When you wander down the aisles of a hardware store, the price label on the LED bulbs click this link can give you a shock. Four dollars for a single bulb? The old incandescent was far cheaper. But that price label only tells half of the story.
An LED bulb turns most of its power into light. About 90 percent of the electricity an incandescent bulb draws is lost as heat, which is why they're so hot after you've left them on for an hour. LEDs run cool, and that difference is reflected in your power bill - month after month.
Consider a house with 25 fixtures. Replace all those bulbs with LED substitutes and lighting energy goes down by 70 to 80 percent. Kitchens and living rooms give you the best return, since the lights stay on for hours. But even the hall bathroom bulb you turn on twice a day will earn its keep eventually.
Lifespan is just as important. An average LED lasts anywhere from 15,000 to 50,000 hours. Calculate that at four hours a day and you're looking at a decade or more before you need to replace the bulb. You can put the ladder away and the monthly trip to change that one dead bulb that resides directly above the stairs.
Well, here's a snag you should learn about. Cheap, no-name LEDs sometimes burn out early thanks to faulty drivers, the small circuit boards inside the base. Pick brands that list lumen output and color temperature and come with an actual warranty.
A quick word on dimmers. Plenty of LEDs struggle with older dimmer switches, which causes flickering or a buzzing noise. Look for "dimmable" on the packaging and combine it with a compatible dimmer switch.
Total it up over five years. You buy fewer replacement bulbs, use less energy, and give your air conditioning less summer heat to fight. The shelf price of that "high tech" little bulb is only a fraction of what the old kind costs you in the long run.