In October, Money magazine had a special energy insert that featured five ways to save on your energy bills. They not only highlighted the ideas, but the annual savings and up-front costs you'd expect from each of them. They also listed a "quick fix" -- a step you could take in case you didn't want to take the "full-on" advice. Today we'll look at their #5 suggestion, replace old appliances. Their thoughts:
Idea: Most major appliances (such as refrigerators and dishwashers) that are more than 15 years old are major energy wasters - and likely worth ditching in favor of this year's models.
Annual savings: $50 to $150 on electric bills per machine.
Up-front cost: About $500 to $1,500 per machine.
Quick Fix: Compact fluorescent bulbs (costing about $5 each) could save you about $5 each annually.
My take:
We have a "new" washer and dryer (a few years old) and a new dishwasher (a couple years old), but have a very old refrigerator (probably 15 years old now.) My wife has kept it in good shape by regularly cleaning the coils, but it's due for a replacement. We were just talking the other nigh and agreed that if/when we move, we'll get a new refrigerator. If we don't move in the next year, we'll probably get a new one anyway.
As far as compact fluorescent bulbs go, we have them in part of our house but haven't made the full switch. I still can't get over the "flickering" when they are turned on. Do they all do this or did we just buy cheap ones?
Our CFLs don't flicker, but the thing that gets me is that they take a couple minutes to increase their brightness - not ideal in certain areas where you're looking for a lot of immediate brightness - same question as FMF - just cheap ones or is that the way they are? How far away are we from affordable LEDs?
Posted by: CF | November 16, 2007 at 07:50 AM
Same as CF - our CFLs don't flicker, but they do have a "warm-up" period. It bothers me in our bathroom and our living room overhead light, particularly. But I've learned to live with it.
Posted by: Anitra | November 16, 2007 at 08:48 AM
I have my grandparents' old fridge, circa 1960. They don't make appliances like they used to, that fridge weighs a ton and is indestructible. I'm sure it costs me a fortune in electricity to run, but nothing I can buy today will perform like that dinosaur.
Posted by: Sheryl | November 16, 2007 at 08:56 AM
My dad had CFLs in various parts of his house with varying effects. Some that he had in the kitchen put off a nice yellow light and turned on nearly immediately, but he had some others in his office and his step-daughter's bedroom which put off a harsh white light and took like 10 minutes to "warm up".
Posted by: Brandon Barkley | November 16, 2007 at 09:15 AM
I agree about the CFLs having a warm-up period. However, one variety we purchased (from Lowe's I think) were so bright, we only had to use one bulb instead of the 2 bulbs the fixture calls for.
We bought a front-loading washer about a year ago and we did notice a decrease in our water consumption.
Posted by: Kevin | November 16, 2007 at 10:04 AM
Popular Mechanics did a roundup test of a bunch of CFLs:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/4215199.html?series=15
Posted by: Andrew McGuckin | November 16, 2007 at 10:08 AM
I switched almost all of our light bulbs to CFLs. I found that they have different output types of light. What I mean is that some are "soft white" equivalents and some are sunshine/daytime equivalents. I am sure there are other types as well. This is what Brandon was referring to with the yellow and harsh white light. When looking to replace the bulbs, you might want to check what type of light the current one produces and try to match it if possible. Also, the ones I purchased (at home depot), had warnings on them not use in high moisture areas like bathrooms, outside, and kitchen appliances (like refrigerators). They may make special CFLs for these uses, but at the time I purchased mine I did not see them. Yes, ours do have a minute or two warm up period, which did take some getting used to, but is not really annoying anymore.
Posted by: Dave | November 16, 2007 at 10:20 AM
You didn't necessarily get cheap ones, but you probably don't have "new" ones. They have gotten a lot better over the past 2 years or so. I've been using CFLs for longer than that, so most of my lights are annoying, but I just put newer ones where they're needed and deal with the others. They're still cheaper to operate and last a long time.
And, as I've discovered this week, you can even break them and put them back into "like new" working order, which you can't do with a normal bulb.
Posted by: Blaine Moore | November 16, 2007 at 10:35 AM
Mine have a warm up period, but they don't flicker. They get gradually brighter. I use them in every room except the bathroom (because I switch on/off the light frequently, and you're not supposed to do that with the compact bulbs.) Maybe try a different brand to see if you like them more?
Posted by: annab | November 16, 2007 at 11:23 AM