Will That $25 Light Bulb Really Save You Money?

You’re familiar with the situation.  You go to the store to replace a couple light bulbs that burnt out and you’re faced with an entire aisle of options: incandescents, LEDs, CFLs, halogens.  Which one do you buy?  There are many factors that will influence your decision, but you’ll probably go for the one that will offer the best economic value.  You’ve heard that the most expensive ones will last longer and use less energy, but it’s important to consider all of your options.  Will you really save money paying $25 for a light bulb?

It’s true.  The cheap incandescent bulbs are very inefficient since most of the energy they consume ends up being used for heat instead of light.  For this reason, these bulbs are in the process of being phased out.  Just this past month, the 40-watt and 60-watt bulbs have been banned from production, though you can probably still find them in stock at certain retail locations if you search hard enough.  So you can either stock up on these ancient bulbs or get with the times and choose a more efficient option.

Lighting typically accounts for about 20-30% of your electric bill so you want to make a wise choice when it comes to which bulb to use.  Below you will find a cost comparison of four different types of light bulbs; all emit the same amount of light, but vary in initial cost and the amount of energy consumed.

Comparing the electricity cost for one year, you’ll see that you could save about $10 by switching from incandescent to LED.  Now that doesn’t seem like much, but once you increase the timeframe to 15 years, and factor in how many bulbs you’ll need during that time, you will notice that an incandescent will cost you almost four times as much as an LED.

Judging by this number, you decide against the incandescent.  Halogen light bulbs have a longer lifespan, but between their high initial cost and their inability to save much energy, they’re out too.

Now you’re down to CFLs and LEDs.  An LED bulb will last about three times longer than a CFL and will require less energy, but its current astronomical price tag will pretty much negate all of its economic benefits.

Any one of these three light bulbs is a better option than the incandescent, but until the price of LED bulbs becomes more reasonable, it’s best to stick with CFLs.

If you’re finding it difficult to make the switch, think back to the humorous Cree commercial that gave it to you straight.  “The light bulbs in your house were invented by Thomas Edison in 1879.  Now think about that with your twenty-thirteen brain.  Do you still do the wash down at the creek while your eldest son stands lookout for wolves?”

It’s time for you to break your old fashioned trend, just don’t break the bank in the process.

energy collective

13 Comments on "Will That $25 Light Bulb Really Save You Money?"

DC on Thu, 13th Feb 2014 9:26 pm 



Sigh, if you really want to be sure-get this handly little device

http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4460-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B000RGF29Q

Then run around your tar-paper and sawdust shack like I did, and it put on everything you care to. It can be very revealing. I figured out what it takes to make a hot cup of tea-2 slices of toast. My computers actually run on less than even I thought, I found which light fixtures we have that the most efficient-which ones the least. I learned my micro-form factor PC consumes nearly as much power in non-gaming mod as my much more elaborate primary pc. I found laptops can be quite frugal energy wise-and so on. Tvs etc(hogs), do em all. Throw this on any LED lights you own-and see what they draw. Of course, the real determination of cost effectiveness isn’t how much the bulb costs as such-but how long it actually lasts. That is actually a more important measure of efficiency than even actual power consumption in many respects. The purchase price of anything can be a deceptive measure of how ‘efficient’ something is. It can obscure than it reveals.

Advertising and our lack of taking the time an effort to verify the things we are told personally, is a large part of why we are as wasteful as we are.

rollin on Thu, 13th Feb 2014 10:09 pm 



Use LED headlamps at night with rechargeable batteries.
Just don’t look at people when you talk to them at night, be polite turn it off.

So who needs light fixtures?

Now that you have saved up all that energy by getting away from incandescent bulbs, insulate and seal the house better because you have just lost several hundred watts of heat.

D. Welch on Thu, 13th Feb 2014 10:43 pm 



Sarah, if you are really still paying $25.00 for an LED bulb I have a piece of land you might like with five potential pond sites….

peakyeast on Thu, 13th Feb 2014 11:17 pm 



I personally will keep my CFLs. The quality of LEDs are stille lousy. That they take a few seconds to give good quality light doesnt matter to me.

