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Standing on a small stepladder in the understairs closet, I recently passed an uncelebrated milestone: I swapped out the last incandescent lightbulb in the house. It was hardly a grand achievement, just the natural result of traditional bulbs failing one by one over the years. Still, my frugal nature found it pleasing, and worth (pardon the pun) shining a light on.
Having changed every bulb with my own fair hand, I can confidently tell you there are 78 in the house. LED lighting should provide a decent “humble saving” from here on.
Take our kitchen/dining area as a small case study. It has 18 bulbs in total. Before LEDs, the fully lit space drew over 1kW of power, and now it draws under 200 watts. That is a wonderful 80% reduction in running costs.
I won’t claim every room saw a cut that big, since the kitchen/dining area was always the worst offender. But with 78 bulbs, the savings add up. Assuming roughly a fifth of the lights are on for four or five hours a day through winter, and far less in summer, I reckon we’re saving around $150 a year.
There’s also a small investment lesson hanging in that closet. The incandescent bulb reigned for well over a century and seemed about as permanent as the light switch itself. Then a better idea came along, helped by a nudge from the regulators, and the old order was gone. Some manufacturers adapted. Others, and anyone who’d put all their faith in them, were left in the dark.
No need to panic. But it might make me gentle question any company or sector that looks too established to fail. I can’t tell you which industry will be switched off next, which is rather the point. Spreading my investments widely means I don’t have to guess, and I can get on with my bulb-changing in peace.
So there it is: 78 bulbs, one stepladder, and a saving so quiet you’d never hear it. No fanfare, no ribbon-cutting, just a house that’s a little brighter and a little cheaper to run. I’ll admit to a small, private smugness every time I flick a switch. It’s the sort of triumph no one else will ever notice, which suits me fine.
After all, the best savings are the ones that happen while you’re not looking.
What was the initial lightbulb investment, in order to save $150/year? Glad you did it (for climate’s sake), but I was missing the payback month.
I only started switching about five years ago, and I never tracked the cost. As I remember it, LED bulbs initially carried a $3 or $4 premium over incandescent, but prices dropped quickly after the ban. I’d estimate my total spend at a few hundred dollars, and certainly no more than $500. Even at that upper figure, the savings of roughly $150 a year are a solid ongoing return, around 30% annually. I’d be thrilled if my portfolio made that every year!
It took me a few years to accept LEDs. They were expensive and their claims to longevity were, IMHO (and experience), blatantly untrue. A few were incompatible with certain wiring configurations and lamps. I stocked up on some incandescents to weather the ban. But then the LEDs got better, the choices among light shades got much better (daylight, cool white etc), and now many can be selected on the bulb. New electronics offered “on at dusk, off at dawn” and motion sensors. Even the prices got better. So I’ve now been completely converted. Every new replacement is now an LED. And I think I have a few incandescent spares I will never use.
I must say, the one place I really don’t like LEDs is on a dark, wet evening when a car is coming towards me. For some reason, LED headlights really dazzle me.
Mark, it’s amazing how satisfying those small, almost unnoticed savings can be, especially when you multiply them over years.
But I especially liked the investment lesson. Something can seem permanent simply because it has been around for our entire lives, until suddenly it isn’t. A good reminder of why diversification matters and why we should never get too comfortable believing any company or industry is immune to change.
And 78 lightbulbs? I’m impressed you counted them!
Andrew, I’ve always been fascinated by industry disruption. My favourite example is the collapse of the CRT TV industry and its supply chain, which basically vanished within ten years. As for the number of lightbulbs, a quick tour of the house in the name of editorial research gave me a firm total.
My only beef with LEDs is that they don’t last as long as advertised. Where you buy them does make a difference. Do like the LED strips and such. LEDs create alot of new lighting options.
I agree with your observation: LEDs often don’t last as long as the advertised 10,000 to 15,000 hours. In my case, though, that may be because I tend to buy the cheapest bulbs available.
With DEDs you could have achieved 100% savings.
(DED = dark-emitting diode)
🙂
I did consider DEDs, but I heard the ambient dark-absorption rate drops off sharply in winter. Plus, finding a dimmer switch that increases darkness proved a bit tricky. 😉
Bravo on switching to LED lights. We should all celebrate that the reign of the awful Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) was short.
Suggestion: Hang on to at least a few of those old incandescent bulbs however.
They can be quite handy when you need a little focused warmth in a small area. Examples include: helping accelerate curing of paint or other non volatile compounds in an otherwise cold garage, shed etc. Protecting pipes from freezing under a sink with pipes near a poorly insulated wall. In southern climates with only periodic freezing, any outdoor exposed plumbing/cold intolerant equipment etc can be warmed by cutting a tarp over the equipment and placing a lit incandescent bulb underneath….etc. etc. I’ve given a few of mine away to people who wish they had saved some!
Dunn, you’re right about the heat. The under-cabinet incandescents in our old kitchen ran so hot that the lowest shelves had to be kept for things unaffected by warmth. Thankfully, our current LEDs have solved that problem. I only switched to LEDs once I’d used up my own stock of the old bulbs.
Mark, this post is causing my brain to get some well needed exercise. Here are some of the ways that we save, and that only require a little bit of effort on our part. There are reward credit cards that kick back between one and five percent, though more and more retailers are recovering their merchant fees these days. Free gym memberships provided by our Medicare Supplement Insurance. Savings from switching cell phone providers. The Homestead Property Tax Credit, discounts on property and casualty insurance for allowing direct debits and paying the premium in full. Using digital coupons at the grocery store. Using Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD) instead of writing a check. The savings amount to thousands of dollars per year, and are there for the asking.
And of course, those LED bulbs cut down on the electric bill; just don’t fall off the ladder!
Dan, you’ve got me wondering about the word “free.” It’s a bit like asking whether a falling tree makes a noise in an empty forest: is a gym membership really free when it comes bundled with a paid insurance policy? Far too deep for me! As for the stepladder, with very little effort I could jump higher than the steps!
Mark, sorry but some puns are unpardonable.
I was going to reply with a pun-heavy message, but I thought I’d better quit while I was only slightly behind 😁
Mark,
When we built our retirement home 10 years ago we had to purchase dozens upon dozens of bulbs for every light fixture. At the time there were a plethora of different type bulbs available, and LEDs were in their infancy. I pondered and pondered as I looked at the options. I finally decided to bite the bullet and bought all LEDs. They were significantly more expensive than other options but I figured they would pay off in the long run.
Well I was right. Except in the dead of winter, or in the hottest summer months when the central air runs our bill does not come close to $100 (this for 100% renewable, and our delivery charge is greater than KWH usage charge). We recently received our (very hot) August electric bill and it was $170 and we nearly fainted. But we hear people, including our son complaining of monthly $200-300 bills.
Several years ago we looked into solar panels. I was committed to not pull the trigger on installation unless on our return on investment was 10 or less years. When the companies came out and saw how little our usage was they were shocked, and said there was no chance on that time period for ROI.
David, I’ve often thought about solar panels too, and yes, they do work in Ireland. My sister-in-law bought a house that already had them installed, and they sell their excess energy back to the grid, making a small profit over the year. Like your hesitation over early LED adoption, my main stumbling block is the upfront cost.
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