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Rhwinger his 2006 HCH-II named “Bond Mobile” (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/my-ride/t-tarabells-mudder-3226.html).

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/546/rhwinger_ride1.jpg

We bought the Honda July of 06 - the day after VaBeachPrius bought his Prius-II :rolleyes: It was my wife’s idea to buy a hybrid as she is the tree hugger in the family. I’m the reducing oil imports/energy efficiency fanatic, but I wouldn’t call myself “cheap”. I just like geeky toys and efficiency.

I’ve been a fan of programmable thermostats in the home for over 20 years. Two years ago, graduated to motion sensor light switches in the pantry and bathrooms where everyone turns on the lights, but nobody remembers to turn them off! Recently replaced a bunch of incandescent light bulbs with CFL’s, but some of them have an annoying habit of buzzing and take a few minutes to come up to full brightness. And the light color/ temperature is a bit different making rooms and people’s skin look a bit “odd”, even after trying to select the ones labeled “soft white”. For these reasons, I think they need a bit of tweaking and I’m not sure about mandating them yet.

Anyway, while introducing Levi (my oldest son) to the Honda, he was taken by how the NAV display folded out with a silky sounding whirr while loading a CD. He exclaimed: “Just like James Bond, dad! Cool!” He’s a real “Shaken – not stirred” fan, so that’s how we came to call our car the Bond Mobile.

Having the iFCD and trip FCD displays in the Honda provide real time feedback on driving efficiency – I wish all cars came with the displays. While a lot of drivers would probably ignore them – just like they ignore their speedometers – seems to me some drivers would try to use them. You don’t have to drive a hybrid to be a hypermiler. And a 10% reduction in oil demand would yield a hugely disproportionate drop in oil/gas prices. Hello GM and Ford – are you listening??

And the picture shows my son Levi and I out at the airport a few weeks ago. I don’t want to sound like a braggart, but, well, I’m proud of earning a pilot’s license. That accomplishment was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/garage/images/cha186.png

Recently replaced a bunch of incandescent light bulbs with CFL’s, but some of them have an annoying habit of buzzing and take a few minutes to come up to full brightness. And the light color/ temperature is a bit different making rooms and people’s skin look a bit “odd”, even after trying to select the ones labeled “soft white”. For these reasons, I think they need a bit of tweaking and I’m not sure about mandating them yet.

I replaced everything I could* with CFL's 5 years ago and got used to them very quickly. The warmup time is annoying at first but you don't even think about it after a while. Re colors: your eye/brain recalibrates very quickly, which is why incandescent bulbs (which are actually yellow compared to daylight) are perceived as white indoors. If you have a mixture of incandescent and CFL's, yes things may look a bit odd. None of mine buzz at all. A bonus is that CFL's definitely last much longer.

* New fixtures and new lamps in some places. Changing to larger harps in some lamps to accomodate CFL's. Didn't change some fixtures that took candelabra bulbs with tiny bases, so switched these to kyrpton bulbs which have a cooler light and put dimmers on them.

Our electric company is hooked up with an outfit that sells this stuff inexpensively, and that is where I got almost everything:
http://www.smartlivingstore.com/
Their offerings used to be more extensive. I see LED bulbs are coming.

Walmart is now displays several different styles of cfl's. They have the larger size candelabra bulbs with the small base but also includes the standard base adapter. They also have the bulbous type used in vanity lights in a large and small size. They also have par30 long neck.
My wife hated them at first. I would come home from work and several would be changed back to incandescent. I would put the cfls back in. After a while, she gave in. She loves to leave small decorative lamps on. She saw that I would leave them on if they had cfls in them.

Mythbusters had a show on a couple of weeks ago pertaining to:
Leave lights on when leaving the room for a short while.
Or shut the lights off if you leave the room for a short while.

Thanks msirach. The Par30's are the ones that buzz the most, along with one CFL in the bathroom ligt/vent fixture. Maybe some are defective?

My wife never changed out any CFL's, but she put her foot down when I tried to put a motion detector switch in the laundry room. She said she felt like she was living in an industrial area. So, when I come home from work, it's not unusual top find the laundry room light on. :-(

What was the result of the Mythbuster show? I remeber someone saying leave flourescent lights on all day becasue starting currunt was much higher than running current?

Thanks all,

Bob