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Living and practicing on the "left coast," I thought that this article was interesting: http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20060602/bs_ ... 0602187912

I cannot vouch for how accurate it is, but I can state that the attitude here is "Okay, if I gotta do it, I gotta do it" in regards to our Title 24 energy regs. We are now required to use motion sensors in residential construction, unless you are willing to install compact fluorescents that require a plug-in socket - no more screw-in!

I just finished building my energy star home about 5 months ago which is designed around the new 2005 energy standards, and so far the elect. & gas bill for my 1838 sq.ft home has been about the same as it was in my 990 sq.ft. apt. The house is soooo efficient at keeping the temperature constant. I love it. The HVAC turns on maybe three times a day from about 3-5 mins. Like the great Ron Popeil says "Set it and forget it." The new fluorescent lighting fixtures they have been using (the pin type), don't have that fluorescent color which I was a little worried about, so the lighting doesn't look cheap and commercial. It's one good thing our hippie neighbor friends here in California finally got right.

I'm still not convinced by the screw-in fluorescents, and I do not specifiy fluorescent fixtures in habitable spaces...especially bathrooms and kitchens; the color-rendition is ghastly. I don't even like them in garages since in cold weather half the time they will not start correctly. Considering the small-portion of the overall energy budget dedicated to task-lighting vs. the heating and cooling power requirements here; it's just not worth the problems. To depend on the end-user remembering that fluorescents come in different "temperatures" is not worth the call-backs, the angry comments and disgruntled clients.

I do use quite a few dimmer and 3-way dimmers; and try to break-up the lighting into multiple circuits so ALL the lights don't have to be "on" at the same time. When I need or want non-incandescent fixtures, I specify either Halogen/quartz-type or low-voltage fixtures. Some of the LED fixtures look interesting, but I haven't spec'd any as of this point.

Here it makes sense to over-insulate and spec' high-efficiency HVAC equipment, that's the part of the energy bills they remember...not the general and task lighting-portion. Not only do we have both high heating degree-days and cooling degree-days; but much of the AC's energy goes to dehumidification, not necessarily "cooling".



When I first moved into my office suite, I ripped-out all the "office bulbs" and replaced them with a mixture of "outdoor" and "Color-rendered" tubes. Then I bought Halogen task-lighting to drown-out the fluorescents in each workstation and eliminate the flicker. (I'm one of those people who can see the flicker out of the corner of my eye...and get the corresponding headaches.)

It's like "latex paint" and the "1.5-gallon" flush toilet...it's not as good as the original product, but forced upon us "for our own good' by the Bureaucracy of the Nanny-State.