Author Topic: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500  (Read 3201 times)

a1pharm

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LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« on: April 06, 2018, 09:51:02 AM »
So I have G9 Halogen bulbs in my bathroom fixtures.  There are 6 total.  They are 40 watt bulbs.  We use the lights for about 2 hours per day.  Electricity costs 13 cents per kWh.  I replaced these halogens with LED bulbs that cost $19.99 for 6 on Amazon.  The cost savings in electricity per year is $20.  Using the 4% rule, we now have to save $500 less for retirement.  So the ROI on these kind of expensive LED bulbs is 2500%.  Given our usage level, and the expected lifespan of the bulbs, we may not have to replace them in our lifetime.  However, if we do, it would be another $20.

Worst case scenario: if we replace them every year, we are still money ahead (G9 halogens will not outlast G9 LEDs).

TLDR: buy LED light bulbs TODAY, they are one of the easiest and best investments you can make.

mavendrill

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2018, 07:49:51 PM »
Nice!

One caveat to your conclusion is if you are limited but can get subsidized bulbs it may be better to wait.  My electric company will sell 15 LEDs from wide variety of choices per year for 10$.  Was definitely worth waiting to completely switch over.

Dave1442397

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2018, 01:21:21 PM »
I started replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs back in 2010. LEDs were expensive them so I only did the lights that were on the most. As LEDs came down in price, I gradually replaced everything except the last few closet bulbs. I figure those are on for less than a few minutes per month, so I'll just wait until they burn out to replace them.

It definitely makes a huge difference over time.

We're due for a new roof in the next few years, and I'm thinking about installing some solar panels, if I can figure out a way to do it without getting into ridiculous contracts or getting caught up with crappy solar companies.

alanB

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2018, 10:01:44 AM »
Nice, LEDs have such huge ROI it is ridiculous.  I had replaced all of the bulbs in my house except for the under-cabinet bulbs, assuming they were probably low wattage and little LEDs would be too expensive.  Wow I was wrong, those little guys eat up electricity.  Once 2 had burned out I finally made the switch to 2.5W G8s.  So worth it.

Your sales pitch is like an infomercial that actually makes sense - act now, for the low low price of $19.99 (a $500 value!!)

a1pharm

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2018, 12:54:26 PM »
Nice, LEDs have such huge ROI it is ridiculous.  I had replaced all of the bulbs in my house except for the under-cabinet bulbs, assuming they were probably low wattage and little LEDs would be too expensive.  Wow I was wrong, those little guys eat up electricity.  Once 2 had burned out I finally made the switch to 2.5W G8s.  So worth it.

Your sales pitch is like an infomercial that actually makes sense - act now, for the low low price of $19.99 (a $500 value!!)

Maybe I should quit my day job, and become the next Billy Mays/Shamwow guy but for LED light bulbs...

Googs860

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2018, 01:59:39 PM »
Given our usage level, and the expected lifespan of the bulbs, we may not have to replace them in our lifetime. 

Does your ROI calculation include the cost of new halogens every however-many-hours-they-last?

a1pharm

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2018, 03:07:14 PM »
Given our usage level, and the expected lifespan of the bulbs, we may not have to replace them in our lifetime. 

Does your ROI calculation include the cost of new halogens every however-many-hours-they-last?

I kinda fudged the halogen replacement with LED replacements, inflation, and opportunity costs.  This made my ROI calculation more conservative than it actually is (further contributing to my "safety margin").

Good question!

alanB

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2018, 06:27:16 AM »
Given our usage level, and the expected lifespan of the bulbs, we may not have to replace them in our lifetime. 

Does your ROI calculation include the cost of new halogens every however-many-hours-they-last?

I kinda fudged the halogen replacement with LED replacements, inflation, and opportunity costs.  This made my ROI calculation more conservative than it actually is (further contributing to my "safety margin").

Good question!

The other safety margin to consider is my old under-cabinet halogen bulbs would burn my fingers and melt my chocolate.  LEDs are way cooler.

YttriumNitrate

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #8 on: April 10, 2018, 09:06:32 AM »
Worst case scenario: if we replace them every year, we are still money ahead (G9 halogens will not outlast G9 LEDs).
For some reason, the previous owner of my house really liked fixtures with those odd shaped silly halogen bulbs R7, T4, etc. I've tried getting LEDs that fit in those types of sockets, but in general they tend to be much dimmer than the halogen bulbs that were previously in the sockets. The good news is that replacing fixtures is relatively cheap and easy, so even factoring in the cost of swapping out the fixture it usually does make good sense to install LED bulbs (with standard size sockets).

a1pharm

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #9 on: April 10, 2018, 09:35:58 AM »
Worst case scenario: if we replace them every year, we are still money ahead (G9 halogens will not outlast G9 LEDs).
For some reason, the previous owner of my house really liked fixtures with those odd shaped silly halogen bulbs R7, T4, etc. I've tried getting LEDs that fit in those types of sockets, but in general they tend to be much dimmer than the halogen bulbs that were previously in the sockets. The good news is that replacing fixtures is relatively cheap and easy, so even factoring in the cost of swapping out the fixture it usually does make good sense to install LED bulbs (with standard size sockets).

Can you replace the weird sockets with more usual sockets (and put LEDs in the new sockets)?  Not sure if these is cheaper or not, and if you already don't like the fixture(s) I guess this wouldn't make sense.

Anon in Alaska

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2018, 04:00:55 AM »
Do you live in a warm climate, or a cold climate? If you live in a warm climate your total savings will be more because they will produce less heat and your cooling bill will be slightly lower. If you live in a cold climate your savings will be less because your heating bill will go up slightly.

a1pharm

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #11 on: April 29, 2018, 08:49:13 AM »
Do you live in a warm climate, or a cold climate? If you live in a warm climate your total savings will be more because they will produce less heat and your cooling bill will be slightly lower. If you live in a cold climate your savings will be less because your heating bill will go up slightly.

Good point - if you are considering the thermodynamics of the bulb.  I'm not sure about the cost efficiency of gas vs. electric heat.  It's possible you'll save even more in BOTH scenarios.

Warm climate = bulbs are cooler, so this reduced your AC use.
Cold climate = you rely more on your (likely) more cost efficient gas heat.  Even though the wattage of the LEDs is lower (and produces less heat) they still produce heat.  You just shift a minuscule amount of heating from your inefficient electric heaters (bulbs) to your more efficient furnace.

Anon in Alaska

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Re: LED light bulbs bought for $19.99 just saved me $500
« Reply #12 on: April 29, 2018, 11:29:53 PM »

Warm climate = bulbs are cooler, so this reduced your AC use.
Cold climate = you rely more on your (likely) more cost efficient gas heat.  Even though the wattage of the LEDs is lower (and produces less heat) they still produce heat.  You just shift a minuscule amount of heating from your inefficient electric heaters (bulbs) to your more efficient furnace.

Sadly, I have electric baseboard heat in my condo.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!