I have been following my usage and bills closely. Fortunately my power utility installed a smart power meter on my home about 6 months before I made the switch and I have been able to document it daily.
I switched from 2x250w MH and 2x140w VHO actinics to 2xAI Sol Blue LED and controller. I sold the 1/4HP chiller a couple years ago and used fans in the canopy and a clip on over the sump for cooling.
My bills dropped $50 a month immediately the month I made the switch. I attribute around $25 of this to the actual lights themselves and the additional $25 to the reduced load on my home AC unit due to the reduction in heat from the lighting.
I then went even further, one step at a time so I could document and track the progress, and swapped out my return pump to a much more efficient WaterBlaster HY-5000, combined some pump functions to reduce the number of pumps and wattage consumed and eventually eliminated the fans, or more accurately placed them on my RKL controller as back ups. Then I slowly switched my lighting period to later in the afternoon and evening to take advantage or off peak power rates which I didn't even know were available in my area.
On top of all that I later replaced every light in my home that had not already been converted to CFL, high efficiency electronic ballast T-8 or LED bulbs. Getting rid of the old tar ballasts and 4 and 8 foot T-12 fluorescents made a big difference. Next I swapped out my swimming pool pumps and pressure side cleaning system to a two speed high efficiency 1.5 HP pump that only draws 1/12 HP when on low and circulating chlorine. I control this with a digital 2 speed controller my power utility subsidized so it cost me next to nothing. I then replaced by old double uninsulated garage door with a R-17 insulated version and the results were amazing.
I have been tracking my power consumption for the last two years now and have cut my kilowatt hours in half and my cost to about 1/3 of what it was previously due to off peak usage rates.
My peak summer usage has dropped as much as 1184 kwH and the bills have decreased as much as $174 a month. My overall savings annually is over $1400 the last two years or about $3000 since starting on this savings kick so every purchase I made has already paid for itself and then some. This includes the LED lights and controller, pool pump and controller, garage door and installation, interior lighting etc.
I never though going "green" could give me so much satisfaction!
I have a thread on
www.azreefs.com documenting my progress.
