Nancy Young wrote:
>
> sf wrote:
> > Got the PG&E bill today. Electric was $104 and Gas was under $3.
> > Huh, not even $3? The water heater and gas stove are used daily. We
> > did have a little heat wave, but the furnace was used. I need to call
> > them to see if they made a billing mistake, because I will *not*
> > appreciate it if they tack what they should have charged onto my next
> > bill.
>
> $3 wouldn't even cover those miscellaneous fees and taxes all
> my utility bills have. Are you on a budget plan? I get free months
> on my gas or electric when they overestimated my usage.
>
> Also, I have recently gotten some kind of refund on my gas bill,
> something about the gas being cheaper than they expected.
>
> > I figure at least a third of that electricity was used by the kitchen
> > lights. What I really want to know is this: how do you keep the light
> > factor high and your electric bill low for kitchen use? I'm thinking
> > I won't use the "pot" lights as much and just use under counter
> > lighting to see if I can lower that charge next month.
>
> LED lights cost almost nothing to use, perhaps you could put
> some in as under counter lighting, it's very bright.
>
> > Unfortunately, I think the biggest electric hog is the TV and that's
> > not getting turned off any more than it is already.
>
> That's why I'm thinking of getting LED/LCD when I replace my tv,
> to lower electricity usage. Not that my bills are high, in my opinion.
>
> nancy

LED lighting has improved a lot, and I'm experimenting with some, but in
my opinion it is still not ready for color critical applications, and
this would include kitchens. CFL lighting is as efficient or more
efficient than most LED lighting at this point, and the color
temperatures are much more favorable. LED lights only use less apparent
power than CFLs due to their very directional light distribution, so
unless you are ok working in one spot of light in an otherwise quite
dark room, they aren't very good yet.

As for the TV, look at the power rating on the current one and compare
with the proposed new one. Chances are there isn't as much of a
difference as you might think. Also, consider using a Kill-a-Watt meter
to measure the real power consumption since the nameplate rating is max
and few items really draw that max for more than a second or two at turn
on. You will find that a CRT TV draws a small gulp of power on startup,
but then drops to a much lower value, while an LCD/LED TV has little
starting surge and will draw closer to it's full rating the whole time.