Back in January I shared some interesting facts about LED light bulbs and I took you shopping with me at The Home Depot as we replaced all of the fixtures on the first level of our home with LEDs. I’d hoped to wow you by reporting dramatic savings on my electric bill, but sadly our bill is actually slightly higher year over year. BUT I have some good theories on why this is the case which I’ll share in a moment.
The installation process was easy as can be — we just unscrewed all of our old CFL bulbs and screwed in the new LED light bulbs. Note that we chose not to discard our CFL bulbs since they’re all still in good working condition. Instead we boxed them up and put them in the crawl space in the basement so that we can take our new LED light bulbs with us when we move. However, if have CFL bulbs that you need to dispose of, I’d encourage you to read the information here on CFL cleanup and disposal.
What immediately struck me after replacing all of the bulbs was the difference in the quality of light. It’s not necessarily a good or bad difference — it’s just brighter and, well, different. I found it most noticeable in the bathroom where the light is forced out of the bulbs rather than being dispersed evenly from the entire bulb because of the way the bulbs are constructed. You can see in the image above that only the forward half of the bulb is giving off light. However, I quickly got used to this within a few days and now it’s not even noticeable to me.
So I mentioned that our electric bill is actually up slightly year over year when I had anticipated it going down based on my research. I have a few theories about why this is occurring:
- First, we already had CFL bulbs installed throughout the entire house courtesy of a great deal at Target a few years ago. Because our electric usage from lighting was already incredibly low, we’re not seeing a noticeable decrease from switching to LEDs. We’ll still see savings in the long run; however, they will come from the fact that we won’t have to replace the bulbs for many, many years to come. I’m also glad to not have to worry about the complications of cleaning up the mercury if a CFL bulb should break.
- Second, we also already have many electricity-saving measures installed in the house. Our kitchen light is on an automatic switch so it shuts off automatically after no movement has been sensed for five minutes. We also have a device that monitors our electric usage constantly so we can see how high our load is. And we tend to use our large appliances like our washer and dryer and dishwasher in the evening and early mornings outside of the peak load times which have a higher cost.
- Finally, as our children get older we’re naturally using more electricity as they start using more technology and such throughout the day, taking more frequent showers instead of baths, and increasing our laundry with sports involvement.
I found it interesting to note that my father’s electric bill was roughly the same as ours. We have houses of similar size; however, he has a two-person household with a regular work schedule outside of the home. In contrast, we have a seven-person household where there are nearly constantly members home since I work from home and my husband is still unemployed.
Overall, I’m impressed with the LED light bulbs and I think they definitely have an integral part in saving on our electricity. I just believe that our savings will take more time to become apparent than a household that was not already somewhat frugal with their electric usage.
Thanks for following along with me as I gave this new technology a try, and I’ve got one more $50 The Home Depot gift card to give away!
To enter: Just tell me — have you given LED light bulbs a try yet? Or after reading more about them, are they something you’ll consider when making your next light bulb replacement?
This giveaway will close at 3:00pm EST on 3/3/11.
The Home Depot works with bloggers such as myself to conduct product reviews. They do not tell bloggers what to say about their products or how to say it. THD fundamentally believes that people should be free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. The Home Depot often provides product – free of charge – to bloggers for review as they did for this post. The Home Depot’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.
Voneal Friess
We have tried the light bulbs and are overly impressed. We are older and live on a fixed income and have found they last a lot longer than the regular bulbs and our light bill has been lowered so I appreciate them very much. Thanks
Jen Allen
I will try them the next time I am shopping for lightbulbs. It is only in the past few years that they have a good variety.
I have tried them with Christmas lights and love that I am not overheating my dry tree.
Nikki
We haven’t tried them yet, but I’m definitely interested!
JAMES ALLEN
We have all CFLs. I have not tried LCDs because of the price.
Crissy S.
We haven’t tried LED’s yet, but I would be open to it once we use it up our existing CFL’s.
