WTF is up with the pricing of energy efficient lightbulbs ?

[Due]

So I'm looking to replace my dimmable light bulbs with some energy efficient light bulbs. Already replace the regular ones a while back.. wasn't too happy buying 30+ light bulbs at about 3,- a piece but figured it was an investment and I would earn it back

The new led ones looks great but after I checked them out it lowes I see they range from about 15,-to 50,- a PIECE.... wtf is wrong with this picture... how does this endorse an energy efficient envirement... I need about 20 of them to replace all the dimmers... I'm sure the cheapest ones suck too.....

Anyone gone all green? Is it really worth it? Spending 500 on lightbulbs seems ridicolous to me LOL

[RyuLion]

Vegas!!!! FTW!!!!!!

[kane]

How long do the LED ones last?

I was like you when I changed all my bulbs to florescent a few years ago, but I have actually saved money. Before then I went through about 2-3 bulbs per month. In the two years since I changed them out I have only replaced one of the florescent bulbs.

If the LED bulbs last like 5-6 years or longer they could be worth the money.

[onwebcam]

Going green is all your green going into someone else's pocket.

[Konda]

http://eartheasy.com/live_led_bulbs_comparison.html

Check this, over time it will save you $1000s, not only on electricity costs, you also don't have to replace them as they last a lifetime

[baddog]

Just an FYI: Make sure they work as dimmable. The standard ones will go out in a week.

[Brent 3dSexCash]

Dimmable cfls/leds/hybrids are so much more expensive

[GFED]

those fucking bulbs say they're suppose to last for 10 years but I usually have to replace them within a year.

[NaughtyVisions]

Originally Posted by GFED

those fucking bulbs say they're suppose to last for 10 years but I usually have to replace them within a year.

I bought a couple of those new ones the same time I bought some good old fashioned bulbs. The fucking new ones burnt out before the old ones. And cost twice as much.

[tripxsteve]

Originally Posted by baddog

Just an FYI: Make sure they work as dimmable. The standard ones will go out in a week.

Yea, and I also know someone who almost caught their house on fire because of them. Dimming the standard ones is dangerous. If they don't cause a problem they will definitely blow in short time.

[tripxsteve]

Originally Posted by NaughtyVisions

I bought a couple of those new ones the same time I bought some good old fashioned bulbs. The fucking new ones burnt out before the old ones. And cost twice as much.

A light bulb is a light bulb. Screw going green. Buy the shit that has worked for ages now and are cheap as fuck!

[raymor]

Originally Posted by GFED

those fucking bulbs say they're suppose to last for 10 years but I usually have to replace them within a year.

That's been my experience as well.

[raymor]

Originally Posted by tripxsteve

A light bulb is a light bulb. Screw going green. Buy the shit that has worked for ages now and are cheap as fuck!

Get them while you can, if you might ever need one, because technically they are illegal now. The republicans managed to remove funding to actually enforce the ban until October, so they can't raid your garage sale looking for standard bulbs for a few months, but they are banned as of this month.

When you have to buy CFLs, remember they contain mercury, so they are hazardous waste. Take them to a hazardous waste collection center rather than putting them in the trash can. When one breaks, ventilate the room and leave the area until the mercury vapor has dissipated.

[BIGTYMER]

I don't like them. I've tried a few different brands. I'm back to using regular light bulbs. I just like the color and intensity better.

[stonehammer]

its green cause then the poor have to use candles....

[Mr Pheer]

If you buy LED bulbs, buy the ones have advertise a higher lumen value than you are currently using, because I've noticed that they are not as bright as they advertise.

[raymor]

Originally Posted by Mr Pheer

If you buy LED bulbs, buy the ones have advertise a higher lumen value than you are currently using, because I've noticed that they are not as bright as they advertise.

Would you say that you can see a difference if you point a lamp in a different direction, unlike standard bulbs? I know that the individual LED elements are highly directional, so most of the light from each led goes in one direction rather than lighting the whole room.

[Paul&John]

Originally Posted by GFED

those fucking bulbs say they're suppose to last for 10 years but I usually have to replace them within a year.

