When you wander down the aisles of a hardware store, the price tag on those LED bulbs my ever lights can catch you off guard. Four bucks for one bulb? The old incandescent was much less expensive. But that price tag only tells half of the story.
An LED bulb uses most of its power to create light. Incandescent bulbs spend about 90 percent of their electricity as heat, which is why they're so hot after you've left them on for an hour. LEDs run cool, and that difference shows up on your power bill month after month.
Consider a house with 25 fixtures. Swap every one of those bulbs for an LED and lighting energy use drops 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. Say goodbye to the ladder and the monthly trip to change that one dead bulb sitting directly over the staircase.
There is one catch you should know about. Cheap, unknown LEDs occasionally die prematurely 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 don't get along with old dimmer switches, and you'll notice flickering or buzzing. Look for "dimmable" on the packaging and combine it with a compatible dimmer switch.
Do the math over five years. You buy fewer replacement bulbs, use less energy, and give your air conditioning less summer heat to fight. That "high tech" little bulb costs more on the shelf, but the old kind costs you far more over time.