Today, technology in every area has grown with leaps and bounds and the LED light bulb is no exception. The progress of this efficient and useful light bulb has been designed for modern style and function. There is a large selection of these little energy savers on the market and the shapes and ways the LED light bulbs have been developed are astonishing.
That being said however, I still have a mental block about the upfront cost of LEDs, that is like the block most people have about solar. (It’s as if people have some kind of a mental block about solar. They think it’s a good thing – for some time in the future, and of course, they mean to do something about their energy choices – some time in the future, sure, but in the meantime God knows!)
Yet, I have to confess, until recently, I was just like that when it comes to LEDs. Sure I know they are cheaper in the long run, and are more efficient by a very long shot than incandescent lights (about a tenth the energy needed to make the same light), but somehow I couldn’t get over the upfront cost. Also, there’s no PPAs or leases for LEDs, obviously, like there are for solar, to eliminate that “oh, but the upfront cost!” argument. But some math from Marc Gunther at Greenbiz.com has provided the evidence needed to change my mind. Quite interesting.
Now, take a conventional 60 watt bulb. Check the equivalent in an LED – which uses only 12.5 watts, while providing the same amount of light. Compare the electricity costs between the two, run for the duration of a 25,000 hour period, which is almost three years if run 24/7, or about 12 years if run 6 hours nightly.
If you pay 12 cents a kilowatt hour, electricity will cost $37.50 to run the 12.5 watt LED for the 25,000 hours. Wow, you will pay $180 to run the 60 watt incandescent the same amount of time. That is one saving right there, the cost of electricity.
That was just half the story. The other half is that only the LED will actually last the 25,000 hours which is about 12 years if you are turning it on at 6PM every night and off at midnight. Yet, the incandescent bulb will only last 1,000 hours, so one bulb actually cannot even do this test. Instead, you’d need to buy 25 incandescent bulbs to stand up to the duration of one LED bulb to run this 25,000 hour test. Huh!
We long ago replaced all our incandescent bulbs in our house with compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs, and that math is not so extreme – but we are moving this year. So the choice will come up again for us. Next time I look at an LED and think, “but it’s so expensive”, I think I will consider this math. It really doesn’t seem quite so expensive any more. Especially if you pay a higher rate than the average for electricity.
Let’s face it – LED bulbs are definitely beginning to replace the old incandescent lighting that have lit up homes and businesses the world over. Many think they are doing their part by replacing the bulbs with CFLs. Now you can take the greening of your home even a step further in lighting. The new LED bulbs that have been developed by good companies are starting to show great promise.
For a low-energy light bulb replacement, LED bulbs for many are starting to show us some really great alternatives to providing us with light. Past LED bulb creations just have not been that impressive, but the new ones are really taking the world by storm. The newer LED bulbs are brighter than their former cousins and not to mention they are becoming increasingly more affordable as well.
Watch the video:
Credit: Excerpts from CleanTechnica and Ledbulbs
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LED bulbs are ideal for inaccessible light fittings; outdoors, unusual new-builds, industrial sites, public spaces, etc.
I jumped on the bwaandgon of fluorescent bulbs quite a while ago and I am fairly disillusioned. The bulbs I buy do not last very long at all. I moved into my current home less than 4 years ago and we replaced almost all of the bulbs with CF bulbs at that time. I have replaced them all at least once since then, many of them multiple times. I may be saving money in my energy usage, but I’m spending all the savings and more on replacing the bulbs. They are supposed to last so much longer than incandescent bulbs, but that has not been my experience. I’m not buying dollar store bulbs. I’m purchasing at Costco and Lowe’s, but the longevity of the bulbs is a serious problem, in my opinion. I definitely worry about the tiny mercury content as well as the sheer impact of materials in the bulbs because we’re going through so many them. I haven’t gone out and purchased a bunch of incandescent bulbs yet, but I’m sorely tempted. I wish the efficient, environmentally friendly solutions really were.