Switching to LEDs

Posted by on Oct 24, 2013 in Matthews's Blog | Comments

Is it worth It?

The biggest benefit of LED lighting is its lifespan. An LED bulb will last approximately 50,000 hours — five times longer than a CFL bulb. If the bulb is left on for eight hours per day, it will last over 17 years. During that lifespan, an LED bulb will use 300 kilowatt hours of electricity. At 20 cents per kilowatt hour, the lifetime electricity cost of an LED bulb is $60. To compare, you would need five CFLs to match the 50,000-hour lifespan of an LED. Those five CFLs would use 700 kilowatt hours of electricity, costing $140. The LED bulb saves 400 kilowatt hours of electricity compared to the CFL and 2,700 kilowatt hours compared to the incandescent bulb. This represents a cost savings of $80 over CFL bulbs and $540 over incandescent bulbs http://homeguides.sfgate.com/much-energy-efficient-bulbs-save-78814.html

 This is only talking about 1 LED light bulb but what would be the cost to switch all of your homes lights to LEDs and would the savings be enough to make it worth it?  The average cost of an LED is $35.95 (Prices have dropped to about $6 per LED bulb since this post was published so even more savings!)  At first glance the logic in your head says it can’t be worth it especially when the average cost of an incandescent bulb is only $1.25 each, but wait. Let’s do some math. An LED can last up to 50,000 hours like we referenced above using your light for 8 hours a day they would last 17 years. You would need 42 Incandescent Light bulbs to match that 50,000 hour lifespan. At $1.25 X 45 it would equal out to be $52.50. So on average you would save $16.55 per light socket by switching to LEDs. An average home has 40 light sockets to replace them all with LEDs would cost you $1,438. That seems high but you wouldn’t have to change them for 17 years and in that same time you will spend $2,100 on incandescent bulbs  and we haven’t even gotten into the energy savings you would gain.

  The energy cost savings of LEDs over incandescent are staggering. Like we told you above the energy cost for the life of an LED is around $60 to get that same life with an incandescent you can expect to pay somewhere in the  ball park of $540 for 50,000 hours. That is a huge difference! So if we take the same 40 light sockets we can expect to pay $2,400 for energy cost over 17 years or $11.76 a month if you have LEDs. But if you keep the incandescent you can expect to pay $21,600 for energy cost over 17 years or $105.88 a month. Ouch!

   It’s hard to dispute the obvious savings you will gain switching to LEDs. The only thing you will have to decide is if you are ready to make the change in your home.  

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