Savings with LED bulbs?

[Nick1994]

So I was thinking of changing out some bulbs with LEDs. I currently have CFLs and the lights I was considering was 5 bulbs, 4 are outdoor and 1 is indoor. I leave these lights on 24/7.

Cost for bulbs is $4.97 for 2, so 3 packs is $16.15 (with tax)

I used an online calculator and I calculated that 5 - 13 watt CFLs running 24/7 is $5.62 per month

5 LED bulbs at 8.5 watts is $3.67 per month

It would take over 8 months just to pay for the bulbs, then the savings begin but it's still only $1.95 per month of savings.

Going from incandescent bulbs to LED makes lots of sense, I'm just having issues seeing the real savings over CFL.

BTW in my experience, CFL bulbs last a long time, usually a few years which is fine by me.

I guess in my experience it's just 5 bulbs, I guess it would make more sense if I changed out more bulbs but the other lights are only used for a few hours a day, I don't use bedroom, kitchen, and living room lights but maybe 6 hours a day so swapping those seems pretty pointless.

 

[3800Series]

I replaced our front porch light from a 100w incandescent to a 10w LED bulb.

Pretty pleased to be honest the light seems much brighter than the old one but I just contribute that to the fact that it's white light compared to the old orange-ish.

One thing I learned tho is LED lights have a hard time projecting light like normal bulbs.

The bulb I have had built in ... I guess you would call it reflectors to help project the light in a more 360 degree pattern.

 

[JHZR2]

LED lights are great, but if you have cfls in there, I'd wait until they burn out.

I'd also want to be sure that the lumens are the same. I suspect a 13w cfl will put out more lumens than an 8w led.

 

[19jacobob93]

I think LEDs are a win win in this situation. Not only is their power usage a fraction of other traditional bulbs but they generally last much much longer!
We used to have 9 80w halogen downlights in our front room and we were replacing at least one every month. We replaced them all with 3w LEDs and we never had to replace one in the 3 years before we moved. Probably saved hundreds over the years.
As soon as I get my own place eveything is getting replaced with LEDs just like I did on my car!

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
LED lights are great, but if you have cfls in there, I'd wait until they burn out.

I'd also want to be sure that the lumens are the same. I suspect a 13w cfl will put out more lumens than an 8w led.

I agree.

I have CFL's in most light fixtures, none of the light is on for more than 2-3 hours a day except one in kitchen is on for about 5-7 hours a day.

Changing CFL to LED in the kitchen will save us about 10-15 pennies a month, not enough to be bothered.

From Fall to Summer we use about 7-8 KWH a day, in Summer months we use about 15-20 KWH a day because of A/C is used sparingly.

 

[linksep]

Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Probably saved hundreds over the years.


DANG!!! You must be paying some seriously insane electric rates!

I replaced my old school incandescent front porch lights with LEDs and calculated the return on investment to be something like 16 weeks being left on 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. At $5/bulb (after electric company instant in-store rebate) there's no way I'm saving hundreds. Saving tens of dollars maybe. I'm just happy I don't have to replace a bulb every 6 weeks. (For some reason I have a ridiculous and irrational hatred of changing light bulbs... and I can reach most bulbs in my house without a stool or ladder or anything, just reach up and unscrew it but I hate it like that 3 minutes of going to the basement to get a replacement bulb and actually changing the bulb is 3+ days worth of yard work.)

 

[eljefino]

If the bulbs you're replacing are giving off waste heat (eg indoors) that you're then cooling with AC the savings will come more than twice as fast, as a BTU is harder to get rid of than it is to create.

 

[rshaw125]

Bought a pack of LED's at Costco. Discounted by local power company. 2 of 3 did not last 6 months. The third still burns.

 

[Kira]

The discounted multi-pack of CFLs will yield the same results.
You should've kept track and returned them A) for the money value as you were ripped off and B) to send the message that we the consumer prefer to skip the cheap item scam altogether.

 

[Nate1979]

When one of the cheap LED fails what does that do for your payback calculation?

 

[Pop_Rivit]

I converted everything in the house over to LED about 18 months ago. We have some vaulted ceilings, and in the past I'd drag out the 10' ladder a couple times each year and change the bulbs that had burned out. I haven't changed a single LED bulb since they were installed.

I tried a few of the CFL's when they were on the market, but quite frankly they either didn't last as advertised, the light quality was poor, they didn't work well in the cold, they weren't dimmable, or the warm up time was unacceptable. The LEDs overcome all of those issues while using less electricity. The price point of LED bulbs has dropped to the point that, in my opinion, it makes sense to change over to them.

