I was thinking about this today when I replaced a burnt out light bulb in an unheated outside shed with another incandescent. The bulb helps keep the shed temperature above freezing in cold snaps during the winter. Perhaps JohnInKansas or some other like minded individual could provide some "illumination".

We use electric baseboard heating for some rooms in our house. There has been a big push by our hydro supplier, particularly on Vancouver Island over the past few years, to get their customers to switch to energy effcient light bulbs for lighting, which I have done in some fixtures.

However I think it may be rather pointless, particularly in the winter, as incandescent bulbs contribute to overall heat production in a room in conjuction with the baseboard heaters. Are incandescent bulbs any less effcient as a heat source than a baseboad heater? Would I ever see a reduction on my bill?

I do realize that the fluorescent bulbs last much longer and some monetary saving might be realized there, but they are possibly more energy consumptive to manufacture.

So in the grand scheme of things, if one already uses electricity as a home heating source, where's the saving regarding winter personal power consumption in switching to fluorescent bulbs?