Using LED Light Bulbs in your Home: Replacing your old lights with LEDs

Thanks to improvements in technology, it is becoming easier and more practical to replace older light bulbs with LED bulbs in homes and residences. However, many households still do not use LED lighting for a number of reasons.

The majority of homes use a mix of incandescent, CFL and halogen lights. While there are some advantages to using these types of lights, there are also a number ways that LED lights offer some key advantages.

Here are a few of those advantages and some tips for using LED lighting in your home.

LED Light Bulbs Use Less Electricity

In general, each LED light bulb you install will use less electricity than the CFL or incandescent bulb that it is replacing. How much less? Typically, for each hour that an LED light is on, it uses about half the electricity of a comparable CFL light bulb, depending on the bulb. If you're replacing old incandescent bulbs, you'll find that the average LED light uses about one tenth of the electricity of these bulbs.

LED Light Bulbs Last Longer

One major benefit of LED light bulbs is that they last for much longer than most CFL, halogen and incandescent bulbs. This means that you won't need to replace them nearly as often. In fact, many high-quality LED bulbs can last between ten and twenty years! This not only eliminates the stress and annoyance of replacing your light bulbs frequently, but it also means that you'll save money over time.

And this brings us to our third point...

LED Bulbs Save You Money Over Time

LED light bulbs are more expensive to purchase than the incandescent and CFL light bulbs that they replace. However, the costs of LED light bulbs is decreasing quickly. They are already significantly less expensive than they were just a few years ago.

In addition, since they use less electricity and because they have a significantly longer lifespan than the majority of CFL and incandescent light bulbs, you'll make up your costs over time and eventually find yourself saving money when you choose LED light bulbs over incandescent or CFL light bulbs. Plus, you'll save yourself trips to the store to buy replacements for burned out bulbs.

Things to Consider when Buying LED Light Bulbs for your Home

There are a few things to consider when you are buying LED light bulbs for your home:

• Not all LEDs are created equal. In general, it's a good idea to look for the Energy Star label when buying light bulbs.
• Pay attention to lumens. Unlike with incandescent bulbs, there isn't really a consistent correlation between wattage and light output with LED lights. To figure out how bright your lights will be, you'll need to look at the number of lumens. In general, an LED bulb that gives off 800 lumens of light is comparable to an old 60 watt incandescent light bulb.
• Colour temperature is important. Colour temperature is the colour given off by the light. It is measured in Kelvin. Higher colour temperatures are cooler and give off a light that is more blue. Lower colour temperatures are warmer and give off a light that is more yellow. 2700K LED bulbs are relatively comparable to an incandescent bulb. However, you may want to consider different colour temperatures depending on your preference and application. This variety is another benefit of LED lights.

If you have any questions about using LED light bulbs in your home, please feel free to contact us today . We are always more than happy to help out in any way we can.