I was browsing around Chinese web sites the other day and came upon some LED light bulbs. I like LED light bulbs and am waiting for the day when all my CFLs will be replaced by (cheap) LED bulbs. I already use a few, but their main problem is that they are expensive, have limited luminosity and have a narrow beam. Of course the more you pay, the better they are and I was looking at a couple that were $15-$18 for 60W equivalents.

In the end, I didn’t buy any for two reasons. The first was that $15-$18 isn’t that cheap. If you buy at a North American brick & mortar store, an LED bulb will cost over $20, so buying from China is cheaper; but they are not cheap compared with CFLs which are only a couple of bucks each.

The second reason was because those 60W-equivalent LED bulbs weren’t actually that much better than CFL bulbs. 60W-equivalent CFL bulbs are rated at 13W and these LED bulbs were rated at 7W. The change to CFLs gave a much bigger bang for the buck than this change would have. Plus, while LEDs are supposed to last much longer than CFLs; I haven’t needed to change my CFLs yet either, so the longevity is inconsequential.

So I didn’t upgrade. I “saved” but didn’t save a little bit more energy.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: aroundthehouse, environment, lightbulbs