When you wander down the aisles of a hardware store, the price tag on those LED bulbs custom christmas lights can catch you off guard. Four bucks for one bulb? The old incandescent was far cheaper. But that price tag only tells half of the story.
An LED bulb uses most of its power to create 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.
Picture 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 eventually repay you.
Lifespan matters just as much. 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 the one burned-out bulb that resides directly above the stairs.
Here's a snag worth knowing about. Bargain LEDs from unknown makers sometimes fail early thanks to faulty drivers, the small circuit boards inside the base. Stick with brands that list lumen output and color temperature and back their bulbs with a real warranty.
Light dimmers are worth a brief mention. Many LEDs do not work well with old dimmer switches, and that shows up as flickering or a buzzing sound. Look for "dimmable" on the packaging and combine it with a compatible dimmer switch.
Total it up over five years. Fewer bulb replacements, less energy used, and less heat in the summer for your air conditioning to push out of the room. That "high tech" little bulb costs more on the shelf, but the old kind costs you far more over time.