Everyone hates that sudden spark of a light bulb going out at the flick of a switch, not only is it frustrating, but also seems to always happen at the most inconvenient time; when carrying groceries into a dark house or walking into the kitchen half asleep for a drink of water. Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to replace a light bulb for 20 years? That would be a dream come true, right? Well, let me introduce you to your LED knight in shining armor.
Osram Sylvania is releasing a LED light bulb with the equivalent brightness of a 100W traditional bulb that only uses 20W of energy to produce that brightness. That’s correct, you get the same brightness while using a whopping 80% less energy to operate it and those savings add up fast. Not only will you be energy efficient, but you’ll also have the brightness that until now hasn’t be available from LED lights. People were starting to worry as laws banning traditional 100-watt bulbs have been enacted and now they are working towards eliminating 75-watt bulbs as well, but have no fear the 100-watt equivalent LED bulb is here!
Rather than paying the usual dollar or so for a bulb, the 100-watt equivalent LED bulb will be about $50. Yikes, $50 seems outrageous for one light bulb, but you have to think about the cost differently. The traditional incandescent light bulb hasn’t changed much in 130 years! You can’t say that about many products in wide use today but it’s about time that it did. To put LED bulb life in perspective, an LED bulb will last 50 times longer than a incandescent so over the long run you would have installed 50 bulbs at a cost of $1 each so the bulbs cost the same overtime but you won’t be climbing a ladder or taking that lamp apart 50 times to change the bulb. Now don’t forget, 80% less energy use is dramatic and provides a quick payback. Let’s do a few calculations to show the savings:
Let’s assume that we have a lamp with a 100W bulb that operates for 8 hours a day 365 days per year. That represents 292 KW of power per year (8 x 365)/100. If electricity cost $0.11 per KW (what is a kilowatt) that’s $32.12 per year. If we multiply by 20% since an LED uses 20W of power it will cost $6.42 per year to operate, a savings of $25.70 per year so it pays for itself in 2 years and continues to save you $25.70 per year for the next 18 years for a 20 year savings of $514. Wow that bulb is looking like a heck of a deal all the way around. Sure the up-front price tag is high but we know that it will come down quickly as more LED bulbs are sold. Philips, General Electric, and the startup Switch are all expected to come out with a similar bulb which will result in cheaper pricing, because of competition within the market.
Don’t be afraid of change, in this case the traditional bulb will break the bank compared to the newest, brightest LED technology. To explore more about advancing your light fixtures check out Martin LaMonica’s article Bright LED Bulbs Arrive At Last.