Turn Lights Off 

Wasn’t there a time when everyone was saying that  turning off the lights would save the planet – and our checking accounts? For years, people have been bombarded with ads on television, in print, in train cars and even on the sides of buses that practically promise turning off the lights and unplugging your cell phone charger will help global warming and lower your power bill. And those campaigns, funded in part by utility companies, have largely been successful, with 25% of people in the study reporting they engage in one of those much-touted habits as their primary energy-saving measure.

But, it turns out all that light-switch flipping and unplugging gadgets does little to conserve energy – or save money – for individual households.

What savings that come are small. Lighting accounts for about 11% of a household’s energy bill, according to the Department of Energy. And while calculating the exact savings gleaned by flipping a few switches is complicated – light bulbs have different wattages and people use lights for different amounts of time – turning off one 40-watt conventional bulb for eight hours saves about three cents if you’re paying the typical rate of 10 cents per kilowatt hour of energy use. That’s less than a dollar in savings over 30 days.

So why the hype around shutting the lights off? It provides people with the emotional benefit that their action has helped them save money and energy without inconveniencing them and without making them uncomfortable – or requiring them to spend money.

It’s true that many of the big energy and money savers will cost more upfront. For example, re-insulating a 2,000-square foot house will cost anywhere from $400 to $800. But most households could recoup those savings within two years.  

The KVAR Energy Recycler will save you money without change of lifestyle.