When I drove to the offices of a start-up called Switch Lighting last week, I wasn’t expecting much. A company representative had promised to show me something amazing—an alternative light bulb that uses a fraction of the energy of a traditional incandescent bulb and lasts 20 times as long, but that plugs into a standard socket and produces the same warm, yellowish, comforting glow that we’re all used to seeing when we flip the switch.
I’d heard that pitch before. Energy-efficient bulbs that shine like incandescents are the holy grail of the lighting industry. The effort has become more urgent in the last few years, as governments around the world have imposed regulations to phase out incandescent bulbs. In the United States, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, whose light bulb-related provisions will go into effect next year, requires greater efficiency from all light bulbs on the market; the act effectively outlaws the traditional incandescent bulb by 2014. The phase-out has created a surprising political outcry, with some people even stocking up on bulbs. That’s because today’s main alternative, compact-fluorescent bulbs, are awful. They’ve got three main shortcomings: They’re ugly; they contain mercury, which can be extremely hazardous if the bulbs are broken; and most importantly, they put out harsh, white light that many people (myself included) find unbearable.
Switch’s 60-watt-replacement bulb will sell for about $20, and the 75-watt and 100-watt replacements will cost slightly more. This will be cheaper than other LED bulbs—Philips* sells a 60-watt replacement LED bulb that goes for about $45, for instance. But $20 for a light bulb still sounds expensive. Incandescent bulbs sell for about 50 cents to $1 per bulb, and CFL bulbs have been approaching that same low price. LED bulbs seem to break the bank by comparison.
But that’s only until you do the math. On average, an incandescent bulb lasts about 1,000 hours—that’s about a year, if you keep it on for about three hours a day. Electricity in America also costs about 11 cents per kilowatt hour (that’s the average; it varies widely by region). In other words, a 50-cent, 60-watt incandescent bulb will use about $6.60 in electricity every year. Switch’s 60-watt-equivalent LED, meanwhile, uses only 13 watts of power, so it will cost only $1.43 per year. The Switch bulb also has an average lifespan of 20,000 hours—20 years. If you count the price of replacing the incandescent bulb every year, the Switch bulb will have saved you money by its fourth year. Over 20 years, you’ll have spent a total of about $142 for the incandescent bulbs (for electricity and replacement bulbs) and less than $50 for Switch’s 60-watt bulb. (I made a spreadsheet showing my calculations.)
(note: of course, with a 20 year life, the next one you buy will probably cost the equivalent of a buck fifty or so… PS)
Of course the obvious consequence is that boneheads will start claiming that LEDs cause Cancer, or cataracts, or blindness. All to deceive people into using more electricity.
I’m sure that commercial users who employ people to replace the bulbs will see that they can phase in the bulbs and phase out the maintenance guys. For those who live off-grid, these are a no-brainer for living rooms. Not so much for the out-house. But next year they’ll probably be cheaper. In five years, I suspect they’ll be selling like hot cakes.
Haitz’s Law suggests your end note may well be roughly correct.
Aside from the unfounded trashing of compact fluorescents, good article. I don’t get why people get bent out of shape with the CFLs. Regular fluorescents have been around for a long time, and nobody complains about those. Plus, if you choose the right color, they look great.
Personally I would choose to skip CFLs because of their toxicity, complexity and circuit components.
Now that LEDs have arrived as this article demonstrates, I will be only purchasing LEDs.
I recently saw in Ikea leds on sale half price.
so one does have cheap options.
I’d be grateful if you’d post that ikea link here.
I bought my first CFL in 1993, and, yeah, it was expensive, but it
lasted one hell of along time, and was the main source of light in my
kitchen.