![]() (It’s named after James Watt, inventor of the steam engine.) Many newer bulbs are marked in lumens, which is the amount of light a particular bulb emits, and that’s because most new light bulbs, such as LEDs, use much less power than an incandescent bulb.įor example, a traditional 60-watt incandescent bulb emits 900 lumens of light and uses 60 watts of power. Not so very long ago, your main consideration in buying a light bulb was how many watts you needed: a 100-watt bulb for reading, for example, or a 60-watt bulb for a table lamp.Ī watt, however, is a measure of how much energy it takes to power a bulb - not how bright the bulb is. The average house has more than 20 light bulbs, meaning that switching to LEDs from incandescents could save you about $1,100 over the 10 years, or a bit more than $100 a year. (That cost also includes buying several replacement incandescent bulbs over the decade.) A CFL costs about $20 over the same span of time, and an LED costs an average of $13.70. According to the Consumer Federation of America, over 10 years the total cost - that’s the cost of the bulb and the power to run it - of using a 60-watt incandescent bulb would add up to about $70. ![]() You also need to take into account how often you’ll need to replace the bulbs and how much power you’ll use to run the light. The amount you pay for a single bulb, however, is just part of the cost. They tend to last about 2,500 hours, and burn even hotter than incandescent bulbs, so wait for one to cool off before you touch it.
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