Thursday, October 01, 2015

Lights!


Last night I finished switching the last of our house light bulbs to LEDs.  

Years ago I got rid of (most of) our incandescent bulbs and switched over to CFL (compact fluorescents). CFLs are much cheaper to operate and have two or three times the lifespan of incandescents. But LED bulbs, new to the market over the past couple of years, are superior to CFLs in every way except price. So I've just been waiting for the prices to drop.

I've been experimenting with different brands and found that I really like the TCP and Philips 60W equivalent bulbs. (The Utilitech bulbs I bought from Lowes don't seem to be "instant-on". I was disappointed.) A couple of months ago Home Depot had the TCP bulbs on sale for $2.88 but they no longer carry them. However, a two-pack of Philips bulbs are on sale for $5 and I've found that $2.50 per bulb is economical given the electricity savings. So I finally pulled the trigger and picked up a bunch last weekend and then again last night.



I also bought two eight packs of the GE 60W equivalent light stik bulbs for desk lamps and such.


The great thing about LED bulbs is that they come on instantly, are crazy cheap to operate, and give off a bright, soft light indistinguishable from incandescents. I love them. And I'm sure our electricity use is going to drop significantly.

I do still have some incandescents in the basement where there are a bunch of track lights. Those specialty bulbs do come in LED, but they're still really expensive.  As the existing bulbs burn out, I'll slowly replace those with LEDs. Hopefully the prices will start dropping soon.

But considering the 10-20 year lifespan of LED bulbs, they may be the last bulbs I have to change for a long time.

No comments: