Lighting Your Way to Energy Savings
Posted on Feb 01, 2016 at 12:00 AM
If you are like most people, you probably don’t think much about lighting—at least not until a bulb goes out. And you probably look at LED lamps as expensive luxury items when incandescent bulbs have been readily available for less than $1. But incandescent lamps are being phased out and a 60W equivalent LED can now be purchased for close to $2.50 in multipacks and about $4 for a single lamp. Maybe its time to reconsider the LED as a wise investment.
Incandescent bulbs use a wire filament that glows brightly when electricity passes through it. It gives off light, and unfortunately, heat. LED lamps, which stands for light emitting diode in case you are curious, use those diodes to create an equivalent amount of light as incandescent lamps with about 75% less energy and a similar reduction in heat. Better yet, those diodes last about twenty-five times longer than the filament in an incandescent bulb. LEDs are a better option than compact fluorescent lamps, too. While the wattages and costs are similar, CFLs have a shorter life and also contain mercury, causing problems with disposal. And unlike CFLs, LEDs are now available in a variety of colors (cool white, warm, or daylight for example) and many different shapes and base sizes including reflectors, candelabra, and floods. And they can be used outdoors and in low temperatures.
Based on operating 3 hours per day every day, an 8.5 watt (60 watt or 810 lumen equivalent) LED lamp will use 56 kWh less than the 60 watt incandescent lamp. And unfortunately, that thin little filament will only last an average of 986 hours, meaning you will have to change it about eleven months into the year. By contrast, the LED is rated for 25,000 hours. So when you factor in life-cycle costs and energy savings, switching out one incandescent lamp to an 8.5 watt LED will save you $9.42 per year, about a six month payback. And if that lamp is 20 feet above the floor at the top of a vaulted ceiling, not changing that lamp again for twenty years might just be priceless.
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