When you wander down the aisles of a hardware store, the sticker on those LED bulbs my ever lights can come as a shock. Four dollars for a single bulb? The old incandescent was much less expensive. But that sticker only tells part of the story.
An LED bulb uses most of its power to create light. Incandescent bulbs waste roughly 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.
Picture 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 will get the best return on investment, since the lights stay on for hours. But even the hall bathroom bulb you turn on twice a day will eventually repay you.
Lifespan is just as important. An average LED lasts anywhere from 15,000 to 50,000 hours. Run it four hours a day and it can go a decade or more before you need a replacement. Forget the ladder and the monthly trip to change the one burned-out bulb sitting directly over the staircase.
Well, here's a snag you should learn 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.
A quick word on dimmers. Many LEDs do not work well with old dimmer switches, and that shows up as flickering or a buzzing sound. Check the packaging for "dimmable" and pair the bulb with a compatible dimmer switch.
Do the math 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. The shelf price of that "high tech" little bulb is only a fraction of what the old kind costs you in the long run.