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There are still doubts whether LED bulbs are they really worth it? Think about it.
In 2015, when only 6.7% of residential lighting installations had LED bulbs, the average lighting installation requires 38 watts of electricity. Five years later, in 2020. 48% of residential lighting installations are with LED bulbs. Average power has almost halved to less than 22 watts, according to a new government report.
A difference of 16 watts doesn’t seem like much when you consider that the average American simply paid 15 cents per thousand watt hours in 2022. But multiply that by the dozens of lights you have in your home (I counted 22 in mine, and I love sitting in the dark) and it starts to add up to real savings.
It’s getting harder and harder to find new incandescent bulbs now. The Department of Energy introduced new efficiency standards in 2023, effectively excluding the sale of the least efficient bulbs. And new standards from DOE will require light bulbs to be even more efficient in the future.
With energy costs rising, we’re all looking to save money by using less electricity. LED bulbs have shown that they can take lighting costs from significant to practically negligible.
The rise of LED bulbs
The new government report, 2020 US Lighting Market Profile from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Energy, has a rich collection of statistics on energy consumption and the failure of lighting installations. It shows the rapid growth of LED bulbs over the last decade and how this has had a significant effect on how much energy we use to light our homes.
In 2015, the largest share of lighting fixtures for residential buildings was incandescent bulbs – 34.6%. They’ve dominated the lighting industry since replacing candles and oil lamps, but in 2015 they gave way to compact fluorescents, the spiral-looking things that are more efficient than incandescent bulbs (but less efficient than LEDs). In 2015, CFLs accounted for 33.2% of lights. LEDs make up only 6.7% of lights.
Things changed by 2020. LEDs became dominant at 47.6%. While CFLs held onto much of their share, around 24%, the incandescent era burned out quickly, at just 12.6%.
The reason why? LED bulbs are simply more energy efficient. And not a little – a lot.
How much more efficient are LED bulbs?
When shopping for light bulbs, the big number you see on the front of the box (maybe it’s 40 watts or 60 watts or so) is not the actual wattage of the bulb itself. Look closely and you’ll see that it actually says something like “40W replacement… 6.5W LED.” This means that while it produces the amount of light you’d expect from a 40-watt incandescent bulb, it actually uses about 16% of the energy an incandescent bulb would use to light your home.
The DOE report shows that the average residential LED light bulb consumed just 8.5 watts, compared to 56.1 watts for the average residential incandescent light bulb and 15.2 watts for the average residential compact fluorescent light bulb in 2020. LEDs offer the same amount lighting, but with much less power consumption.
In 2020, there were four times as many LED bulbs as incandescent bulbs in American homes. Yet incandescent bulbs consume nearly 50% more electricity at 21 terawatt hours compared to LEDs at 14.7 terawatt hours.
What to think about when shopping for LED bulbs
LED bulbs are a little different than incandescent bulbs, so you will have to look for different things. For example:
Note the lumens: The lumens of a bulb indicate how bright it will be. If you need a brighter bulb, choose higher lumens.
Consider the color: LED bulbs that come in “daylight” can be extremely bright, but they are also extremely common on store shelves. If you want a softer light, look out for “soft white” or other colors.
Not all LED bulbs are dimmable: You’ll need to pay close attention to the bulb you buy if you’re putting it in a dimmable fixture. Not all LEDs can be dimmed, so read the box carefully.
Other ways to save energy
Switching to LED bulbs is a great way to dramatically reduce your lighting energy use, but lighting is only one part of your home’s energy system, and it’s not a big one.
The biggest way to save energy is to address your home heating and cooling. This could be a large project, for example improving insulation or switching to a heat pump. But it can also mean being conscientious what temperature do you set the thermostat to to. And if you really hate getting a huge electricity bill, you can consider installing one solar panelswhich carry significant incentives to make them more affordable.
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