$150 per year
0.8 tons of CO2
For residential customers in the U.S., the average price of electricity has recently* been at $0.115 per kilowatt-hour. This works out to almost exactly $1.00 per Watt-year:
Leave a 100 Watt light bulb on for a year, pay $100.
I found this surprising when I calculated it. The number is simple, memorable, and encourages conservation. Pass it on.
* Last November (source: U.S. Energy Information Administration)
Another number: 100 Watts, one year, over 1/2 ton of CO2 emissions.
(based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration)
See also:
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Michael G.R. 03.11.09 at 3:53 pm UTC
I did pass it on. Linked to it from here:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/03/drexler-one-watt-one-year-one-dollar.php
Eric Drexler 03.12.09 at 7:43 pm UTC
Thanks, Michael — your link brought many visitors, and I’m sure their recommendations helped bring many more who’ve gotten here through StumbleUpon and other paths.
More links to this — or simply repeating the message elsewhere — would prevent the burning of many, many tons of coal, and we can all feel good about that.
William Carr 03.16.09 at 10:30 pm UTC
Yeah, yeah.
My roommate thinks he’s a watt miser.
So he sits watching TV in the dark.
If I leave a light on in the kitchen and come into the living room, he jumps up and storms into the kitchen to shut off the light.
Meanwhile, he leaves his room air conditioner on super-cold all night long during the summer: and he takes long, hot showers.
I have explained until I’m blue in the face that I’ve replaced everything with fluorescents and LED’s.
I explain that long showers and air conditioning cost fifty times as much as leaving a light on.
He won’t listen, because he’s a fanatic. And stupid.
Andreas 04.11.09 at 8:51 pm UTC
Since this year you couln’t buy 100Watt bulbs anymore. Next year they will ban the 80 Watt bulbs. We got in germany a directive, the goverment will ban all “normal” bulbs to the year 2015 (don’t know the exact year). I think thats a good decision. I changing all dead coil bulbs into LED bulbs. The fluorescent bulbs are good to save money and energy but the production isn’t effective and they are marked as hazardous waste (lead and quicksilver) in germany.
Greetz and “think green” ;-)
lvleph 04.11.09 at 10:57 pm UTC
I like to think of it this way. A 13W CFL will cost me $2 initially and $13 if run continuously over one year. While a standard equivalent bulb of 60W will cost me $0.50 initially and $60 if run continuously over one year.
A CFL would then save me $45.50. Now obviously hardly anyone is running a bulb that long, but what not be environmentally friendly if it will save you money. My electricity bill each month never exceeds $12 (gas heating). Every bulb I own is a CFL and I make sure I turn things off when not in use.
Uncle B 01.17.10 at 10:08 pm UTC
Converted to CFL’s over ten years ago! Bathroom CFL still going strong! Never replaced! Did replace one “ring” style CFL in living room, it may have been bumped pretty hard in a fall at one point though! Desk lamps are all CFL’s and they never ever burn out! I bought “Phillips” brand at Canadian outlets and IKEA bulbs too. They all preform well. I have kept all bills and packaging, being very skeptical about guarantees, – so far no returns in ten years! I look forward to LED’s and will convert to lessen the load on the wiring in my century home, as soon as they are priced closer to reality and as the CFL’s burn out. Question: Since less amperage is switched each time a LED or CFL is turned on and off, should switches last longer?