[Amps] Lamps and surge protection

[Bob Nielsen]

On Feb 13, 2007, at 1:19 AM, Peter Chadwick wrote:

> Interestingly, the old General Electric Company in the UK were  
> always looking to save money. To this end, a study was carried out  
> by their research group which showed that the reduction in life by  
> switching lights off and on was compensated by the saving in  
> electricity if the 'OFF' period exceeded 3 minutes.

That time is probably a bit longer if fluorescent lambs are used in  
place of incandescent, and is certainly a function of electric  
rates.  The facility I worked at between 1966 and 1984 was built with  
fluorescent lights always-on (no switches were installed).  During  
the energy crisis of the mid-1970s they had a lot of complaints from  
people who noticed all the light coming from the windows in the  
middle of the night.  They eventually retrofitted the place by adding  
light switches in all the offices and labs.  I don't know how much  
money they saved but it did squelch the complaints.

Bob, N7XY