Hehe good that we have a mandatory 2 year warranty for everything here in EU

btw LED bulbs should work for at least 5-10years (depending on the manufacturer). there is a magazine in czech republic which tests everything from microwaves till lightbulbs (they have no advertising in the magazine - so no advertising revenue, they make the money only from the subscribers) and the best one according to them is: Philips MyAmbiance 12-60W A60 DIMM 1PP/6 (however not sure if the same version is available in the USA). btw the expected life for this one is 25years.. so it should work for 10 years at least :D

[Mr Pheer]

Originally Posted by raymor

Would you say that you can see a difference if you point a lamp in a different direction, unlike standard bulbs? I know that the individual LED elements are highly directional, so most of the light from each led goes in one direction rather than lighting the whole room.

The ones that I have in my master bathroom came from Costco, and they seem to put out light evenly in all directions. But they are absolutely not as bright as the CFL bulbs I had before even though they state the same lumen value on the package.

[margarita]

Try halogen, it's more efficient than classic bulbs and does not contain mercury
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80175920/

[facialfreak]

avoid the "pigtail" CF light bulbs AT ALL COSTS!!!

My wife has cluster headaches .... and once we got rid of all the "energy-efficient/government-endorsed" bulbs (switched them out for LEDs) .... her headaches went from 1-2 a week to now 1 maybe every 4-5 months!!

[BIGTYMER]

Originally Posted by facialfreak

avoid the "pigtail" CF light bulbs AT ALL COSTS!!!

My wife has cluster headaches .... and once we got rid of all the "energy-efficient/government-endorsed" bulbs (switched them out for LEDs) .... her headaches went from 1-2 a week to now 1 maybe every 4-5 months!!

Damn that EMF meter jumped!

[Paul&John]

Originally Posted by facialfreak

avoid the "pigtail" CF light bulbs AT ALL COSTS!!!

My wife has cluster headaches .... and once we got rid of all the "energy-efficient/government-endorsed" bulbs (switched them out for LEDs) .... her headaches went from 1-2 a week to now 1 maybe every 4-5 months!!

HM interesting video

[u-Bob]

Originally Posted by facialfreak

avoid the "pigtail" CF light bulbs AT ALL COSTS!!!

My wife has cluster headaches .... and once we got rid of all the "energy-efficient/government-endorsed" bulbs (switched them out for LEDs) .... her headaches went from 1-2 a week to now 1 maybe every 4-5 months!!

An ex-colleague of mine actually stocked up on "good old fashioned light bulbs" a couple of years ago when they started banning them and pushing the new environment friendly type of bulbs because those new bulbs gave him constant headaches. He calculated how many he'd need for the rest of his life and now has got like 25+ big boxes filled with light bulbs in his attic.

[fuzebox]

Originally Posted by Due

wtf is wrong with this picture... how does this endorse an energy efficient envirement...

You've just discovered the reality about "going green"... See solar panels and hybrid cars.

[bronco67]

I switched over a long time ago. I haven't replaced one yet, my electricity bill is lower(but I also replaced appliances). I think its worth it.

[2MuchMark]

I just started buying LED lights to replace the Halogen lights over my desk. They are just as brought (Equivalent to 50 watts), run nice and cool, and use 10% of what the Halogen's use. I love them.

They normally sell for about $39 each but the store near me had them on sale at $19 each so I bought a bunch. Even better, they had a good choice of colours from "cool white" to "warm white" (which has a tinge of yellow in it). I preferred the cool white but went for the warm white anyway. They are great.

Pigtail CF lights are fucking awful. The light is ugly (narrow color spectrum), they buzz, they aren't bright enough, they don't last as long as they should. The lights themselves don't get hot but the transformers inside them sure do and it contains mercury. It's STUPID technology.

LED's compete well with standard light bulbs but CF don't come close.

[Operator]

I like candles and the sun

[woj]

Originally Posted by Konda

http://eartheasy.com/live_led_bulbs_comparison.html

Check this, over time it will save you $1000s, not only on electricity costs, you also don't have to replace them as they last a lifetime

that's a pretty naive way of comparing costs...

the author overlooks one minor detail that 50,000 hours assuming lets say 8 hours per day the bulb is lit, is 17 years !!! (and that's a pretty generous assumption, most likely average light bulb is probably lit half that)

and cost of electricity is actually closer to 10 cents per kwh, not 20 that was used in the calculations, at least that's what it is here in Illinois...

so you invest 10x more upfront to save 40% ($60 saving / $160) over 17 years...

