Should I upgrade my light bulbs to LED
Should I upgrade my light bulbs to LED
Posted on Feb 13, 2009 by Paul White
The main reason I decided to do the math on these household upgrades, was because part of Obama's plan is to do things like replace light bulbs in government buildings to help save on energy costs. At first I was skeptical. But then I decided to research the options for myself. I was surprized with how much this upgrade can save me.The upgrade I am talking about is replacing Incandescent light bulbs with the newer Fluorescent ones or the LED bulbs. The problem is like most americans when I am lowes or home depot getting replacement bulbs, I usually have my mind on how much I am spending right now rather than how much I will be spending in the future. After all a light bulb only costs 80 cents or so.
The Lighting Options
Incandescent Bulbs
These bulbs have been around since the beginning. They provide plenty of light and are cheap to purchase. However their draw back is they convert very little electricity into light. Its estimated that 98 % of the energy they consume is converted into Heat.
Fluorescent Bulbs
These Bulbs used to be very expensive. We most frequently associate these to what is installed into office buildings and schools. The long 48" glass tubes, that use high voltage to excite gas within the tube to give off light. These are much more efficient than Incandescent bulbs, but they still create some heat, and until recently they have not been available in more compact forms that more closely resemble incadescent bulbs in their shape. Their cost is still higher than regular light bulbs ( about 3-5 times as much ), but they use about 1/4 the energy.
LED Bulbs
LEDs have been around for a long time, but within the past decade or so, newer more powerful LEDs have been developed that are much brighter than the older ones. LEDs also run on lower voltages ( 5 Volts or less sometimes ), and they generate almost no heat. The downside to LEDs is their light is more directional, and they don't make very much light, with the exception of newer high output LEDs. In order to make a brighter LED you have to crame many LEDS into a single package. These packages sometimes have over 50 LEDs. Also since LEDs can't run on a home's normal 120 AC. A transformer has to step the voltage down to something compatible, or they have to be wired in a way that divides the voltage evenly accross all the LEDs to their proper voltage. These also cost 20x as much as regular light bulbs, Though they burn 1/20 of the power.
Math time.
So to get a comparison of the data. I need to create a few math equations so I can plot the results.
Incandescent Bulb Properties
Sylvania Soft White General Purpose Light Bulbs 60 Watt from Lowes 8 pack
Life: 1000 hours
Price Per Pack: $1.98
Price per Bulb: $0.25
Power Consumption: 60 watts
Light Output: 840 Lumens
Flourescent Bulb Properties
GE Energy Samert 60 Compact Flurescent 8 pack from Amazon
Life: 8000 hours
Price Per Pack: $12.69
Price Per Bulb: $1.59
Power Consumption: 13 watts
Light Output: 825 Lumens
LED Bulb Properties
7 Watt LED Light Bulb - 60 watt replacement from earth tech products
Life: 50000 hours
Price Per Pack: $49.98
Price Per Bulb: $49.98
Power Consumption: 7 Watts
Light Output: 450 Lumens.
Our Light Bulb Senereo
Lets assume that these bulbs are used in your home office and you only use 1 of them to light your office. You use your office lights for 8 hours / day. The following chart shows you how the savings looks month by month
As you can see the break even point of going from Incandescent to Flourescent happends within the first month. Break even point of going from Incandescent to LED is about 2 years. But the biggest shocker is that if you already have Flourescent lighting and upgrade to LED, it will take you 15 years 3 months to break even.
This leads me to believe that LED still has a long ways to go before it will be a viable cost effective alternative for lighting. I will definately be upgrading all the bulbs in my house to the newer compact Flourescents.
Another reason to upgrade from Incandescent bulbs is the fact that they convert 98% of their energy into heat.
During the summer months, this means that your Air Conditioner will have to burn more electricity just to compensate for the heat your light bulbs make.
How much money will it save you in 1 year?
By upgrading a single Incandescent Bulb to a Compact Flourescent that you use for 8 hours per day, you will save about $20 in the first year.
How fast will upgrading a single Incandescent Bulb to a Compact Flourescent pay for itself?
This chart should help
The upgrade will pay for itself in about 24 days assuming the bulb is used for 8 / hours a day.
Readers Thoughts
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