Energy crisis?

[AngryHorse]

So it seems it’s back to the 70s with warnings about rolling blackouts this winter, (Kev hit the nail on the head a few years ago), and with electricity bills reported to hit £4000 a year by January, would this change what lighting your currently using at home I wonder?
And what about your other high use appliances, (shower, tumble dryers)?, what do you plan to change if anything?

[HIDLamp]

tbh most of our house is LED anyway given it's mostly SES, G9, ES, GU10 domestic fittings and what isn't either doesn't get used enough or the difference is negligible, such as changing out the twin 7W PL-S in the kitchen would make minimal difference, the garage is entirely lit with T12 & T8 switch start but that's staying for the time being at least.
As for other appliances the washing machine and tumble drier are less than a year old thanks to the well timed and simultaneous death of their predecessors (at the least the new ones are a matching pair), the fridge is approaching 20 years old but that'll only get replaced when it dies, the hot water cylinder is well insulated given it's not quite 6 years old, though we have put the immersion heater on a timer which did have a dramatic effect on the leccy bill, though that saving is mainly notable in the summer months as we have a log burner with back boiler to power the radiators and heat the hot water, though obviously we only light that in the winter months.
We did get double glazing and fit extra insulation anywhere we could when we gave the house a smarten up a few years ago.
So really I feel we've done what we can, it's just a case of being disciplined into turning stuff off when it's not being used.

[AngryHorse]

Yeah, there’s not a great deal you can do with the tumble dryer!, you HAVE to have one in winter!, but I’ve been experimenting with the shower too, and I could put up with it on half power, (4000 watts from 8000), and still have hot enough to use, but with reduced water pressure!
Lighting wise, at the moment using every light in the house (including outside), I’m at 340 watt’s, but depending on what energy costs goes to, I reckon I can get that down to 222 watts and still keep my outside lights working all night if need be?

[Liam]

Me personally i won't be turning any of my lights off 'the lights on life test's or lights i use daily as its my hobby & passion and turning my lights off well what will be the point in collecting them if i don't use
and enjoy them because after all i don't have a clue how long i will be on this earth for.

[Oliver]

I agree. So far, I have no plans of turning off any of my lights. I currently have 6 8w fluorescent tubes running 24/7 and many other fluorescent fittings that see heavy use as they are my hobby. I could put some of the sign lights on a photocell but I much prefer 24/7 operation for lifetime tests and in general tbh.

I have tried to save energy in other ways such as turning off some monitors when I leave the room for a while and not using my projector.

Our current electricity cost is 27.09p/kWh.

[Nick217]

I've made the switch back to CFLs at home in most applications as I've found there now starting to fail 6 years in (on some) gu10s are still led and always will be now. Unfortunately the 5ft is still led tubed due to its low use now.

[Liam]

I have in daily use is 10x 2x18w Series fittings, 3x 58w Twin fittings, 6x 58w Single fittings, 2x 70w single fittings, 12x 36w fittings, 1x 2x36w twin fitting, 8 x 18w fittings, 1X28W 2D in daily use... I also have 3x 70w SON, 1x 35w SOX, & 2x9w G23 PL on dusk til dawn life tests. I know that's hell of a lot esp for a 3 Bedroom house BUT do note All those fittings are NOT used all together bundle of fittings gets different hours and switched at different times over a 24h period.

The maximum daily use some fluorescent s get is 18 hours per day and minimum is 6 hours per day so all my lights do get a good hammering lol.

[Oliver]

We are slowly switching back to CFLs where the LED lamps are failing. The old CFLs regularly got like 7 - 10 years but with LED we are seeing more like 1 - 3 years, sometimes months in cases!

My 8w fittings under my desk are hammered, there is a noticeable shadow of soot on the wall behind all of them and you can feel the heat rising at the front of the desk from them all lol

[AngryHorse]

That’s quite an impressive load Liam!, are the 3 son, 1 Sox and pl your outside lighting?
I’m experimenting with my Sylvania ToLEDo everywhere at the minute, I bought 11 of them about 10 years ago in 4 watts filament flavour, 6 went into the living room and 2 globes into the kitchen.
The globe’s are now in the bathroom, and I took 4 of the 6 out of the living room and distributed them around the house.
All the main lighting in the house are now all 4 watts giving an inside running load of just 24 watts!

My front and rear lanterns are still 13 watt LED filament lamps but my coach lights on the fence are now running 4 watt filament candle lamps which are surprisingly bright at night, and a dusk till dawn running load of just 34 watts.
I have been suitably impressed with LED filament candle lamps in coach lights as their compact size fit perfectly inside them.

[FrontSideBus]

I was thinking about removing the twin 8ft in the garage and instead having some LED weatherpacks!