Why I have enough light bulbs for the next 404 years
A picture of me the next time I buy light bulbs
UK electricity companies are in the habit of sending out packs of free energy saving lightbulbs to their customers. It’s one way they satisfy their climate change obligations to government. During the course of a couple of house moves i’ve ended up getting sent 3 packs of four bulbs each, so 12 bulbs in total.
Now, I already had five spare bulbs, so that means i’ve got 17 spares kicking around now. We currently use eight low-energy bulbs around the house, and i’ve yet to have one die in about three years of use. If one blew tomorrow, that would put my usage at 0.042 bulbs per year. If they all blew, that would mean 2.67 bulbs per year. So in the very worst case scenario I have 6.37 years before I have to buy stock up on bulbs again. If you take the lowest estimate, i’ve got enough for 404 years.
I mean, free stuff is great, but I think i’m pretty much sorted for light bulbs now. If you’re listening power companies: you can stop sending them now. If you feel you have to send us free stuff, alcohol will do nicely.
Tags: green, maths
I didn’t even move but somehow ended up being delivered 3 packs of them over the space of a year. The annoying thing is they only fit 50% of the lights in my flat.