Could LED Lights Be Really Worth It?
Most people are trying to reduce expenses and energy today. The first thing you are told to do is change incandescent lights with new technology light bulbs. This saves energy but can it really save you money? I want to take a few moments to run the amounts on the new and not so new lights accessible. This won’t be an in-depth summary on lighting just to verify if the new bulbs are worth the start-up expense.
- Let me use 10 cents a Kilowatt Hour for the cost of power (0.10/KWH).
- Let me take 4,000 hours of effective use a year. This is about usual for a retail store or restaurant occupancy.
- I will be using a 60 watt incandescent light as the basis of the estimation, so my comparison lights have 800 lumens at least.
- We are going to look at the price on a 1 year, 5 year and 10 year scale.
- The cost of payment is 7%. This will be essential in the evaluation section because should you buy the lights you don’t own that money left to spend on another task or earn you money. Down below will be 12 month cost of ownership. This is Incandescent bulb amortized at 7% over the life duration of the bulb divided by 4,000 hour per year.
Incandescent Lights:
For the purposes of this exercise I will imagine that incandescent lights are free. A fast price check exhibits I can get 8 packs for lesser than 2 dollars so I am rounding this cost to an absolute zero.
- 60 watts x 4,000 hours = 240,000 watts (Watts each year).
- 240 KWH x $0.10 = $24.00 per year running the incandescent bulb.
- Annual cost of Ownership = $0.00. (Since the bulb cost nothing the cost to own the bulb will be $0.00.)
Fluorescent Lights:
I am getting a 13 watt compact fluorescent they gives off about 900 lumens and will last about 8,000 hours then cost approximately $10.00.
- 13 watts x 4,000 hours = 52,000 watts (Watts each year)
- 52 KWH x $0.10 = $5.20 per year to power the fluorescent bulb.
- Annual cost of Ownership = $5.40 ($10.00 at 7% for 2 years)
LED Light Bulbs:
LED lights are a little more complicated than the others. I am getting a LED based light with equal light output as the above 2 lights, 13 watts, 900 lumens and 50,000 hour life expectancy. The price I am having is $75.00. You can find low cost lights with life duration spans but the color of the rays of light is not comparable to others.
- 13 watts x 4,000 hours = 52,000 watts (Watts per year)
- 52 KWH x $0.10 = $5.20 per year to power the LED bulb.
- Annual cost of Ownership = $9.00 ($75.00 at 7% for about 12.5 years)
The Comparison
- Incandescent Light bulbs = 1 year $24.00 – 5 year $120.00 – 10 years $240.00
- Fluorescent Light bulbs = 1 year $10.60 – 5 year $53.00 – 10 years $106.00
- LED Light bulbs = 1 year $14.20 – 5 year $71.00 – 10 years $142.00
Conclusion
LED light prices would have to decline to $45.00 to break even with CFL or the wattage must be cut in half. By the time you check this it may already be true, so get the existing prices and your electric bill and run the amounts for your internet marketing business.
Tags: LED light bulbs, LED lighting, LED home lighting