Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pbartender" data-source="post: 3471407" data-attributes="member: 7533">Yes.Turn electrical devices on and off does not consume more energy than leaving them on, however...  Many devices will lose a considerable portion of their lifetime by frequent turning on/off.  Flourescent lights, for example, can lose up to 5-10% of their tube life.  This why many large offices leave lights on all night -- it's cheaper to pay for the extra energy than it is to pay for someone to replace the tubes more often.  It's also the primary reason why many people recommend not shutting computers off -- it can be hard on the hardware.Incandescent bulb lifetimes, on the other hand, are almost entirely unaffected.Older fluorescent lights do in fact require an initial burst of energy to turn on. However, the energy required is small and the savings from having the lights off more than compensates in a matter of seconds. Standard incandescent lights use absolutely no energy in starting so the bottom line is, turn off the lights to save energy.The same goes for any other appliance.If you want to really conserve energy, you're far better off buying more efficent appliances.  Switching, for example, from incandescent bulbs to flourescents, wherever possible, and choosing the most energy efficient refrigerators, washers, dryers, etc...  The big appliances typically account for the majority of your home electric bill.</blockquote>