Save Money by upgrading from LCD to LED Monitors

 

Traditional LCD monitors are back illuminated with fluorescent tubes. Most of the energy consumption of these monitors is based on the back lighting. Fluorescent tubes work by running a high voltage across a gas. Your LCD monitor has a transformer that steps up the voltage from 120 Volts to 20,000+ Volts, then it runs this voltage across the many tubes that are located behind the LCD display. This transformer gives off lots of heat ( wasted energy ). Plus like most Fluorescent tubes they don't last forever. Eventually they go bad and have to be replaced.

 

LED monitors are back illuminated by LED diodes. LEDs use only a fraction of the electricity that Fluorescent tubes use. They run at a lower voltage, and don't require any huge transformers. They also last longer and generate much less heat. LED monitors cost most, but they also are much more energy efficient than LCD monitors.

 

The main thing I want to focus on is the energy savings by using an LED monitor rather than an LCD monitor. Next I will show you 3 monitors and their energy consumption using my Kill-a-watt meter, which shows the actual energy consumption.

 

The Samsung 2493HM uses about 77 Watts sitting idle with just my background displayed.

 

Dell U2412M LED monitor Energy Consumption

The dell uses only 27 Watts sitting idle with my background displayed

The Samsung uses 140 watts sitting idle while displaying my desktop.

 

These figures are based on using my LCD monitors 14 hours / day ( this is realistic for me! )

 

Model	Watts	KWH Per Day	KWH Per Month	KWH rate	Cost per Month
Samsung 24" 2493HM LCD Monitor x 2	154	2.156	64.68	.089	$5.75
Dell 24" U2412M LED Monitor x 2	54	0.756	22.68	.089	$2.02
Samsung 30" 305T LCD Monitor x 1	140	1.960	58.80	.089	$5.23

By upgrading from my 2 x 24" Samsung LCD Displays to the 2 x 24" Dell LED Displays I will save about $3.73 per month. Over the course of a year I save $44.76. Keep in mind this is based on my current electric rate of 8.9 cents per KWH. If you live in California or one of those states where electricity is not so cheap, then the savings could be much greater.

The cost for the Dell monitors was $339 each via NewEgg.com ( free shipping and no sales tax ). The premium cost was mostly do to these being 16:10 Monitors rather than 16:9. This means that instead of the typical 1080 resolution ( 1920 x 1080 ) these support 1920 x 1200. Yes the additional 120 pixels of space is worth it. I rotate these 90 degrees for use in coding.

Summary

Making the upgrade from LCD to LED monitors was probably one of the best upgrades I have made in a long time. Now its just a matter of finding a 30" LED monitor to replace my old Samsung. The problem is Displays that run 2560 x 1600 resolution don't come cheap.