Around the mid-nineties I was one of the crazy people spending $7 for a funny shaped light bulb called the compact florescent light. Along with using less power they also gave off less heat. 95% of the power used in an incandescent bulb is given off in heat. To a Las Vegan getting unwanted heat out of the house is always helpful. It got to a point where I would not buy a lamp or ceiling fan unless I could put CFLs in it.
Skip ahead 15 years and a new technology is emerging, LEDs or light emitting diodes. LEDs have been around forever. Even as a kid I used to add them to my remote control off road trucks, but then you were very limited on color selections. White LEDs were more expensive to produce. Just like everything else in technology, time makes things better and cheaper. Now you can get a 100W equivalent CFL for a couple dollars, the same thing has happened with LED lighting.
One of the biggest pitfalls of LED lighting is they do not produce as much light, or lumens as a CFL, but with some creativity you can overcome this simple problem.
We recently replaced the light fixture in our powder room. The fixture holds 4 bulbs. We first purchased 40W equivalent frosted globe CFLs, essentially each bulb consumes 10W. Now this is not bad considering for most this would be a savings over incandescents. The problem was when you turned on the lights in there it was like turning on the sun. 160W of light was too much for that small room with white walls and ceiling. I couldn't find a smaller bulb without going to a candelabra style bulb that just wouldn't like right in the fixture since the bulbs are exposed.
I decided I needed to find an LED to replace the CFLs. I found a small frosted LED bulb that fit perfectly into the style of the bathroom and the light output is perfect.
OK now here is where we save the money on our power bill...Using the CFLs I mentioned would consume 40W of power, the LEDs I am using now use .9W each. Yes you are reading that correctly under 1W each, 4W in total. This is a huge savings in power usage. The other benefit of using LED lighting is their longevity. I have CFLs that have lasted over 6 years, my LEDs will last at least twice that amount. Another benefit this longevity has is, by not having to buy bulbs as often you save money and the emissions created making more new bulbs. This also keeps less bulbs out of the land fills.
Like I mentioned before LEDs have a lower light output than CFLs, so in order to do a comparison, you need some numbers. A "mini-twisty" CFL you buy that is a 60W equivalent produces about 550 lumens. The LEDs I used in the powder room produce 70 lumens each. So keep this in mind when you are looking to convert to LED lighting.
Another area we recently switched our lighting was in our garage door opener. Most use old incandescent bulbs and the light stays on for 5-10 minutes after you go in the house, wasting huge amounts of power. Part of the safety measures built into garage door openers is when you trip the sensor at the entrance of your garage, used to prevent the door from accidentally hitting you in the head, it also turns on the lights. If you are working in the garage with the door open and you walk in and out, you are wasting power.
LEDs have come a long way and they are only going to get better. There are even companies using high power LEDs for off-road lighting, that consume 1/3 the power of halogen off-road lights.
Inspect your house and see where you can save money by replacing lights with LEDs.
