Despite what some think, turning the lights off will save money

Q: Some people I know turn lights on and off every time they go in and out of a room, even if it’s only for a few minutes. I always thought that the surge of electricity needed to turn on a light frequently would raise your power bill more than just leaving them on all the time. Am I right?

A: As much as I hate to say it, it seems you’ve been living in the dark for the most part when it comes to minimizing your electric bill. On the other hand, you may not be totally wrong, so let me try to illuminate a somewhat complex subject.

When it comes to energy consumption alone, lights out is almost always the best policy when you’re not using them, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. This is especially true of halogen and the old-fashioned incandescent bulbs that have been joining VCRs and 8-tracks on the scrapheap of technology.

The incandescents were energy hogs, converting only 5 percent to 10 percent of the energy they used into light. Anyone who tried to unscrew a freshly burned-out bulb knew where the other 95 percent went: heat. So, considering their energy consumption, incandescents should always be turned off — as should halogens, which are somewhat more efficient but are still energy gluttons compared to the new compact fluorescents (CFLs) and the even newer light emitting diodes (LEDs).

It’s these CFLs that may be causing you the most misunderstanding. As the DOE notes, it is popularly believed that CFLs use a lot of energy to get started, so it is better not to turn them off for short periods. But while that may have been more true when they first came on the market, it isn’t any longer if you buy Energy-Star-rated bulbs.

According to the DOE, that higher inrush of energy lasts for just half a cycle — or 1/120th of a second. That means the amount of electricity needed to supply this initial inrush is equal to just a few seconds of normal light operation. The DOE concludes that if you turn CFLs (or any fluorescent light, for that matter) off for even six seconds, you’ll be saving more energy than will be consumed by turning them back on again.

So if we’re talking energy alone, you’d almost always want to turn lights off when you leave a room. As usual, however, the subject is not quite that simple, and here’s where your aversion to frequent switch-flipping may pay off. In addition to energy consumption, you also have to figure in the wear and tear on the bulb. As anyone who has been startled by the pop of an incandescent bulb burning out when they turn it on knows, the more frequently you turn on most bulbs, the faster they’re going to wear out, causing you to spend money on another bulb.

This still wasn’t much of a factor for the incandescents. They were generally so cheap that the savings in electricity by turning them out far outweighed their cost despite their generally short lifespan. (I’m sure that will be true of the 20-watt bulb in my bedroom closet which I swear I’ve turned on every morning since I bought my house 19 years ago — and it’s still burning brightly, knock on wood.)

It also isn’t a problem for LEDs. Their operating life is totally unaffected by how many times you turn them on and off, the DOE says. So, combined with their minserly power consumption, they are an ideal choice to use with controls that can turn lights out when they sense nobody is in a room — much like those new refrigerator cases you see in supermarkets.

That leaves CFLs and here you almost need to a math degree to arrive at an answer. Yes, you save energy by turning off the bulb even for very short periods, but you can extend the life of a bulb by not switching it on and off so often — and CFLs are more costly. But to figure out optimal usage, you’d have to weigh the cost of energy savings against the cost of the bulb’s reduced life expectancy when you turn it on, which might make your calculator go “Tilt!”

So here’s the DOE recommendation on CFLs: If you’re going to be out of a room for less than 15 minutes, leave the light on; if not, turn it off. If nothing else, I hope this information brightened your day.

Q: I have been trying to remember the name of a restaurant, popular for chicken, that I frequented with my family in the 1950s on Broadway in East St. Louis. I recall that it was close to or even next door to the Switzer wholesale facility at that time. All my friends remember going there, too, but can’t recall the name. Can you help?

A: Having devoured several East St. Louis city directories of the day, I’ll take a wild guess. If I’m wrong, I’m hoping my veteran readers will save the day.

By the mid-1950s, Switzer’s had moved to 108 W. Broadway. Next door was what appears to have been a city landmark from the mid-40s to the mid-60s: Bush’s Steak House at 100 W. Broadway. Is this it? It appears to be the only restaurant on Broadway within several blocks of Switzer’s at that time.

About 1950, however, Switzer’s had been at 780 E Broadway and was close to — but not next door — to several restaurants, including Pete’s Cafe (300), Bill’s (310), Carl’s Grill (343), Bowman’s Restaurant (318-26), Marquette’s (321) and Chicago (323). These seem less likely because of the earlier time frame, but I include them just in case. Let me know.

Today’s trivia

Which mammal recently was found to need the least sleep — just two hours a night?

Answer to Saturday’s trivia: By 1910, the country’s fledgling recording industry had pretty much settled on the 78-rpm record as the industry standard. Why? Because in those days a high rotation speed was needed for optimum recording and playback fidelity. Then in 1925 came the electric turntable motor, which ran at 3600 rpm with a 46-to-1 gear ratio, resulting in a rotation speed of — you guessed it — 78.26 rpms. But that changed in June 1948 when Columbia Records introduced the 331/3 long-playing album. Then, on March 31, 1949, came the innovation that would help fuel the rock ’n’ roll era and sock hops around the nation: RCA Victor released “PeeWee the Piccolo,” the first 7-inch, 45-rpm single. Columbia had tried to beat RCA to the punch with a 7-inch, 331/3-rpm single, but its format quickly went the way of the wind-up Victrola.

This story was originally published April 8, 2017 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Despite what some think, turning the lights off will save money."