This summer is off to a hot and dry start. Blasting those air conditioning units is a definite must in order to survive the scorching temperatures this summer has provided. Finding ways to cut down on the electric bill is always a popular topic, but with record breaking heat throughout the nation and air conditioning units constantly running, now is the time for some solutions.
LED light bulbs are already extremely energy efficient and lower electric bills solely by using them. For example, a forty watt incandescent bulb will use forty watts per hour to illuminate, whereas a LED bulb of equivalent illumination only uses five or seven watts. Installing LED light bulbs not only cuts down on electricity costs because they require less power to operate, but they also reduce heat given off while operating when compared to incandescent counterparts.
If a home or building is outfitted with incandescent light bulbs, it will only add to the amount of heat emitted indoors. Light emitting diode (LED) bulbs operate differently than incandescent light bulbs in such a way that they emit significantly less heat, making for a cooler atmosphere. According to Novative Media, LED light bulbs use 80 percent of their energy to produce light, whereas an incandescent light bulb only uses 20 percent of their energy to illuminate. The other 80 percent of the energy from incandescent bulbs is transferred into heat energy, emitting unnecessary temperature and making them difficult to handle without getting severely burned.
The heat emitted from light bulbs is measured in BTUs (British thermal units). A BTU is the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. This measurement is the standard measurement used to state the amount of energy that a fuel has as well as the amount of output of any heat generating device. All combustible materials have a BTU rating. An incandescent light bulb provides 85 BTUs per hour, whereas a LED light bulb only provides 3 BTUs per hour.
Additionally, EnergyCircle conducted an experiment to measure the temperature of various types of light bulbs. They found that a halogen bulb, which is a type of incandescent bulb, operated at 327 degrees Fahrenheit. A LED light bulb operated at only 107 degrees Fahrenheit. LED bulbs contain an interior heat dissipating system making them cooler to touch and contributing to the emission of less heat energy. Because they do not emit as much heat as an incandescent bulb, the inside of a home will not be as warm. Although this may seem like a small step towards energy savings, when replacing all incandescents with LED's, this can help keep temperatures down in the house and ease the burden on air conditioning units.
Read more about energy-efficient lighting.
lit with LED lighting for 6 yrs - my typical monthly electric bill is around
$45 - dollars - in the summer it jumps all the way up to $58 or so
and the number is for a family of 4 !!!
It's all about the logical use of energy at our home - we don't use any
incandescent not in our refrigerator, nor in any lamp or light fixture.
We greatly benefit from the lack of waste heat - we don't warm up
areas we want to keep at cool temperatures - Logical energy use.
I highly recommend it!