Many homeowners who want to save on energy costs are upgrading to LED lightbulbs. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode which is a semiconductor source that produces light when an electrical current passes through it. Back in 2014 when incandescent lightbulbs were being phased out, homeowners were encouraged to switch to the more energy efficient CFL bulb. Five years later, LED lightbulbs have become the more popular choice because they are even more energy efficient than the CFL lightbulbs. CFL lightbulbs use 35% less energy than the incandescent lightbulbs. LED lightbulbs, however, use 75% less energy than the incandescent lightbulbs.
Incandescent Bulbs: 90% of the energy used is to produce heat. Average Life Span is 1,200 hours.
CFL Bulbs: 30% of the energy used is to produce heat. Average Life Span is 8,000 hours.
LED Bulbs: 0% or very little of the energy used is wasted to produce heat. Average Life Span is 25,000 hours.
Below are some advantages and disadvantages of LED lightbulbs compared to CFL lightbulbs.
Advantages of LED Lightbulbs
LED bulbs last about 3 times longer than CFL which means they have a very long lifespan and less maintenance and replacement costs.
They turn on fully right away. CFL bulbs take a few seconds to warm up and fully turn on.
LEDs use less wattage and therefore less energy.
They can be compact in size and are available for most applications.
The bulbs are more durable and resistant to breakage.
They are not affected by constant turning on/off like other bulbs.
They are dimmable.
There is no mercury or lead in LED lightbulbs.
They don’t produce heat so the bulb stays cool to the touch.
Rapidly developing technology.
Disadvantages of LED Lightbulbs
It is difficult to find many disadvantages to the LED technology other than.
They can be more expensive than other bulbs, although price has continued to drop significantly.
In hot environments, the life span can decrease, ie sauna, steam room or enclosed fixtures.