LED Bulbs in the Home: So Far, So Good

LED's can be far more efficient . . . .

but they aren't much better than a CFL. The savings go down into the noise especially when you consider refrigeration, AC, and electric dryer usage.

They can last for many years . . . .

but they don't.

And they cost so much more . . .

OK, I agree with this one.

I'll stick to CFL's where they make sense. I still have good ol' Edison bulbs in the basement and attic where they are used infrequently because I can't justify the CFL cost. And I still have incandescents in my chandelier fixture because anything else just looks stupid.

I used 'chrome' paint on the plastic part of my CFL chandelier bulb to help them blend into the fixture ... everyone said that it looked great. I just wish they wouldn't take so long to get to full brightness. Now they have the same style LED bulbs, but they are like 25 bucks apiece and I would need 12 ... IE not any time soon

We have to use incandescents in one fixture with dimmer function. Sometimes you just NEED mood lighting.

The mini can lights in the kitchen are LEDs wired off the 12 volt line. I used the auto 1157 (dual intensity, so I could have a 'dimmer' effect) because they came in 5 different colors ... the 3157 didn't come in Christmas green at the time. The bulbs are a third to a fourth the cost of the screw in AC type . My baffle, trim-ring and bulb was less than 15 bucks and didn't have to run the more expensive wire.

You can buy LED bare bulbs in bulk really cheap. Drill holes every 6 inches in crown molding, add a controller and creative wiring, and have a pretty killer game room. You can do all kinds of things with them ... you just have to use a little creativity.

I'm not sure what you meant by savings going down into the noise........ I haven't done a heat profile study. But they cost less/lumen and generate less heat/lumen to have to cool. IE ... saving on Air Conditioning in warmer climates, like kitchens ;o)

"I'm not sure what you meant by savings going down into the noise"

Was he (maybe) referring to the loss of localized heating in winter, as an offset to the concomitantly greater (in theory, anyway) heating needed, in order to maintain the same temperature in the home?

I haven't done any heat budgets either, and it makes sense that, over a year (when both air-cooling and heating can be calculated as an annual total) LED's will have net-zero effect, but I've often wondered how much more heat I'll need in my home to offset the incandescent lights I use now, when I switch to LEDs, and winter comes on.

Damn little! I have read that at most 15% of the heat released is credited as it is near the ceiling heating useless space.

Lighting is maybe 10% of a typical homes electrical consumption - not a big deal anyway.

Another 5 to 10 years and then LEDs will most likely amount to something.

Yeah. To both your and one2PlayWitt's answers, I'm inclined to agree. If you use a LOT of 100w incandescents, and leave them on for long periods, I think it could be significant, since the equivalent (roughly) at rest human body heat source is a 100w incandescent bulb, it seemed a thought worth entertaining.

OTOH, we have large ceiling fans in every room in the house (except the kitchen, where my wife wanted me to use that space for light fixtures. She likes a BRIGHT kitchen!), we distribute the heat (noticeably, you can feel the temp change when they come on) that normally rises to the ceiling, to use it down nearer where we live. That certainly improves heating efficiency. And the lack of THAT heat nearer the ceiling MIGHT give us a little less to work with in winter. We'll see.

Since we use gas heat exclusively, our biggest budget item (this year especially, with the record summer heat in Northern Virginia, USA) has been the electricity for the A/C. But since its heat exchanger is outside, in the backyard, it doesn't ADD heat load. (If it did, I guess I'd be talking to the warranty folks, now, wouldn't I? ), so using LEDs makes sense in the savings of watt-hours, but doesn't seem like it would make a lot of heat load difference.

Oh, well. Win what you can. And don't grouse about the small greedy stuff.

Gas heating is much, much more efficient than electric. If you are limited to electric heating, zonal radiant floor heating is the way to go.[p]

Depending on your climate zone.[p]

[p]

I live in the red zone. I used the heater 2 weeks last year (gas and water-solar). I used HVAC 80+% of the rest of the year. For me it is all about getting rid of heat. In another zone, however, heat may be a benefit in cost/calorie ... though I doubt it.

My apologies for using an electrical engineering expression "down in the noise" meaning the signal of interest is so small you can't distinguish it from the noise.

Essentially, what I meant to convey was that the savings (LED vs. CFL) would be so small, you would hardly see any change in your electric bill because the large consumers like refrigeration, AC, and dryer usage drowns out the other loads.

I hope this clarifies my admittedly obtuse statement.

OK ... I gotcha ... I agree ... for the average Joe it won't be worth LEDs greater expense for a few years ... and early adopters of CFL should just hang on to what they got.

Business and schools might see a return sooner than later.

It may make a difference for off- the-grid'ers in terms of what they have to spend in storage or production (from personal experience).

But in climates like Alaska ... in the winter, they don't need AC or refrigeration ... too bad the solar is so poor at that time too. And they would go belly up if they had to use electric heat. So LED's might be a very good option in that case ... so many being off-the-grid.

Off-the-gird, absolutely. I'm looking to replace my incandescents in my travel trailer with LED's for that exact reason. I want to extend the time I can remain on the "house batteries" when we are "dry camping". The problem is finding an LED replacement that is a direct replacement for the spade style lamp base that have the good illumination without the directionality typical of LED's.