I have had approx 10 different brands of LED bulbs which i purchased a couple of years ago.

Today i have maybe 2 left. The rest died of various causes. The CFLs – none has died from bad soldering, being turned on for “too long time” and died of supposedly overheating, or other sudden inexplicable deaths…

If you really wish LEDs – then buy a Quality brand. Perhaps Osram or Philips. But dont expect it to pay off.

Makati1 on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 1:51 am 



When you are paying over $0.25 per KWh, you will use compact fluorescents or LEDs. We use both and have not found any problems with them after years of use. Some of ours are over 5 years in daily use with no problems. Where as, standard incandescents burn out a lot faster.

As in anything else, you get what you pay for, and occasionally there are duds in any product, even cars. That’s why they have guarantees.

Besides, soon you will not be able to buy incandescents anywhere or they will be very expensive as will the electric that powers them. Candles anyone? ^_^

Davy, Hermann, MO on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 2:43 am 



Incandescents are fine in certain applications where heat is an advantage or where you hardly ever turn the light on and only on for a short time I am nearly all LED. I went LED early on that is when they screwed you with low quality and high price. Today they are pretty decent. I use them with my solar power especially.

Shaved Monkey on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 11:29 am 



Best way to save money on a $25 LED light globe is to buy it on Ebay out of China for a only a few dollars.

Makati1 on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 12:42 pm 



They are $8-$10 here in the Philippines where electric is about $0.27 per KWh.

Guistebal on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 3:01 pm 



I live in a place where I have to heat my house about 8 months/year.

I do use CFL in some places where light in often on even in summer, but for the rest, in my situation, incandescent bulbs are 100% efficient 8 months a year – heat is definitely not lost (and for the remaining 4 months, I don’t use them anyway, it’s summer!). I would not save energy with LEDs, I would just transfer energy to my heating system.

Incandescent/halogen bulbs have a far lower ecological impact when disposed. So I’m not convinced of the benefits of LED in cold climates.

On a money/energy/ecological point of vue, it’s a no go for me.

hillco on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 3:02 pm 



I wouldn’t pay that for a light bulb, especially one that was made with lead-free solder. Maybe in ten years when they should have all the bugs worked out of the lead-free soldering process. I have a cfl from 1994. It is a strange looking thing, barely fit in a lamp socket because it was so wide. It still works, amazingly.

There are some places where cfl just doesn’t cut it, though. Bathroom fixtures with multiple lights is the most recent example. My wife got tired of two different colors of light in the fixture. Since it is only on 30 minutes a day, I gave up and bought normal light bulbs.

I have a little trouble with all this supposed energy savings. If you live in a place with summer all year long, you will definitely save the energy advertised. If you don’t, the energy isn’t being wasted to begin with at least for part of the year.

foxv on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 3:07 pm 



LED bulbs are still not ready for prime time. CFLs still have the better “cost of ownership”.

The problem right now is that they are pumping too much power into the LEDs and destroying their efficiency and life spand potential. Currently an edison base LED bulb runs at around 80% efficiency with 30K hours life span, compared to CFL’s 75% efficiency and 10Khrs lifespan.

LEDs can actually reach 95% efficiency with a life span at 100Khrs if run at low power. However this requires lots of LEDs to make up for the low light output; ie expensive or bulky for a lamp fixture.

They do have have LED replacements for Fluorescent Tube lights. These run at 85% efficiency with 60Khrs life span; for the same 10X price of a fluorescent. Definitely a worth while investment for a business with higher daily usage and where reliability and replacement costs are significant factors not calculated in the above tables.

Kenz300 on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 3:21 pm 



Energy Collective — consistently bashing alternative energy sources and energy savings…….. more right wing propaganda…..

The prices of LED’s have been dropping every year and are now closer to $8.00 than the $25.00 in the article.
Right wing spin always plays fast and loose with the facts.

Save energy and save money……….

mo on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 11:34 pm 



Ck out the labeling on the leds or cfls. They give you a life of bulb on the package say 22 1/2 years for an led, but that’s only if its on for 3 hrs a day. Who has their lites on for only 3 hrs a day. Especially in the winter in the n.hemisphere