Ok apparently there are a few of you still dragging your feet about changing to compact florescent light bulbs or LED bulbs from the dinosaur-like incandescent light bulbs. So I wanted to…ahem…shed some light on the issue to help you make the decision to switch. There are several variables to consider when buying light bulbs: price, lumens(brightness), watts used(how much energy each bulb consumes), lifespan, etc. But before you go out looking for bulbs- consider what you want to achieve... Do you want to have the longest lasting bulb? Do you want the cheapest bulb? Do you want the most efficient bulb? Check out the chart below to help with your decision…
| Incandescent | CFL | LED | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lumens/Watts | $14.17 | $69 | $16.04 |
| Life Span in Hours | 1,500 | 15,000 | 50,000 |
| Avg Watts Used | 60 | 13 | 3.5 |
| Average Price per bulb | $1.35 | $7.00 | $25.00 |
| 50,000 hour expense | $45.00 | $23.33 | $25 |
The incandescent light bulb will soon be a relic of the past. Short term- they are cheap- but as you can see from the above…over time CFLs are much lower in cost. This isn’t even taking into consideration the energy savings of CFLs.
LED’s absolutely use the lowest amount of electricity of the three types of bulbs. But the light emitted from the bulb is low when compared to the CFL. Another disadvantage of the LED is the light pattern. LED’s tend to have a spotlight type of pattern. Lamps fitted with LED’s will have a beam of light focused toward the ceiling as opposed to a more spread pattern like incandescents and CFLs.
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While CFLs and LEDs obviously offer varying levels of benefits, I still believe CFLs offer the best bang for the buck. CFLs offer the most light per watt of energy used. They are less expensive both on a per bulb basis and on an extended usage basis. Again this does not take into consideration the energy savings of the LED. When that variable is factored in the LED is likely a more cost effective option. But from the standpoint of the type of light emitted, overall cost and price, I still think CFL’s are the way to go. But it depends on what you want.
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