Efficient lighting equals higher heat bills: study

[Nancy]

Questions are being raised about whether so-called energy saving light bulbs might cause cold-weather Canadians to burn more energy to heat their homes than if they were to use regular light bulbs.

CBC News has found that in some cases compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) can have the adverse effect of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, depending on how consumers heat their homes

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/st...s.html?ref=rss

[Rathji]

This is awesome news, now I will spend less on AC in the summer.

ok not really, because I don't have AC, but the point still stands.

[ken0042]

And I can see that the link is from Manitoba; where this might apply.

With most of Manitoba's electricity being generated using hydro; it is a very green source of energy. But most Manitobans use gas to heat their homes. So you take away some heat from electricity and then push it onto gas.

Here in Alberta it would be more of a wash as we use coal to generate our electricity.

[You Need a Thneed]

Higher heat bills yes, but only maybe a dollar. Meanwhile, your electric bill is 20 bucks less. A natural gas furnace is 10-20 times more efficient that an incandescent light bulb.

[Ducay]

Again, bear in mind Alberta is different. They also mentioned PEI where it is much more expensive to heat your home compared to electricity. Alberta is almost the opposite, cheap nat gas and expensive coal electricity.

[photon]

I said something like this a while back and got lots of flack.

Incandescent bulbs turn almost all the energy they consume to heat.

I agree it depends on where your elecricity comes from and how you heat your home.