Are we saving?

Because they burn cooler, they cause home heating costs to rise, utility reports Compact fluorescent lights are a darling of the environmental movement, but they’re also likely to cause a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, according to a BC Hydro document.

Over the past five years, Hydro’s promotion of compact fluorescents, or CFLs, has been so effective that British Columbia is now a North American leader in using the energy saving bulbs.

However, in a recent filing to the B. C. Utilities Commission, Hydro states that widespread adoption of CFLs will have unintended consequences for the environment.

That’s because conventional incandescent light bulbs throw off a significant amount of heat, in addition to lighting a room, because they are inefficient users of electricity.

Switch to cool-burning fluorescents and you use less power — but your house is bit colder so you turn up the thermostat to compensate.

If you live in a house with a gas furnace, you’re going to burn more fuel — and cause more greenhouse gas ( GHG) to be emitted into the atmosphere....

Environmental groups were quick to dismiss Hydro's analysis -- and even the Crown corporation itself said its comments don't fully reflect the environmental benefit of cutting down electricity use.

Greenhouse-gas emissions associated with a lighting switch would represent 0.07 per cent of total GHG emissions in B.C., said Simi Heer, spokeswoman for Hydro's Power Smart program.

At present, fluorescents have 85-per-cent market penetration among residential customers in B.C., and the average is eight bulbs per household.

"The energy savings outweigh the amount of heating you are adding to your heating load," Heer said.

Nicholas Heap, a campaigner for the David Suzuki Foundation, said "a lot" of the heat produced by incandescent bulbs is useless because home lighting is typically off the ground and the heat stays on the ceiling....