As you walk the aisles of a hardware store, the price label on the LED bulbs christmas lights for house can give you a shock. Four dollars for a single bulb? The old incandescent was a lot less. But that sticker only tells half of the story.
An LED bulb uses most of its power to create 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 stay cool, and you see the difference on your electric bill every month.
Consider 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 earn its keep eventually.
Lifespan counts just as much as the price. 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 that resides directly above the stairs.
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. Choose brands that publish their lumen output and color temperature and offer a genuine warranty.
Dimmers deserve a quick mention too. 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. What that "high tech" little lamp costs in the store is only a fraction of what you'll end up spending on the old kind.