When you wander down the aisles of a hardware store, the price tag on those LED bulbs holiday light installers near me can catch you off guard. Four bucks for one bulb? The old incandescent was much less expensive. But that sticker only tells part of the story.
An LED bulb turns most of its power into light. About 90 percent of the electricity an incandescent bulb draws is lost 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.
Think about a house with 25 fixtures. Swap every one of those bulbs for an LED and lighting energy use drops by 70 to 80 percent. The kitchen and living room pay you back fastest, 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 matters just as much. 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. You can put the ladder away and the monthly trip to change the single dead socket sitting directly over the staircase.
Well, here's a snag you should learn about. Cheap, no-name LEDs sometimes burn out early thanks to faulty drivers, the small circuit boards inside the base. Pick brands that list lumen output and color temperature and come with an actual warranty.
Light dimmers are worth a brief mention. Plenty of LEDs struggle with older dimmer switches, which causes flickering or a buzzing noise. Check the packaging for "dimmable" and pair the bulb with a compatible dimmer switch.
Add it up 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.