The Benefits of LED Lighting for Cutting Energy Costs
This month I decided to replace all of my house lights with LED bulbs to try and reduce my energy consumption. A few years back, I replaced some of my bulbs with compact fluorescent lights. I did see a small improvement in energy consumption. I heard so much about the benefits of LED lighting that I decided to amp up my savings and replace all of my lights with LEDs.
What are the Benefits of LED Lighting
- Reduces energy use
- Saves money
- Longer life lasts 4 to 5 times longer than regular bulbs.
- Reduces ambient heat
- It helps the environment with less waste
Upfront Costs
I went to Lowe’s and purchased 25-Utilitech 6.5-Watt (40W Equivalent) A19 Medium Base (E-26) Warm White LED Bulb and 4-Utilitech 15-Watt (75W Equivalent) PAR38 Medium Base Soft White Outdoor LED Bulb. The 6.5-watt bulbs were on sale for $3.98, not a bad deal. The Utilitech floodlights were $17.56 each.
Total purchase price of $169.74
I replaced the lighting in the kitchen and basement. There are 8 lights in the finished basement and 8 in the kitchen, including 3 lights in the bathroom, 3 lights in the bedrooms, and 3 in the living room. I also replaced each of the floodlights that are on motion detectors over the driveway and in the backyard. I am certain that these upfront costs will be recouped by the end of the year. In the long run, there should be some significant savings.
Cutting Energy Costs
My existing standard bulbs
25-Standard bulbs at 60 watts = 1500 watts
4-Outdoor floodlights at 75 watts = 300 watts
Total of 1800 watts
Replacing them with LEDs
25-LED bulbs at 6.5 watts = 162.5 watts
4-LED outdoor floodlights at 15 watts = 60 watts
Total of 222.50 watts
Difference in wattage
1800 watts – 222.50 watts = 1577.50 less wattage
LED Saving Calculator
We can take the calculations even further. This is a great website that allows you to calculate your savings.
LED Bulb Saving Calculator at LED waves
You just enter your information about your old bulbs and new LED bulbs. It will generate a report for you. Here are my savings on 25 LED 6.5 watt bulbs.
Looks like some great savings to me. Every time I turn on the lights, I have significantly reduced my energy usage. I will continue to track my energy consumption from month to month. I will post an update on my findings.
Image courtesy of khunaspix at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Do you see the benefits of LED lighting? Are you cutting energy costs?
Looks like a great amount of savings! Occasionally my electric company will offer LED lights at the super cheap price of 50 cents. I need to swoop up some of those next time they do it.
50 cents a bulb is a great deal you should definitely take advantage of that! It is worth the savings. Thanks for stopping by!
Nice! We currently have a mixture of LEDs and CFLs. We’re replacing our CFLs with LEDs as they die since LEDs are definitely the better deal! But, we didn’t want to take out CFLs that are still functioning, so it’s sort of a gradual transition here at the Frugalwoods home 🙂
That’s a good way to transition. You might as well get your money’s worth out of your CFL bulbs. They are still much more energy efficient then a standard bulb. Thanks for sharing.