I heard that a fluorescent bulb takes more energy to light up than to keep lighting. So it save energy - Is it true that it’s better to keep fluorescent lights on than turn them off when you leave the room (if you’re coming back in 10-20 min.)?
by 
BennyG
ANSWERS: 7
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that's right. you pay much more money to electricity if you turn off and on the fluorescent lamp than keeping it on. more energy is taken to light up than to keep lighting. same goes for your computer. if you don't turn it off for 2 weeks, you'll see that you will pay much less than if you turn it off and on for those 2 weeks. try it. you'll be amazed.
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Yes. 15 minutes is the ''rule of thumb'' we electricians use.
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Mythbusters had a segment on this: http://mythbusters-wiki.discovery.com/page/Lights+On+or+Off%3F?t=anon 23 *seconds* is the time they arrived at to break even on energy usage. So turn out the lights when you leave the room. In the episode, they also discussed shortening the life of the bulb, and for fluorescent lights, it does shorten their lives to switch them on and off a lot. So you have to figure in the cost of the bulb and the cost of the electricity if you really want to be precise about it. The new LED bulbs have essentially zero warm up time, and have no problems with power cycling, so if you buy one of those, you don't ever have to worry turning it off.
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Turn the light off. This is a stupid argument. Even if there was a cost saving it would be so small that the one time you did not return to that room in you expected 5/10/15 minutes your savings would be wiped out. Making a habit out of leave a room flick the switch off will save you in the long run. Once you turn this in to a habit you will not even have to think about it. If this is too hard you can always install room occupancy sensors set them for 15 minutes and have the best of booth worlds. Bill Lutz Generation 3 Electric, Inc. http://generation3electric.com http://electrician-in-philadelphia.blogspot.com/
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Yes you heard correct. Inside the fluorescent light fixture is whats called a ballast. This device draws much more power when it first starts up, but after it is up and running it uses substantially less power. To turn off and on every 15-20 mins would in my opinion cost more to operate as well as cause the fixture to eventually break sooner than if left on. This also applies to these newer bulbs that claim to use say 15 watts to produce 100 watts of light. I never had one apart but imagine there is a tiny ballast inside the bulb itself. Not sure of any rule of thumbs as I was reading but that rule does make some sense, (the 15 min rule) but the size of the fixture and or bulb may also play a key role in what's considered to ultimately save on power.
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In addition to lights take a look at your other electrical appliances, etc. They use a lot more energy. You can buy a device on eBay called a Kill A Watt meter, for about $20 including shipping, and use it to see just how much electricity, your refrigerator, TV, etc. are using. It's neat, but only works with 110 volt devices that plug in a wall outlet.
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You can also check yourself by visiting some helping and light stores. Like http://www.ehow.com http://www.howstuffworks.com http://www.ibuylights.com
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