These days, it\u2019s hard to remember a time before LED light bulbs. Remember those incandescent light bulbs? The ones you were afraid to touch because they got so hot? Those were invented in 1879 \u2014 over 140 years ago! Before LEDs, incandescents were our only option, and only 5% of the total energy they consumed was shown in the form of light. What about the other 95%? That all went to the heat being emitted from those bulbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The invention of LEDs has utterly transformed the energy landscape \u2014 on average, they use at least 75% less energy than incandescents and last around 25 times longer.1<\/sup> And believe it or not, the size of most LED lights are the size of a grain of cracked pepper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this article, we\u2019ll give you a quick overview of LED lighting, how they work and how much you could save if you made the switch to LEDs from incandescents. It\u2019s surprising just how much money you can save by simply switching out the light bulbs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s truly a set-it-and-forget-it money-saving strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n An LED stands for light-emitting diode \u2014 which in basic terms means a semiconductor that produces light when an electric current passes through it. LEDs can come in a variety of colors, but for white-light LEDs, a combination of red, blue and green light is used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n LEDs are much more energy-efficient than incandescent lighting or compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs \u2014 the predecessor of LEDs. LED lights produce little heat, and unlike CFLs, do not contain mercury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They last much longer too \u2014 thousands of hours longer. The particular number varies by company and light bulb, but LEDs on average can last 50,000 hours. That\u2019s 50 times longer than incandescents and 8 to 10 times longer than CFLs.2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not as much as you\u2019d think. LEDs are similar to solar panels \u2014 when a new technology becomes available on the market, they typically run at a higher cost. Nowadays, you can get an 8-pack of LED lights for around $10. That\u2019s a little over $1 per bulb, which is around the same price as an incandescent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Absolutely. By replacing just 5 \u2014 yes, only 5 \u2014 of your most-used light fixtures in your home with ENERGY STAR-approved LED light bulbs, you could save $75 every year.3<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, imagine if you replaced every lighting source in your house with LED bulbs. Yes, it will be a hefty upfront cost to replace every bulb in your house, but the bulbs last for years and years, depending on how often you use them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That could equal hundreds of dollars in savings on your electricity bill \u2014 by doing nothing other than changing out a few bulbs in your home. How easy is that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is practically an infinite number of ways you can save on electricity in your home, not just by integrating LEDs into your home. If you\u2019re hungry for more tips, check out our Chariot University page to learn more. \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" These days, it\u2019s hard to remember a time before LED light bulbs. Remember those incandescent light bulbs? The ones you were afraid to touch because they got so hot? Those were invented in 1879 \u2014 over 140 years ago! Before LEDs, incandescents were our only option, and only 5% of the total energy they consumed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy-conservation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chariotenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chariotenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chariotenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chariotenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chariotenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chariotenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chariotenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chariotenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chariotenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chariotenergy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What is an LED & Why are They Better?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How Much Do LEDs Cost?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Do LED Lights Save Energy?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
More Energy Savings Where That Came From<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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