Lights Out a bust

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 9/22/2007 | staff

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

'Lights Out'' around Salt Lake City was a bust.

Rocky Mountain Power technicians were unable to measure any reduction in energy use on Wednesday night when Utah residents were urged to turn off their lights for an hour.

''I wouldn't call it a blowout, but it's indicative of the proportion of lighting to other electrical uses. It just wasn't visible on our load curves,'' said Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Dave Eskelsen.

Lighting accounts for just 14 percent of Utah's urban energy use - refrigerators and air conditioning make up 52 percent of the total, he said.

But from a commanding view at Huntsman Cancer Institute, Lights Out boosters were able to detect some random dimming around the city starting at 9 p.m.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Lighting accounts for just 14 percent of Utah's urban energy use

And industry is the lion's share of the load on that 14%. It just goes to show what a load of crap Daylight Savings Time is.

[martin_fierro]

[frankenMonkey]

But from a commanding view at Huntsman Cancer Institute, Lights Out boosters were able to detect some random dimming around the city starting at 9 p.m.

Wow!
I start seeing a lot of random dimming about 9 every evening...

[L98Fiero]

“And industry is the lion’s share of the load on that 14%”

Yep, in a home, lighting generally only costs a couple dollars a month, or a few pennies for a few hours.

[djf]

I had read in the past that the single largest home energy use is something that would be even harder to live without than refrigeration...

hot water.

May be true, maybe not.

[mirkwood]

Water heaters are the biggest draw on electric. Unless you have electric heating. To either turn on or off a light bulb is about 1% of your electric bill. Instant water heaters are very nice, but the price tag is still way too high right now.

[Ole Okie]

Not only what a load of crap daylight savings time is, but also what a load of crap is the push to replace incandescent bulbs with the curly-cues as a cure for global warming.

[Ditter]

I had my old gas waterheater replaced with an “on demand” gas waterheater. It was expensive but most of the added expense was the change in plumbing because I put it in a different place than the location of the old water heater. As I recall the on demand heater itself didn’t cost that much more than a new water heater of the old type.

I didn’t do it for any money saving reasons, my old water heater was about to explode, I had to get a new one.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

I don’t know how common these are in the States, but I have an electric hot water heater that is attached to the wall in the laundry room. When one turns on a hot water tap, water runs through some heating coils (or something). There is endless hot water throughout the house. There is no tank of water, which is heated and reheated 24 hours a day, and wasting one’s money.

[DownInFlames]

The only dimming I have been seeing is the nutjobs running our country at all levels. They just don’t understand that to have electricity, you must GENERATE it.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Thank you for the name of that heater…”demand heater.”

I was sitting here thinking what the devil it was called in English. (I’m not even sure what it is called in Spanish.)

In Panama, they also come in gas.

[Nuc1]

It just goes to show what a load of crap Daylight Savings And lets not forget that extra hour of daylight has got to contribute to global warming! But you never hear anything about it. Snicker.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Must have seemed like magic at the time.

[djf]

I know I can have all my lights on, computers, a tv and everything else going, and the meter is barely turning.

Wash my hands for thirty seconds, and the thing looks like it’s ready to spin into space or something!

[Always Right]

Yep, in a home, lighting generally only costs a couple dollars a month, or a few pennies for a few hours.

But yet we are gonna save the planet by making everyone use these mercury filled bulbs that put out half the light.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

All those nuts should go to Havana, Cuba. Yep, the city is in total darkness when the sun goes down (except for a light bulb here and a light bulb way the heck over there in the far, far away distance.)

That’s their cup of tea.

[Nuc1]

I have seen a reduction in my monthly electric bill since I started using the curlycue's and yes they are costly to purchase. But the thing I really like about them is they last for two forevers. And no I didn’t buy them to combat global warming. I am, gasp, a man made global warming denier.

[Ditter]

You are welcome, it works great and I was able to use the space that the old huge waterheater took, for a badly needed closet.

[Vinnie]

I had my old gas waterheater replaced with an “on demand” gas waterheater.

I've been thinking of doing that.
What is your experience? Time lag? savings?

[jcparks]

They just don’t understand that to have electricity, you must GENERATE it.

BINGO...we have a winner!
The largest user of energy in this country is...you guessed it, your government. But we wouldn't dream of asking THEM to use less.