Out with the Old, In with the New
- by David Neubert - updated on 4/11/2014
Spring Cleaning is an annual ritual that, love it or hate it, requires purging clutter in order to free up space for our newer and more timely possessions. Measuring exactly how much this cleansing process truly enhances our lives is hard to say, but we continue to do it because it makes us "feel better". However, when it comes to purging our old, inefficient light bulb types, and making way for new,energy-efficient replacements, there is a way to measure exactly how much this process will ultimately improve our livelihood. By using an Energy Savings Calculator, it's possible to correctly identify the amount of energy and money that can be saved by upgrading to CFLs and LED light bulbs.
Please refer to the example below, and note the information needed and the measurements you will arrive at through these calculations.
Fill in the following information:
- How many lamps you wish to upgrade
- Average Electricity Rate (data can be found here )
- Daily lamp usage
- Retail Price of the bulb
- Lamp Wattage (found on label)
- Approximate expected lamp lifespan (in hours – found on label)
This will calculate:
- Energy Savings over the lifespan
- Replacement Savings over the lifespan
- Upfront Cost to upgrade
- Lifetime Total Savings
- and Payback Period (how long it will take to retrieve a total return on your initial investment)
- Everything beyond the Payback Period is pure savings!
Results
This example shows the amount of savings that can be expected when upgrading just five 60-watt incandescent replacements to massively more energy-efficient 10-watt LEDs. By using one-sixth the amount of energy, and lasting about 20 times as long, the savings over the lifetime of the LED bulbs is substantial. With just over 1.5 years as the Payback Period, the next 15-plus years or so after that will be nothing but savings.
Imagine the savings that could be achieved by upgrading all of the bulbs in your home or business!
If spring cleaning would save us this much money, we would probably do it all year round.