The average American household has 2.5 incandescent lightbulbs on for 4 or more hours each day. If every household replaced those bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, the Nation would save nearly 32 billion kilowatthours every year. That's about 35 percent of all electricity used for lighting homes.
Householders would save money as well, according to an analysis published in the just-released Energy Information Administration (EIA) report, Residential Lighting: Use and Potential Savings. Although compact fluorescent bulbs are more expensive than incandescent bulbs, they last (on average) about 14 times longer and are so much more efficient that they would pay for themselves in a year or two, depending on the local cost of electricity (see graph) and how long they are left on each day.
A part of EIA's Energy Consumption Series of reports, Residential Lighting: Use and Potential Savings details the lighting-related results of EIA's 1993 Residential Energy Consumption Survey, which canvassed 7,111 households nationwide, along with the results of a supplemental questionnaire given to a smaller sample. The report discusses both the survey and the supplement; profiles residential lighting in terms of lighting type, location, usage, and costs; and estimates household and aggregate potential savings. Appendices contain the survey forms and discuss the end-use estimation methodology and the quality of the data.
For more information about this report, contact Linda Owens, Office of Energy Markets and End Use, Energy Information Administration, at 202-586-5891 or via internet e-mail lowens@eia.doe.gov.If you have problems, contact wmaster@eia.doe.govor call 202-586-2735. For general information about energy, contact the National Energy Information Center at 202-586-8800 or via internet e-mail infoctr@eia.doe.gov.