Choosing The Best Light Bulb For You

For a long time I have been hearing different stories of what is the best light bulb to use based on initial cost and long term energy efficiency. So I have decided to do some research and get to the bottom of it. What I found is a bit confusing but here it goes.

There are basically 3 different kinds of household light bulbs to choose from. The traditional incandescent bulbs, Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL), and Light Emitting Diode (LED). If you think it doesn’t matter which one you choose your wrong as it is estimated that up to 25% of the average household energy cost goes to lighting.

In terms of energy efficiency LED’s take the cake using less than 1/30th of the energy of incandescent bulbs. CFL’s are pretty efficient themselves using 50-80% less energy than an incandescent bulb.

In terms of life time of the bulb LED’s again take the cake lasting up to 10times as long as a CFL which lasts up to 10 times as long as an incandescent.

In terms of pricing LED’s take the cake here but in a bad way they have the highest initial cost, CFL’s are somewhere in the middle with incandescent bulbs being the cheapest by far. In the long run however both CFL’s and LED’s turned out to be a much better bargain than incandescent bulbs. LED’s only come out to be slightly cheaper than CFL’s and if you factor in that they require more money up front it really isn’t that big of a deal.

In terms of functionality, meaning does the light actually light up the room is another area where LED’s don’t work out. Many people say they are really only good for reading lights. New CFL’s are on par with the best incandescent bulbs.

What about pollution? LED’s contain no mercury at all. CFL’s contain trace amounts of it and per bulb more mercury than an incandescent. This is misleading stat though considering that when you factor in the mercury used to light the less efficient incandescent bulb CFL’s are actually more environmentally friendly. You can even dispose of burned out CLF bulbs at your local Home Depot or Ikea.

When all of this is considered I think the best option for me is CFL’s. I don’t have a lot of money to invest up front but can see the long term saving CFL’s will provide me. Also, I need a light that actually lights up the room for when I am doing home work so I don’t think LED’s would work for me. I am not going to go switch all of my light bulbs right away but as my incandescent bulbs burn out they will be replaced with a new CFL bulb!
Always remember to turn off the light when you leave a room to no matter how efficient your bulb is because as I’m sure you’ve heard lighting empty rooms is just a waste!!

I got a lot of these facts from these websites
http://www.productdose.com/article.php?article_id=1142
and
http://www.eartheasy.com/live_energyeff_lighting.htm
Check them out if you would like to learn more or hear what others are saying.