My Home LED Project Worked - October 2014 Update

by Michael | October 29, 2014

 

Considering that we are working on a large number of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects through the Connecticut C-PACE Program for commercial property owners, I decided we should try to maximize energy savings on our home to avoid a case of the shoemaker’s children going barefoot.

 

I am happy to report today that our switch to LED lighting at our home actually worked and we just cut our electric bill by 42%.

 

In October of 2013 our electric bill was $542.81 and the bill we just received after completing our switch to LED just came in at $314.51.  That is a monthly savings of $228.30 which is a 42% reduction in our electric bill.

 

As you can see from the attached spread sheet, I spent $1,405.82 so at this rate the payback period on this energy conservation measure is about seven months.  Even if the savings end up averaging half of that amount, it will take just over a year for a 100% payback.

 

It looks even better over the long term.  Given that these bulbs should last at least 10 years, the total savings over 10 years will exceed $27,000. However, if you also take into account the fact that energy costs will rise an average of 3% per year, the total savings should exceed $30,000.  No matter how you calculate it – and even at half the projected savings – switching to LED lighting is a no-brainer.

 

In addition, we won’t have to purchase or replace any bulbs for at least 10 years so it is one less home maintenance item to worry about.

 

My original efforts to switch to LED lighting came from a desire to cut our electric bill like we are doing for our clients.  In Connecticut right now the all-in cost of residential electricity including all generation, transmission, taxes and fees is just over 20 cents per kilowatt.  That is expected to rise approximately 3% annually.

 

Getting Started with LED

 

Before beginning this project I had to get the family on board with the switch to LED.  When I first brought up the subject I was met with immediate resistance with the basic complaint that LED lighting would look different than the incandescent bulbs they were used to.  When LEDs first came out, there was limited selection and most LEDs available were daylight bulbs.  Over the past year, soft white LED bulbs which look just like soft white incandescent bulbs started to hit the shelves and the prices started to come down to reasonable levels.

 

So this past summer I purchased a few LED bulbs and installed them in a few locations in our house without mentioning anything.  After a month, I polled our family members and asked if anyone noticed anything different about the lighting.  No one noticed anything, so I moved forward to make the full switch to LED.

 

We basically had two major types of bulbs in our home – basic 60 watt light bulbs and 65 watt overhead indoor flood lights.  We also have a few outdoor 85 watt flood lights.

 

Before buying anything, I created a spreadsheet and listed every bulb in every room in our house. I was amazed to find that we actually had 177 bulbs in our house. I then made an estimate for how many hours per day that each bulb was on.  This is a guesstimate but I believe was fairly accurate and is the only subjective part of the analysis.

 

I then looked at proposed LED substitutes.  The 65 watt flood lights could be replaced by 9.5 watt LED bulbs, look the same and generate the same amount of light as measured in lumens.  The standard 60 watt light bulb could be replaced by an LED bulb that also used 9.5 watts.

 

I decided to go forward an replace 144 of the 177 bulbs.  Most of the remaining bulbs that were not replaced were the small chandelier bulbs.  LED bulbs for these fixtures have a small white piece that protrudes from the top of the socket and does not look good.  Hopefully there will be some improvement in that area soon.  I also decided to hold off on some small fluorescent bulbs in closets because I did not see any replacement bulbs for those fixtures.

 

After doing the calculations, I came up with potential savings of 1,472 kilowatts per month which would translate into savings of $238 per month by replacing the 144 bulbs.

 

When I went to purchase the LED bulbs, I was pleased to find out that the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund had in-store rebates cutting the cost of standard 60 watt bulbs to $5.29 and 65 watt flood bulbs to $10.62.  So the total cost of purchasing the 144 bulbs was $1,405.

 

LED Installation and Disposal of Old Bulbs

 

I then spent a weekend swapping out all of the existing bulbs for the LED bulbs.  The incandescent bulbs I just double-bagged in trash bags and put in the regular trash.  The compact fluorescent bulbs went back to Home Depot which has a return area to dispose of these bulbs which need special handling).

 

And then I waited a month to see what would happen.

 

In October of 2013  we used 3,006 kilowatt hours which was mostly lighting.  The remaining usage comes from the refrigerator, the air conditioning and electric heat which covers a part of our home (the rest is oil heat). During October of both 2013 and 2014 there was little if any heat or air conditioning used so comparing October from before and after installation for this month should be an apples-to-apples comparison of kilowatt usage for lighting.

 

Our bill for October 2014 showed total kilowatt usage of 1,634 kilowatt hours as compared with 3,006 kilowatt hours in October 2013.  That is an actual savings of 1,372 kilowatt hours which is a 45% savings in kilowatt hours that matches very closely with the 45% actual dollar savings achieved.

 

These numbers are not exact because the air conditioning and electric heat will always vary, but the evidence is clear and convincing that the switch to LEDs creates immediate savings.

 

Commercial and Industrial properties can achieve similar savings but the costs are higher because in most cases the fixtures need to be replaced in addition to the bulbs.  However, the savings are substantial and immediate and the pay back periods are anywhere from two to four years.

 

My-LED-Replacement-Plan-October-2014 is my spread sheet which shows bulb by bulb analysis and estimates.  This sheet shows total estimated savings (Cell Q148) of $238.64 per month which is fairly close to the actual $228.30 in savings during this past month.  I will post updates over the next few months to see how these numbers compare month by month as the year progresses.  I have a theory that savings might actually be higher on average during the darker winter months because it makes sense that we would use more lighting during these times.

 

– Michael Licamele

 

 

READ MORE