Debby
I have not tried but would love to. I am always looking for ways to save money.
Pam C
Haven’t used yet, but will probably be switching in the very near future. One dead bulb at the time.
Michelle L
We just bought Christmas ones on sale, but haven’t used them yet. I want to try LED since our high usage CFL did burn out sooner than we would expect. We moved into a home with regular bulbs so I would hope when replace with LED we will see a cost reduction.
Sandi B
We recently bought a house and remodled it and the lights that came with the kitchen recess lighting were LED. We put CFL in most of the lighting but when these need to be replaced it will definitely be LED lightbulbs for us!
jen b
Nope, haven’t tried them yet, however I was shocked to learn that CFL’s contain mercury! We have these throughout our house (also thanks to good deals in the past) and have even broken one and tossed it in the trash, not aware of the mercury!!!
Amy
I haven’t tried the LED but have tried the CFLs but stopped using them once I found out there was mercury in them and couldn’t dispose of them normally. I have a four year old and don’t want any mercury in the house no matter how much it can save me.
Lina
I haven’t tried them yet, but I’d be willing too.
Donni
Nope, haven’t tried yet. Ditto on the comment regarding the mercury in the CFL’s. I broke one and tossed it in the trash-whoops. Would like to switch to LEDs but pricey.
Clara Reames
We have used them in an outdoor light. We placed them in the light over a year ago, Two are still burning and one is out. One thing I wonder about, is how long will you have to use the bulbs to offset the price. I do not change the old bulbs very often and they are much cheaper to buy and really do not cost that much to use. We see no benefits ot the new bulbs as far as cutting prices of electricity. Maybe the new one will cost a few cents less to operate but by the time you pay the high price {that is a good much higher} I just do not think it will be cheaper. I bought a stockpile of the older bulbs as they are no longer made.
Karen
No, I have not tried LED lights yet, but thank you for the information. I would like to try them.
Kathy Linklater
I haven’t tried LED. I did, however, replace all regular bulbs with CFLs. I’ll switch to LEDs when the price goes down–a lot.
Peggy
I haven’t tried the LED lights yet inside the house, but we made the switch with our outdoor Christmas lights this year. I do like the idea that you don’t have the mercury concerns that exist with using the current CFL bulbs.
Eve
No I haven’t tried LED lights. But I would like to try them as them. Sounds like something that would help with the bills.
Bonnie Weller
I have not tried LED lights but would most definitely give them a try!
lori
I haven’t tried them yet but my hubby and I have discussed switching our bulbs out in the near future.
Ray N.
We haven’t tried them here, but they sound very interesting and we are definately going to try them soon.
Margaret Blassingame
No I have not tried them. I really haven’t heard too much about them. No I don’t live in a whole in the wall. Just never heard about household use. Hust flashlights and christmas tree light. I would try them after I do more research on them.
Leslie W.
I have not tried them yet ut after reading your review I’m very curious to try them myself.
Jenni
I have not tried them yet but they are a very intriguing idea to me.
Tammy Lacer
Yes I have used LED lightbulbs and we absolutely love them. We replaced all of our old Christmas lights to LED Christmas lights over the past 2 years .
Sheila
No, I haven’t tried them yet, but I am hoping to win this gift card to get me started on replacing old bulbs.
Virginia
No I have not tried them yet. Maybe when they come down in price, I will.
tiffany sexton
No I haven’t tried them yet. I want to cut down on costs but HATE – yes,that a strong word – the CFL so I am worried about these. I replaced all the old school lights in my house b/c I like softer lights. Are they softer than the CFL( that r 4ever to warm up by the way!)
M J Knudsen
I tried some Christmas lights – they are much whiter looking – have not tried any indoors.
JD Northwest
We’ve tried it on two lamps in the front room. We were hoping for a brighter affect and that is what we got. We’ll slowly replace the rest as we go.