Using LED bulbs at home is perhaps not what most people would consider. Technology in most areas has grown with leaps and bounds and the incandescent bulb rival, the LED bulb, is no exception.
The progress of this efficient and useful light bulb stands for modern style and function. There is a large selection of these little energy savers on the market. Indeed, the shapes and ways the LED bulbs exist are astonishing.
Certainly, I still have a mental block about the upfront cost of LEDs. That is like the block most people have about solar. People 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 came to LEDs. They are cheaper in the long run, and are more efficient by a long shot compared to the incandescent bulb. In fact, about a tenth the energy needed to make the same light. Yet, somehow I couldn’t get over the upfront cost.
So should I just start using LED bulbs at home?
Simple Math
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 provides evidence to change my mind.
Take a conventional 60 watt incandescent 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. That 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. You will pay $180 to run the 60 watt incandescent bulb the same amount of time.
That is one significant saving right there, the cost of electricity – perhaps the best reason to start using LED bulbs at home.
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 turn it on at 6 PM every night and off at midnight. Yet, the incandescent bulb will only last 1,000 hours, so one incandescent 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.
LED Bulbs at Home – Do Your Bit
We long ago replaced the incandescent bulb in our house with compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs. 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, “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.
LED bulb is definitely replacing the old incandescent bulb that has lit up homes and businesses the world over. Many think they are doing their part by replacing the incandescent bulb with CFL. Now you can take the greening of your home even a step further in lighting.
For a low-energy light bulb replacement, LED bulbs at home for many are starting to show 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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