Dad Sees The Light

Recently i was talking with my dad about energy matters. He admitted he wasn't really excited about energy efficiency lights.

My dad's an intelligent person, he'd just never actually sat down and done the calculations. So we did a cost comparison of an old-fashioned bulb, and an energy efficient one.

Dad tells me the lights (in the room we were in) are on for about 6 hours per night. He was shocked to realise that a 35-cent bulb actually costs him $18.24 a year to run (compared to $3.34 to run an energy efficient one). While he still may not be excited about reducing greenhouse emissions, i think he quite likes the idea of saving 15 bucks.

By the way, this calculation was based on the 2006/07 electricity price. If we were to use the 2010/11 price (here in Queensland) the figures would now be $28.06 (old) and $5.14 (efficient) - a saving of $22.92 each year!
(and that's for just one bulb!)