ) are where high efficency bulbs would make the most difference.