Light bulbs - LED vs. flourescent

[WolfeMacleod]

We all know that Florescent bulbs use less energy than incandescant bulbs.

LED buld use even less than Flourescent. About 1/8 the power of a Flourescent, I'm told. That's not 1/8th less.... they use very, very little power.
I hate Flouescent bulbs. I can see them flicker.

With approximately 60 light bulbs occupying my house, I wonder how long it would take to realize the savings in my electric bill.
My last bill? Just over $500. NOT overdue.

My kitchen alone has NINE bulbs

[Pazuzu]

Do your diligence for shopping, and it won't be *so* bad. I see 40 watt LED bulbs for about $35 each.

On Amazon, you can find 60 watt incandescents for about $0.50 each. 60 watt equivalent fluorescents for about $2.00 each, and 60 watt equivalent LEDS for about $60 each.

[island911]

"I hate Flouescent bulbs. I can see them flicker. "
+1

$500.!? ...That is crazy, unless you have electric heat.

[Superman]

Originally Posted by island911

$500.!? ...That is crazy, unless you have electric heat.

Perhaps, but nine bulbs in the kitchen is not crazy. The world is a darker place now than it was when I was twenty.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by island911

"I hate Flouescent bulbs. I can see them flicker. "
+1

$500.!? ...That is crazy, unless you have electric heat.

It's a combination of gas and electric. There are a couple rooms with base-board heaters. Only one of which is used, and even at that, it's only started being used in the last month.

I think most of the power useage came from my shop heater. It got COLD for a couple weeks and we had to use it quite a bit to keep our work area surviveable.

[island911]

Well, regular incandescent bulbs give light & heat.

Sound like your money will be best spent on weatherizing/insulation. (keep the incandescent bulbs)

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Do your diligence for shopping, and it won't be *so* bad. I see 40 watt LED bulbs for about $35 each.

On Amazon, you can find 60 watt incandescents for about $0.50 each. 60 watt equivalent fluorescents for about $2.00 each, and 60 watt equivalent LEDS for about $60 each.

Owie...

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by island911

Well, regular incandescent bulbs give light & heat.

Sound like your money will be best spent on weatherizing/insulation. (keep the incandescent bulbs)

I already spend a butt-load of money insulating the shop/garage space. Didn't help much. Did what I could, but coulnd't do the important bits... like the attic space...so heat went right out the top.
I find that lights are left on a lot around here... heating is kept pretty low... my girlfriend is always freezing when she's over. I keep the house at about 65...

[teenerted1]

holy crap wolfe
i have electric heat and i cant get my power bill over $150 a month in the winter. not sure how big your house is though. usually @$100/month for a few of the colder months and for ther rest of the year $25-35 a month.

during the summer i have seen a $25 bill for 3 months use before...thats less than $10 a month...gotta love 18hrs of light and no A/C in the summer with hydro power source.

kitchen is all florecent and some of the rest of the house is CFL but not all. if i'm not in that room that room is usually dark. turn down the heat at night and when i am away during the day, maybe heat is at 68 for only 6.5hrs/day.

sure is sounds GREEN but i really do it so save myself some green$$$

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by teenerted1

holy crap wolfe
i have electric heat and i cant get my power bill over $150 a month in the winter. not sure how big your house is though. usually @$100/month for a few of the colder months and for ther rest of the year $25-35 a month.

during the summer i have seen a $25 bill for 3 months use before...thats less than $10 a month...gotta love 18hrs of light and no A/C in the summer with hydro power source.

kitchen is all florecent and some of the rest of the house is CFL but not all. if i'm not in that room that room is usually dark. turn down the heat at night and when i am away during the day, maybe heat is at 68 for only 6.5hrs/day.

sure is sounds GREEN but i really do it so save myself some green$$$

Ted, you need to come over and see the place. Hell, you all do. I've never had a house-warping party here! Got a great BBQ area...
Consequently, it doesn't quite feel like home...

[M.D. Holloway]

I don't think your electricity bill is high because of the bulbs you use - you have computers, TV's and frigs running 24/7? You may also want to check to see if your neighbors don't have a secret line hooked up to you source.

[island911]

Originally Posted by WolfeMacleod

I already spend a butt-load of money insulating the shop/garage space. Didn't help much. Did what I could, but coulnd't do the important bits... like the attic space...so heat went right out the top.
I find that lights are left on a lot around here... heating is kept pretty low... my girlfriend is always freezing when she's over. I keep the house at about 65...

Air leaks are the worst. Insulation can do no good, if the cold air is flowing past.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

I don't think your electricity bill is high because of the bulbs you use - you have computers, TV's and frigs running 24/7? You may also want to check to see if your neighbors don't have a secret line hooked up to you source.

Nope, TV does not run all the time. One computer does, 24/7. During the day we work in the shop...lights, soldering iron, coil winder, shop heater when cold. About 4 hours per day. Base-board heaters turned off at night. Gas water heater. Mostly gas heat. Fridge and a seperate freezer...
I know they jacked up the rates during winter but Geeze..

[red-beard]

I'm quoting some T8-48" LED tubes, and my cost is over $50 per. It will take a lot of usage to recover the money.

If they were under $10, maybe. $50+ per tube is a lot.

[RWebb]

I agree - weatherize it; collect the tax credits; see if your utility will help float you a no interest loan too (mine does)

some utilities will come out to your house and do an energy audit, telling you what do 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.

- do you have an open fireplace?

LEDs are great but they will be cheaper in the next few years than they are now.

What do your neighbors pay, BTW??

[RWebb]

Ps - also check for wall warts

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by RWebb

- do you have an open fireplace?

Unfortunately yes. And I hate them.

[jyl]

LED is still way too expensive. Especially considering I like a 100w equiv in most of my fixtures, not a measly 40w. The price/watt needs to fall by 5-10x for it to make financial sense to replace home bulbs with LED. With the adoption of LED in TVs, supply will be tight for a year plus, so I don't expect price to fall that much for quite some time. So for at least a few years, I think CFL will be the main alternative to incandescent. I like CFL fine personally. Different brands vary a lot, in time to full brightness, color, flicker, etc. I've been unimpressed by some and happy with others. I still haven't found a dimmable CFL that doesn't suck so there are still about 12 incandescent (incl halogen) bulbs left in my house.

But the $500 bill isn't due to your bulbs, you have much bigger problems.

[jyl]

60 x 60 watt incandescent bulbs lit 6 hours/day is 648kwh/mo, switching to LED in theory cuts that to 65kwh/mo, if $0.15/kWh then saves about $88/mo. At $60 per LED bulb, payback is roughly 3.5 years. Obviously you have to plug in your own numbers. For me, it is about $0.11/kWh and half the bulbs are 100 watt and they are on less than 6 hours/day on average, so my payback time is longer. Considering that 20% per year is a very nice return, the price drop that is rationally needed for me to switch to LED may be less than the 5-10x I mentioned above. Still, not sure I can stomach dropping $3000 on LED light bulbs anytime soon . . .

[Tobra]

For you to recoup your investment on those LED lights from energy savings you would have to live 400 years.