Replacing a light bulb in your Stillwater home used to be a straightforward task. Now, when you go to the store to purchase a replacement, you face many choices, from traditional incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent and LEDs. It is understandably confusing, which can result in you missing out on significant energy savings. Don’t just give up and grab the light bulb that most closely resembles the one you are replacing. Select the appropriate LED to replace your worn-out incandescent bulb, and know that you will save 75% on its energy consumption.

If you are unfamiliar with LED bulbs, you are not alone. LED stands for light-emitting diode, which is also a little confusing. Diodes are tiny semiconductors with two terminals. They allow current to flow from the anode to the cathode to produce light. Unlike old-style light bulbs, there are no wires or filaments that can easily break. Instead, these diodes are wrapped in plastic to protect them from the elements and help focus the light they produce. In the case of LED light bulbs, the unit is fashioned to look very much like a traditional light bulb simply for aesthetics and to fit correctly in lamps and light fixtures.

The LED lights offer Hastings homeowners two primary benefits. First, they use far less energy than a traditional incandescent bulb. On average, LEDs use 75% less energy than a comparable old-style light bulb. And that translates to much-appreciated savings on your energy bills. The average household in the United States contains around 40 lights. If all of your light bulbs are incandescent, it is estimated that you would save about $300 each year by converting to all LED bulbs.

The second significant benefit of LED bulbs is their life expectancy. For this comparison, we are using a 60W incandescent bulb, and a 7W LED. These offer about the same amount of light and would fit the same lamp or light fixture. As you might have guessed from the respective wattage, the LED uses far less than the incandescent. However, the big shocker is that the lifespan of the incandescent is about 1,200 hours while the LED is rated for 25,000 hours. That is nearly 21 times the service from the LED light. In this comparison, the total cost of the light bulbs and electricity needed to reach 25,000 hours totals $211 for the old-style bulb and only $34 for the LED.

The Right Choice For Many Reasons

LED bulbs offer substantial financial benefits to homeowners. In addition, it is nice to know that you could leave an LED light turned on for almost three full years before closing in on its life span. So for a light that you use for five hours a day, you will not need to think about replacing it for over 13 years. To learn more about the benefits of LED light bulbs or questions about the fixtures they fit, call the pros at EarlyBird Electric at 612-236 9052.