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LED Cost Saving Lightbulbs – Are They a Good Investment?
The question of LED lightbulbs is one that certainly splits opinion amongst homeowners. With an initial high cost, it can be difficult to understand whether or not LED bulbs represent a good investment. The answer is yes, if given time to repay the initial outlay.
The lightbulbs are made up of LEDs (light-emitting diodes), and are approximately 10 times more efficient at converting electricity into light than the old-fashioned filament type of bulb. As such considerably less wattage is needed, for example, a traditional 60W bulb will need only a 6W LED bulb.
Where the questions arise are in the cost of said lightbulbs. Purchasing a box of LED lightbulbs is considerable more expensive than an ordinary box of lightbulbs, which means that homeowners will be dependent on the long term energy saving to see the benefit.
So are LED lights going to save you money your electricity bill?
So how does it work?
A big thank you to the Telegraph for doing the sums for us, but here is how to work out the costs and the savings.
If you consider that the total power consumption of 10 old-style bulbs comes to 600W or 0.6kW, and electricity is sold in units of kilowatt-hours (kWh) – the amount of energy that a 1kW device uses in an hour – each hour the 10 lights consume 0.6kWh. Based on a typical unit price of 12.2p per kWh, the 10 lights will cost 7.3p per hour to run. The is a daily cost of 73p if it is on for 10 hours, a weekly cost of £5.11, a monthly cost of £21.90 and a yearly cost of £266.45.
If you replace all of the bulbs with a 6W LED bulb, the running costs will be dramatically less, equally a tenth of the cost – the daily cost will be 7.3p, the weekly cost will be 51p, the monthly cost will be £2.19 and the yearly cost, £26.65. It is immediately obvious that this represents huge savings, but to illustrate:
- Daily Saving – 65.7p
- Weekly Saving – £4.60
- Monthly Saving – £19.70
- Yearly Saving – £239.80
*These figures may not be accurate and should only be used as illustrative based on costs in April 2014.
So, the question is, why wouldn’t you move to LED lighting? A A Electrical are able to direct you further on the benefits of swapping the LED lighting, so please let us know your questions.
If you would like to discuss any of the electrical needs in your household or place of work, get in touch with the A A Electrical team today.
