Doing your part for the environment can be as simple as changing a light bulb.
by Jeana Malcolm
Lighting represents twenty percent of energy costs in a typical home, so choosing the right kind of lighting can make a big impact for both the environment and your pocketbook. If your home is full of traditional incandescent bulbs, consider switching all of them out for some of the newer, more energy efficient types of light bulbs, such as compact fluorescent, light emitting diode and halogen bulbs. Here's a comparison of each type of bulb to help you choose which types of bulbs you want to use in yor home, and where:
Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs): These are great general-purpose bulbs for your home, and they come in a variety of strengths and colors; some can even be used for 3-way or dimmable lighting (just be sure these usages are specified on the package). These bulbs use a smaller wattage to produce equivalent brightness, measured in lumens, to incandescent bulbs. For example, a 13-watt CFL bulb produces 800 lumens, the same as a 60-watt incandescent. In addition to using much less energy to produce the same light, CFLs also have a significantly longer lifespan, some of them lasting up to 15,000 hours compared to a mere thousand hours in an incandescent bulb. To ensure that your CFLs last as long as possible, be sure to install them only in open fixtures and in locations where lights will be turned on fairly often and for longer chunks of time (hall and closet lights, for example, are not the best places for CFLs as they are used for infrequent, short bursts, which diminishes a CFL's lifespan). And finally, when your CFL finally does burn out, it is important to recycle it, as these bulbs contain small amounts of mercury and should not be disposed of in landfills. Visit this link to find your nearest CFL recycling drop-off.
Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs): Another great general-use bulb, a well-designed LED can be significantly better in both efficiency and lifespan than even a CFL. An LED producing 800 lumens would use only 6-8 watts and can last up to 25,000 hours, or about 12 years! As with CFLs, you can purchase LEDs to be compatible with 3-way and dimmable lighting. Additionally, these bulbs are not affected by short on-off bursts as CFLs are, so they can be used just about anywhere, and do not contain any mercury. Not all LEDs are created equal, however, so look for an Energy Star label on the packaging to ensure the maximum efficiency and lifespan of your bulbs. The only real downside to these bulbs is the up-front cost, ranging from $20-$50 per bulb. But the long-term energy savings are significant.
Halogen Bulbs: If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive bulb that's more efficient than an incandescent but you don't want to use a CFL for whatever reason (such as for use in a closet or if you simply want to avoid mercury), then halogens may be the right choice for you. An 800-lumen halogen bulb will use about 40 watts and will last around 3000 hours, or 3 times as long as a traditional incandescent bulb.
In sum, here's a handy chart comparing energy usage, lifespan, and cost of all of these different bulbs, based on 800 lumens, or a standard 60-watt incandescent bulb:
|
|
Incandescent
|
CFL
|
LED
|
Halogen
|
|
Lumens
|
800
|
800
|
800
|
800
|
|
Watts
|
60
|
13-15
|
6-8
|
40
|
|
Lifespan (Hours)
|
Up
to 1,000
|
Up
to 15,000
|
Up
to 25,000
|
Up
to 3,000
|
|
Cost per Bulb
|
$0.25-2
|
$2-5
|
$20-50
|
$5-10
|
Sources:
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