Given the number of bulbs we have and the amount of time they're on (especially in the winter months), the reduction in the electric bill is noticeable, and I'm still on track for about a 3-4 year payback in energy savings. We entertain a lot (at least once a week or so) and it's not uncommon to have all of the kitchen, all of the dining room, all of the living room and all of the family room lights on for guests. But quite frankly, even without the energy savings it's been worth it not to climb the ladder and change burned out bulbs a couple times each year.


Originally Posted By: Nate1979
When one of the cheap LED fails what does that do for your payback calculation?


Who says you have to buy cheap LEDs? None of the bulbs I purchased (somewhere around 80 bulbs) have failed.

 

[19jacobob93]

Originally Posted By: linksep
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Probably saved hundreds over the years.


DANG!!! You must be paying some seriously insane electric rates!

I replaced my old school incandescent front porch lights with LEDs and calculated the return on investment to be something like 16 weeks being left on 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. At $5/bulb (after electric company instant in-store rebate) there's no way I'm saving hundreds. Saving tens of dollars maybe. I'm just happy I don't have to replace a bulb every 6 weeks. (For some reason I have a ridiculous and irrational hatred of changing light bulbs... and I can reach most bulbs in my house without a stool or ladder or anything, just reach up and unscrew it but I hate it like that 3 minutes of going to the basement to get a replacement bulb and actually changing the bulb is 3+ days worth of yard work.)

Well factor over 3 rooms, so there was 24 80w halogen downlights before, that's 1930w which was reduced to a combined 72w! That's a huge reduction in power usage and this is when we lived in the UK so electricity prices are on the high side to say the least! Factor in saving at very least the equivalent of $5-10 a month on replacement halogens.
Over that 3-4 years the savings would have been EASILY well into the three figure mark.
If we saved just $5 a month (a good month!) on replacements alone that's a saving of $180 over 3 years! I would say we saved at least another $50 per quarter which over 3 years is $600.
Yes in a house with 7 people living in it and paying £1000 ($2000) every 3 months for power, it made a huge difference and we saved literally hundereds even with my calculations being conservative

 

[topbliss]

we have CFL's and leds throughout the house. Like em both. Last long to but have replaced some of the CFL's over the 6 years we have had them in. I remember long ago the incandescents lasted longer then any of the bulbs do today. I know Im sounding old but the old USA incandescents lasted 10 + years.

 

[buck91]

I went to leds outside since the cfl bulbs never seem to fully warm up in winter. Inside I've noticed that clf bulbs which see frequent power cycling have failed much more rapidly than those which stay on. Therefore I'm phasing in led bulbs for those applications also.

 

[rshaw125]

The ones I bought at Costco were brand name bulbs. It was just the price that was discounted. And Costco said they would refund the few dollars I spent on them.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: linksep
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Probably saved hundreds over the years.


DANG!!! You must be paying some seriously insane electric rates!


The rate I am charged, it would pay off I am sure. Last month, for 220 KwH of electricity - literally, my LOWEST month ever, I paid $100.

The rate varies a lot for me. If that was this winter, I would have paid a $500 electric bill.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: buck91
I went to leds outside since the cfl bulbs never seem to fully warm up in winter. Inside I've noticed that clf bulbs which see frequent power cycling have failed much more rapidly than those which stay on. Therefore I'm phasing in led bulbs for those applications also.
+1 This. Even in a cold New England basement some CFL units take a while to turn on. I don't think you need a hazmat team to deal with a broken LED either.

 

[stockrex]

Savings:
$3 in electricity cost
Extra expense:
$9 in additional bulb cost

Being able to talk about it on Bobisthe... priceless

 

[sciphi]

We replaced every commonly-used bulb in our house with Cree LED bulbs last year when we moved in. Our power bill is 1/5 of the old owner's bill. That includes a dusk-to-dawn security light that had two 65w floodlights in it. Those were replaced with two 13w LED floods with no loss of illumination.

The Feit bulbs at Costco are something I'd avoid unless it's obvious they're re-brands. I've heard too many horror stories about those bulbs.

After fees and everything, I'm paying close to $0.17/kwh. ROI on efficient electric items is pretty quick.

 

[grampi]

At least LEDs put out a sufficient amount of light...CFLs are horrible...in many cases they're so bad it's almost as bad as no light...if it can't be incandescents, then it'll have to be LEDs...