For those that live in Puget Sound, take note that Puget Sound Energy is currently subsidizing the cost of new LED light bulbs.  At Home Depot, you can buy a 4-pack of 40 Watt-equivalent LED bulbs for only $8, which is about half of what they cost normally.  These light bulbs only use 6 watts – an amazing energy saving too!  Here at Skalitude we have been using only Compact Flourescent light bulbs, as they are much  more efficient than the old style incandescent.  But with the current subsidy, we just re-powered the entire property in LEDs, as they use half again less energy than CFLs.

A quick comparison: an incandescent 40 watt bulb uses 40 watts.  (Watts = volts times amps.  The voltage in any power system remains constant – the Lodge for instance is a 24 volt system, the cabin is a 12 volt system, the Grid is 120 volt.)  A CFL with about the same amount of light, or lumens, uses about 13 watts, while a LED bulb uses only 6 watts.  Since our meters tell us how many amps we are using, and volts stay constant, that means we’ve gone from using 1.5 amps (40 divided by 24), to .5 amps to .25 amps per light.  It may not seem like much, but that will be a goodly savings, especially in winter when every amp counts!!  See our electricity pdf on the Educational Resources page for a more in-depth discussion of power usage!