If you’re frugal with your household bills, and looking for an extra way to cut costs, you might want to try LED lighting. LED lighting is one of the major ways to save money on your bills, without compromising on the quality of your lights. Here’s how you can save money with LED lighting.
How LED Saves Money
LED saves money for two reasons: firstly, LED bulbs use less electricity than traditional incandescent and halogen bulbs. Secondly, they last for more longer than other types of light bulbs. You can replace a 60w halogen bulb with a 9w LED bulb – this will use 85% less electricity. Plus, the bulb will last for around 20,000 hours, compared to 2000 for a halogen bulb. Previously, CFL bulbs were hailed as the best energy efficient bulb, but now that LEDs are available on the mass market, this simply isn’t the case. An 11w CFL bulb would be the equivalent of a 60w halogen bulb, so the difference in electricity usage between a CFL bulb and an LED bulb would be 18%. Plus, a CFL bulb lasts around 8,000 hours, which is less than half of the lifespan of an LED bulb.
Will it Work for You?
To work out if using LED bulbs will reduce your energy bills, you will need to know:
- The wattage of your current bulbs.
- The average time that each bulb is in use for every day.
- The current electricity rate per kilowatt hour. The average for the industry at the moment is 12.184 pence.
- The cost of replacing each bulb with an LED. Choose a reliable lighting retailer, and shop around for the best price.
You can use these figures to calculate the current cost per month, your new cost per month when you replace the bulbs with LEDs, and the saving you will make.
Why do LED bulbs cost more? It’s because of the chip inside the bulb, which costs more to make than it does for other types of bulbs. However, despite the upfront cost (which is probably not as high as you might think) you should start to make the money back within 6 months, via a saving on your energy bills.
Choosing the Right LED Bulbs for You
If you want to experiment with LEDs, try replacing your lights in a room where you need a lot of lighting, such as the kitchen. Kitchen lighting requires a mixture of task lighting, accent lighting and mood lighting, i.e. overhead spotlights, pendant lighting over the dining area, and mood lighting for relaxation after cooking. One of the best things about LED lights is that you can easily customise them – for colour and for brightness. There is a variety of styles available such as spotlights, undercabinet, and flexible strip lighting. You can get creative with LED – put it behind your wall-mounted TV, underneath your kitchen island or around your outside path.
Would you consider switching to LED lighting? Do you use LED lights already?
LED bulb image and kitchen lights image from Shutterstock.
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