Last year, I wrote an article on “Going Green with Lighting“. There is absolutely no reason why anyone should be using the old standard Incandescent light bulbs anymore. They are simply outdated. In today’s world, we have far better technologies that are quite affordable. Quite a few years ago, these things called CFL Bulbs hit the market. They were fairly expensive compared to incandescent bulbs, but they were a perfect example on investing in something that will give you a high ROI, or Return on Investment. Well, guess what… Those are the incandescent bulbs of today. Are they energy efficient? You bet. Do they last a long time? Yupp. So why did I call them “the incandescent bulbs of today”? Because there is better!
Take a look at the following chart:
| 60 Watt Equivalent Bulb Comparison | ||||||
| Incandescent | CFL (Spiral) | LED | Halogen | Fluorescent (Tube) | ||
| Rated Avg. Life (in hours) | 755-1000 | 10,000 | 30,000 | 3,000 | 3,000 | |
| Life Span | Low | Very Long | Longest | Medium | Medium | |
| Actual Watts | 60 | 13 | 7 | 60 | 17 | |
| Lumens | 580 | 825 | 630 | 900 | 1250 | |
| Cost to Operate | High | Low | Lowest | Medium | Low | |
| Price of Bulb | ~$2.00 | ~$2.00 | ~$8.00 | ~7.50 | ~$30.00 | |
| Lumens per Watt (LPW) | 9.6 LPW | 63 LPW | 90LPW | 15LPW | 73LPW | |
The point I am trying to make here is that LED lighting is the wave of the future. They have already come down significantly in cost over the past year and the prices will continue to fall. I just received a shipment of 15 LED (40 Watt equivalent) light bulbs to replace all the bulbs in a building I manage. These bulbs are rated at 6.5 Watts, output 450 lumens and are rated to last 22.8 years @ 3 hours per day. At the average of $.11/kWh, the estimated yearly cost (again, at 3 hours / day) is $.85. Let’s do a little math here. If 3 hours = .85, 24 hours = $6.80 per year, to leave these things on 24 hours a day. And at that rate, they would stay on for 2.85 years, nonstop.
If you did that with an incandescent bulb, the same 24/7/365 would cost you about $62.77
So, I ask you this… Is it worth investing in some new light bulbs today? I would say so!