Cooperative Living November/December 2015 - 13

ENERGY BANG
FOR YOUR BUCK
by Tom Tate, Contributing Writer
RLEDs -
ight for the
Holidays and
All Year
A
s I write this, the clock is rapidly
ticking down to Christmas
(www.xmasclock.com). I just
know that people are contemplating how
to decorate their homes to celebrate.
Naturally, you will want to be as
economical as possible in your energy
use, won't you? So let me help you
through the holidays with a minimal
impact on your electric bill.
As a youngster growing up in the second
half of the last century, we had but
one lighting option ... those big incandescent
lights. They were glorious and I have
fond memories of them on the tree and
outlining various parts of the house.
However, times changed and the
awareness that we needed to be more
concerned about energy use drove
companies to develop and offer the
mini-incandescent light strings. What they
lacked in sheer presence and effect they
made up for in numbers. Instead of 25
bulbs per string, you had at least 50 and
often 100! Some included special bulbs
that made the string twinkle. All this extra
capability came with a serious drop in
power use.
The trend for saving energy has been
a very persistent and beneficial one. The
demand for even more efficiency moved
manufacturers on to the LED bulb/lamp
for Christmas use. Talk about energy
misers! LEDs practically sip electricity,
even compared to their mini incandescent
cousins. True, the first-generation bulbs
were horrible and garish in terms of colors,
but that has been resolved and LEDs
are now a beautiful option.
Just how much would it cost to use
each type of lamp these days for your
decorating masterpieces? The following
table provides the answer.
TYPE OF LAMP
C9 Incandescent
Mini incandescent
LED
WATTAGE PER LAMP
7
.425
.069
WATTAGE PER 50 LAMPS
350
21.25
3.45
SEASON OPERATING COST*
$13.33
$.81
$.13
*Using 40 days of operation, 8 hours per day, $.119 per kWh (DOE average)
In addition, the LED will last as much as 40 times longer than the incandescent lamps.
Imagine how many strings of LEDs you
can afford to operate when 50 lamps cost a
measly $.13 over 40 days! You could put up
enough lights to be visible from low Earth
orbit and still have extra cash for gifts.
(Check out my other article in this issue for
ideas on how to dispose of that money.)
Okay, you've cut the cost of Christmas
decorating to the bone. Now carry it forward.
Using LEDs to save could become
your most successful New Year's Resolution
ever. A couple of facts: LEDs have a substantially
longer lifespan than either incandescent
or fluorescent options. In typical
situations, they can have a lifespan of 10 to
15 years. They also love cold weather, so
they don't suffer from an extended startup
time like fluorescent lamps. But they remain
stubbornly expensive.
Given these three factors, judicious
application in your home is in order. My
November-December 2015/www.co-opliving.com
advice is to use LEDs in hard-to-access lights
(outside, high ceilings, recessed fixtures)
along with some high-use ones. Let me give
you a personal example. My rec room came
outfitted with seven recessed fixtures using
75-watt bulbs. To save energy, I purchased
9.5-watt LED replacement lamps. These
seven fixtures are now less expensive to run
than my single 100-watt halogen desk lamp.
According to my calculations, these lamps
won't need to be touched until about 2029.
Replacing half a dozen incandescent or
fluorescent lamps with LEDs can shave
money off your bill and reduce maintenance
chores, not to mention risks. Carry that holiday
energy-saving spirit into the New Year
and have even more gadget cash in 2016. n
Tom Tate writes on cooperative issues for the National
Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the Arlington,
Va.-based service arm of the nation's 900-plus consumer-owned,
not-for-profit electric cooperatives.
11
http://www.xmasclock.com
Cooperative Living November/December 2015

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