Honest opinions about how to buy Appliances and Lighting.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

I Convert

Over the last 3 years, I have extolled the virtues of LED and CFC. LED in particular has 20 times the life of incandescent, uses roughly 1/5 the power and emits zero heat. Over the years, people have said the payback versus cost is not worth the investment. I have showed the 40% drop in my electric bill after converting to LED.

Still it is not enough.

So I spent $5000 converting the showroom to LED (I will seemingly do almost anything to prove a point). We removed 36 50 watt MR16s for 32 9 watt LED. The difference in heat is immediately noticeable.

Before - 1800 Total Watts


After - 288 Total Watts


Savings


Only one way to truly be assured of the savings.....We will check the electric bill in one month. You do see a larger savings in a commercial adaptation like Yale. The lights are on much longer, 7 days a week and 52 days a year.

But still you will see significant savings residentially, especially since the low voltage fixture and bulb is pricey itself. This also does not account for savings due to heat reduction.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:13 AM

    For myself, raw savings is not the point. I spend my days with my eyes watching the fight between monitor refresh rates and 60Hz flicker of flourescents. When I get home, I sure don't want CFLs for that reason alone (and the color is poor, too). LEDs are nice if all you want is light, but the color just isn't right yet. And I work for a lighting company... (theatrical, but lighting nontheless).

    Give me my burning tungsten, with its warm glow and no flicker.

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  2. Thats funny...Older, office fluorescent is awful. Newer CFLs more closely emulate incandescsent

    LED renders the same as you can tell by the picture. The secret is choosing the right brand

    You may like incandescent, but in an average home, you are spending a small fortune for your illuminary(is that a word) taste

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