False economy

[cinema guy]

The <cinema> had a refit some months ago. As part of the refit they installed funky new power saving bulbs. These bulbs are super energy efficient and last years if they are left on for long periods of time.

So we have them installed in the toilets where the lighting is controlled by a motion sensor, so keeps going on and off. The bulbs in the toilets are starting to fail en mass.

They are really quite expensive to replace.

[mharbourgirl]

Somebody should have taken the label a lot more literally, it sounds like. When it says they last for a mort of years if left on, that's exactly what it means. You have to leave them on. Hopefully someone will decide to put more durable bulbs in the sensor-controlled outlets and save the powersavers for place where they'll be left on for long periods of time. THAT will save money in the long run.

[Racket_Man]

My pizza place did the EXACT same thing when they built the new store. half of the fixtures were those compact florencent types BUT the bulbs they installed were NOT dimable.

IT got so bad that I started marking install dates on the bulb bases when I replaced them (they seemd to last only about 3 months and yes the bulbs were expensive ~ $9 per bulb). it seemed like I/they (meaning they would give me money and I would get the bulbs at the local big box harrdware store)was spending about $150 just for bulbs every 3 - 6 months

[Zoom]

And of course the power saving bulbs cost a lot more to make and have a larger carbon footprint. So power saved in one place is wasted in another.