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Worth replacing energy saving bulbs with LED?

LED bulbs in deals now as low as £1/bulb

Currently have energy savings bulbs

Heard LED bulbs use about 10th of the energy, don't need to warm up, more robust and less fragile so breakages lower, breakages don't release mercury like energy savings bulbs?

Anyone done a calculation? Would I get back the £10-15 quid over time?
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Comments

  • TELLIT01
    TELLIT01 Posts: 17,484 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper PPI Party Pooper
    I currently use halogen bulb which use about 70% of the power of 'normal' bulbs. I have a stock of them and am really wondering the same thing. LEDs are now cheapish, so if I save 70% on my lighting costs I have to do some calculations to see how long it would take to make an actual saving.
  • LED bulbs in deals now as low as £1/bulb


    Not seen many that cheap, £2 each at Asda, equivalent of 60w-100w?
  • I wouldn't rush out to replace lamps before they fail but anything new, I would put in LEDs.
    Things that are differerent: draw & drawer, brought & bought, loose & lose, dose & does, payed & paid


  • chrisw
    chrisw Posts: 3,690 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Heard LED bulbs use about 10th of the energy

    LED bulbs use about 10th of the energy of normal incandescent bulbs, not compact fluorescents.

    LEDS do use about 40% less energy than compact fluorescents, but because the consumption is small, the cost saving isn't that great, probably in the order of £40 over 20 years.

    There is a good guide and detailed calculator for energy use here:-

    https://www.ledhut.co.uk/blog/save-money-by-switching-to-led-light-bulbs/

    Savings aside, LEDs do also have the other advantages you've mentioned as well as longevity, better colour rendition and a choice of colours.
  • chrisw wrote: »
    LED bulbs use about 10th of the energy of normal incandescent bulbs, not compact fluorescents.

    LEDS do use about 40% less energy than compact fluorescents, but because the consumption is small, the cost saving isn't that great, probably in the order of £40 over 20 years.

    There is a good guide and detailed calculator for energy use here:-

    https://www.ledhut.co.uk/blog/save-money-by-switching-to-led-light-bulbs/

    Savings aside, LEDs do also have the other advantages you've mentioned as well as longevity, better colour rendition and a choice of colours.

    Thanks, used the spreadsheet and per bulb would take about 2.5yrs to pay back

    Cost saving seems extremely minimal compared to CFL (9W vs 11W)

    Likely different compared to standard bulb (60W)
  • ComicGeek
    ComicGeek Posts: 1,619 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I wouldn't rush out to replace lamps before they fail but anything new, I would put in LEDs.

    This ^^^^

    I hate that the CFLs take so long to warm up - my wife would leave them on all day to get round this :mad: so I replaced them as soon as good LEDs became available
  • ComicGeek wrote: »
    This ^^^^

    I hate that the CFLs take so long to warm up - my wife would leave them on all day to get round this :mad: so I replaced them as soon as good LEDs became available
    I agree. I replaced all my CFL's and Kitchen Halogens for LED. At least with LED a 100w equivalent does appear to give out a similar amount of light to an incandescent bulb, unlike CFL.

    I know this is MSE, but I didn't consider the cost I just wanted rid of those awful CFL's :j
  • Mistral001
    Mistral001 Posts: 5,397 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    I have replaced my energy saving bulbs with LED's only when they fail.

    LED's have more advantages than just being more efficient. They do not have a time lag when you switch them on and, in my view, they give better light temperatures. So what I have done is move the old energy saving bulbs to places where they are not used much and use the LED's in places where I can get most use out of them.
  • Jackmydad
    Jackmydad Posts: 9,186 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Working out the savings is as simple as looking at the actual power. (Not the equivalent light output)
    Now that LEDs are reasonably priced and seem to be fairly reliable they're better in many ways than CFLs. Instant start, better colour temperature, more light for a given wattage.
    I've changed pretty well all mine just for those reasons.
  • In our old house we changed all of our halogen spot lights for LED. There was a noticeable drop in the electric bill. But we left the CFL's in the remaining lights.

    Our current new build came with LED lighting throughout which we much prefer.
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