I can't really be bothered to calculate it out, but my guess is that you would be better off just buying cheaper bulbs and investing the difference elsewhere...

[midnightio]

Interesting thread. I watched this 52min video 'The Light-bulb Conspiracy' 2 days ago on a flight back from Hong Kong. I had NO idea that there was a concerted effort from the 1920s-30s to control the lifespan of a light-bulb, globally!

A global organization that shared technology and patents to control the lifespan of light-bulbs -- working to bring it down to a 1000-hour lifespan.

It then jumps into talking about 'planned obsolescence' -- starting with the ink jet printer which starts and ends the video.

I never knew...

If someone with a higher post count can kindly repost the link:

www <dot> youtube <dot> com/watch?v=I5DCwN28y8o

[raymor]

Originally Posted by woj

that's a pretty naive way of comparing costs...

the author overlooks one minor detail that 50,000 hours assuming lets say 8 hours per day the bulb is lit, is 17 years !!! (and that's a pretty generous assumption, most likely average light bulb is probably lit half that)

and cost of electricity is actually closer to 10 cents per kwh, not 20 that was used in the calculations, at least that's what it is here in Illinois...

so you invest 10x more upfront to save 40% ($60 saving / $160) over 17 years...

I can't really be bothered to calculate it out, but my guess is that you would be better off just buying cheaper bulbs and investing the difference elsewhere...

A quickie way of estimating investment growth is that normally an investment will double about every seven years. Yes, the last three years have sucked, but historically doubling every seven years is about right.

So we take our $2,400 we're spending on LEDs and put in in any decent no-load mutual fund. In 17 years we'll have about $14,000, plus or minus an Obama.


According to the math in the article, IF all your your lights are on for eights hours a day, and if a bulb really lasts seventeen years, and if you're paying double the going rate for electricity, LED it would save you $14,000. Investing would give you $14,000. So that breaks even if all of your lights are on all day.

Looking around my house, I have TWO lightbulbs on, not every light in the house. Counting the four bulbs in each bathroom, the ones in the closets, the one in the attic, etc, I probably have about 30 bulbs, but only two on. Let's say I average two bulbs at a time for fifteen hours a day. That's thirty bulb hours per day. Divide that by thirty bulbs and that's an average of one hour hour per day per bulb.

The author said spending $2,400 would save me $14,000 at 8 hours per day. Since the average bulb is on only one hour, we divide the savings by eight.
That's $1,750 saved on the electric bill by spending $2400. So LEDs put us in hole by $650.

Investing the money would have earned us $1,400. The investment is a better choice by $2,050. In other words, once you include tbe opportunity cost, with LEDs you lose $2050.

If the author wanted to promote LED and also have a bit of intellectual honesty, he would have said that in your desk lamp or any light that DOES run for eight hours a day, LEDs won't cost you much in the long run. In the attic or closet, you're just throwing away $35 if you buy LED. The difference in your electric bill will be about two cents after you spend $35 per bulb.

[raymor]

Btw the author of the article also thoroughly misunderstands the MTBF failure rating for the LED. It's NOT the expected life span. The MTBF of an LED bulb is a little less than half of the MTBF of a typical hard drive. Who here thinks your hard drives will all last 57 years? Then don't expect your LEDs to last 25 years, because that's the calculation he's making. True lifespan of an LED unit is closer to two to three years, so they cost a little over $10 / year each.

[Alex69]

just buy them here dealextreme.com

[BIGTYMER]

Originally Posted by midnightio

Interesting thread. I watched this 52min video 'The Light-bulb Conspiracy' 2 days ago on a flight back from Hong Kong. I had NO idea that there was a concerted effort from the 1920s-30s to control the lifespan of a light-bulb, globally!

A global organization that shared technology and patents to control the lifespan of light-bulbs -- working to bring it down to a 1000-hour lifespan.

It then jumps into talking about 'planned obsolescence' -- starting with the ink jet printer which starts and ends the video.

I never knew...

If someone with a higher post count can kindly repost the link:

www <dot> youtube <dot> com/watch?v=I5DCwN28y8o

Here you go.

[PR_Glen]

i just buy the cheap power saver ones from meijer... they are a buck a piece and do the job fine.. hehe

had them for almost 2 years now and haven't needed to replace any yet.