Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
electricity, so you have to weigh the cost of using these types of appliances against
the benefit they provide.
5.4
Appliances
Lighting is an appliance that also requires some cost/benefit analysis. The new LED
light bulbs are quite expensive, although getting cheaper all the time. One 60 W
equivalent LED light bulb I purchased today cost $ 9.88. However, its packaging
claims it will last 22 years! It may not last that long but it will definitely outlast the
older incandescent bulbs. This 60 W equivalent bulb puts out just as much light as
the older 60 W bulbs but only uses 9.9 W. So, you could use six of these LED bulbs
for what it costs to use one standard 60 W incandescent bulb. These are great re-
placement opportunities especially for those lights that tend to be accidently left on.
One way to insure you only use appliances when needed and not unnecessarily
is to use sensor switches. For instance, a motion sensor switch on a ceiling fan will
insure it is only running when you are in the room and when you leave the room it
turns itself off to save electricity. The same technology is available for light switch-
es. I have several of them in my home. They make it much more convenient then
manually switching the lights on and off as you leave or enter a room. This is a job
that you can likely do yourself. Just shut off the circuit breaker to the room with the
light switch, test the switch to make certain the power is off and replace the standard
switch with a sensor switch like the one in Fig.
5.2
.
Fig. 5.2
Sensor light switch
