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How and how much you save with LED lights

LED (light emitting diode) lights guarantee savings of 90% compared to regular incandescent bulbs and 60% compared to low energy bulbs. This seems like a great deal! Should I replace all the light bulbs in the house with LEDs? It depends on how many hours on average a single bulb remains switched on. A bulb in the basement that you turn on for […]

How and how much you save with LED lights

LED(light emitting diode) lights guarantee savings of 90% compared to regular incandescent bulbs and 60% compared to low energy bulbs.

This seems like a great deal! Should I replace all the light bulbs in the house with LEDs?

It depends on how many hours on average a single bulb remains switched on. A bulb in the basement that you turn on for ten minutes once in a while is not a problem, but if a light is switched on for eight hours or more a day, replacing it could be a worthwhile investment.

Power consumption of bulbs with equal perceived brightness:

Incandescent: 60-40W

Low energy: 13-8W

LED: 6-3.5W

LED lights provide high efficiency, consuming less may also put you in cheaper consumption bracket and save you even more on your bill (lighting on average accounts for 10-20% of energy consumption)..

Bulb life expectancy:

Incandescent: 1000 hours

Low energy: 8000 hours

LED: 50,000 hours.

Even at 50,000 hours, LED lamps still produce 70% of their original brightness (they can still emit light up to 100,000 hours). Estimating just 30,000 hours of life and an average illumination of 8 hours a day, you will not have to change the light bulb for 10 years!

So you will save on the costs of maintenance, replacement, disposal, and time.

Approximate cost of a bulb that is equivalent to a 40-60W incandescent bulb:

Incandescent: no longer in production

Low energy: € 4-7

LED: € 10-15

The price of LEDs has decreased a lot in recent years making the technology (invented in 1962) very competitive. This does depend on the brand, the connection (e.g., E14-E27), the power consumption, etc.

Other advantages of LED bulbs:

  • They emit constant, not intermittent light which is less tiring on the eyes.
  • They are safer, they do not contain gas and mercury (toxic), unlike those with low energy consumption
  • They do not heat up, so you can touch the metal lamp by your bed or on your desk without burning yourself.
  • They power up immediately, unlike low energy bulbs.
  • There are other technical details that save you money. Google, Wikipedia and possibly your electrician will be of help to you.

So how much can I save in the end?

A single LED bulb turned on 8 hours a day will save you approximately €40 a year compared to a 60W incandescent bulb and €6 compared to a low energy bulb. In the first year it has basically almost already paid the surcharge! The next nine years are all savings. It may not be much, but in relation to the investment it is impressive, and that is just for a single light bulb!

To facilitate the calculations on Google, there are several comparison websites and simulators (free services offered by some manufacturers and retailers to get customers). Here are the links for a few found on Google (I bought the LED from a friend and not from them so I cannot guarantee): gauge 1, gauge 2, they are set to make the comparison between an incandescent bulb and an LED, but you can play around to change the settings and also enter the data of a low energy bulb.

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