Stand by the shelves of your local grocery store, and you’ll see plenty of that the new lights are now LED<\/span><\/span>. There are a few common home improvements, and for good reason: LED lights are popular for years of durability<\/span><\/span> and using only a fraction of the energy that old light bulbs do. The right models can blur either offer smart advanced features<\/span><\/span>. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But if you’re going to pay more for LED lights, you probably want to know how much they’ll actually save you. That’s why we ran the numbers and found out how you can recoup the cost of LED lights, and keep saving year after year. <\/p>\n <\/div> LEDs can save you hundreds of dollars a year.<\/p>\n <\/span> jittawit.21\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The US Department of Energy says that lighting accounts for about 15% of average home electricity use. That’s not the same as energy-hungry heating and cooling equipment, but it’s an appreciable amount over which we have a lot of control, making it ripe for lighting to cut bills. <\/p>\n Energy Star research shows that standard incandescent bulbs cost about $7.23 a year to run, while LEDs cost about $1.08. That’s a savings of about $6 per bulb, per year. <\/p>\n The study also showed that the average American home has about 50 light bulb sockets. That seemed high to me, so I counted. Even in my modest townhouse, I have about 65 bases, so you may have more than you think. That’s why the Department of Energy estimates that the average household can save about $225 a year by making the switch to LEDs where possible. <\/p>\n How are these cost savings possible? Since LED lights use active diodes that respond to electrical energy by glowing, they don’t generate nearly as much heat as other bulb options, which explains their significant reduction in energy consumption. <\/p>\n Finally, even though LED lights are expensive (though more affordable than ever now at around $2 per basic bulb), if used properly, they can last about 15 to 25 times longer than incandescents, so you end up saving more on replacement costs despite the initial price. <\/p>\n <\/div> LEDs are more efficient than fluorescent lights.<\/p>\n <\/span> NorGal\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n For a while, energy buffs touted fluorescent lights as a way to save money on electricity. Since then they have been outperformed by LEDs in almost every way, including energy costs. If you have fluorescent lights, whether they are long tubes or compact versions that fit into sockets, you can still save money by switching to LEDs. <\/p>\n The University of Michigan conducted a study on fluorescent-to-LED conversion, and found that LEDs are 44% more efficient. And while fluorescent bulbs can last longer, LEDs last even longer. Also, they don’t have flickering or noise problems, and many of them offer warmer colors than fluorescents. <\/p>\n <\/div> Smart bulbs are cheap, support multiple voice assistants and have lots of fun tricks.<\/p>\n <\/span> Tyler Lacoma\/CNET<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Smart LED lights<\/span><\/span> they are more expensive, but they also give you more tools to keep. If you don’t mind adding an app to your phone, you can set lighting schedules so they always turn off at a certain time or remotely control your lights if they’re left on. <\/p>\n I use smart lights in many parts of my home, and it’s helpful to be able to set schedules for the sometimes forgetful lights — especially porch and driveway lights, for me. Outdoor lights are a great option to switch to LEDs, as estimates show only about 5% of outdoor fixtures currently use LEDs. <\/p>\n I also really like the ability to change the color of the lights whenever I want and connect them to certain bodies. It’s not necessary to save money, but smart lighting increases your options. The cheapest smart bulbs are only about $10, so it’s not a huge investment to add these features. <\/p>\n For more information, see how the right home security devices<\/span><\/span> can save you money every month. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stand by the shelves of your local grocery store, and you’ll see plenty of that the new lights are now LED. There are a few common home improvements, and for good reason: LED lights are popular for years of durability and using only a fraction of the energy that old light bulbs do. The right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-smart-home-gadgets"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2574,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572\/revisions\/2574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiki-living.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Here’s how much LEDs save over incandescent lights <\/h2>\n
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What about switching from fluorescent lights to LEDs? <\/h2>\n
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Can smart lighting help save more? <\/h2>\n
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