Dear Queenie,
My wife never turns off the lights in our house, especially at night. She says it’s a nuisance turning them off and on again all the time and besides it wears them out faster. I say it runs up the electric bill and gets too expensive.
Queenie, what do you say?—Lights On, Lights Off
Dear Lights,
I say there is merit to both sides of this argument, plus a couple of factors you have not mentioned.
True, fluorescent lights wear out faster the more often they are turned on and off, while incandescent bulbs wear out faster the longer they are left on. Add to that the fact that incandescent bulbs use more electricity than fluorescent bulbs of the same wattage. So “on” or “off” would seem to be determined by what kind of bulbs you are using.
However, you might want to consider that a dark house indicates that either there is nobody home or everybody is sound asleep – a possible invitation to potential burglars. So it might be a good idea to leave at least a few lights on here and there as a deterrent – and to help your (nosy) neighbours see anyone trying to enter your home uninvited so they (hopefully) can call the police. You might even want to set up a few lights on timers to confuse said potential intruders.
