At this point, most people have heard about how bad incandescent light bulbs are, and have been told that it will save them money if they buy CFL’s or LED’s. The issue here is that people don’t have facts cited from anywhere…along with the fact that CFL’s and LED’s are significantly more expensive up front. So let’s delve into these three types of light bulbs, and see which are most beneficial to you to buy for your own house using the government’s energy site (energy.gov/energysaver):

• Incandescent bulb:

This is what most people picture when thinking of light bulbs. The convenient part about this bulb is the cheap initial cost, and that it supplies light immediately – with no warm-up time. These have been updated to be more efficient, as original incandescent bulbs are not even available anymore. From what I found at the store, they were called “eco incandescent,” and were considered 28% more efficient than the old type. The two huge drawbacks for this bulb are its short life (~1,000 hours) and the fact that a lot of the electricity used turns into heat instead of light. From my local Home Depot, you can buy a pack of 4 for $5.97.

• Compact Fluorescent light

CFL’s are a great bulb in areas where they will be left on for extended periods of time. In fact, in these areas, they use about one-third of the energy of the incandescent bulbs. On top of this, they last around 10,000 hours (much longer than incandescent bulbs). There are two main drawbacks to these bulbs: they cost more at the store, and because of a tiny amount of mercury, they should be recycled as to not be hazardous to the environment. These are available at Home Depot for $8.97.

• Light-emitting diode

LED’s are the newest of these three types of light bulbs. They do a great job where CFL’s are lacking in working well even when only turned on for a short period of time. LED’s last around 25,000 hours, and use about one-fourth the energy of incandescent bulbs (mostly coming from the fact that the bulb does not emit much heat). The biggest drawbacks of LED’s are again, the up-front cost, and also, the fact that this is a rather new technology, so there may not be the type of bulb you are looking for yet. I can get these from my local Home Depot for $10.97.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (eia.gov), the average cost for electricity in the U.S. is 12.88¢/kwh in 2017. The incandescent (even the “eco”) uses 53 watts, the CFL uses 18 watts, and the LED uses 14. You can look in the table below for how much it would cost for 25,000 hours of each type of bulb:

[wptg_comparison_table id="1"]

It seems pretty clear from this that LED’s are certainly the superior bulb. Now take this knowledge and go save some money while also saving the environment by requiring less energy.