Where you don’t see them as often are as light fixtures in homes and businesses. That’s been slowly changing and we’ve been getting an increasing number of questions from people who are thinking about adding LEDs as lighting sources to their homes.

So we thought we’d learn a little more about this type of light and its use in homes and find out if it’s really worth it to convert your home to LED bulbs.

LED compared to fluorescent - off

This lightbox shows an LED bulb (left) compared to an incandescent (middle) and compact fluorescent.

LED bulb compared to fluorescent - on

This lightbox shows an LED bulb (left) turned on compared to an incandescent (middle) and compact fluorescent.

LED outdoor spotlight

LED night time spotlights have motion sensors, are bright, and can be charged by solar panels.

LED PAR lamp

This could be one ideal use of LEDs, where many bulbs are used at once to spotlight hallways, kitchens and other rooms.

Light Emitting Diodes (LED)

LED bulbs can come in many different colors. Diode Photo By: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Afrank99

LED fixtures available for home use

Now that they’ve been on the market for awhile the diversity of LED fixtures continues to grow. We’ve found them in a variety of home applications, including:

• Bulbs and globes for use in lamps and fixtures
• Floodlights for outdoors
• Spotlights for indoors and outdoors
• Track lights for accent lighting
• Candle bulbs for chandeliers and candelabras
• Strip lights for under shelves and cabinets

You can also get many of these products in different colors now, ranging from stark white to soft yellows, greens, blues, and reds.

I really like the thought of using LEDs for hard-to-reach bulbs and outdoor lighting. No more hoisting yourself up a giant ladder just to reach a light under the eve that burned out because you forgot to turn it off the night before. Also, LEDs don’t emit ultraviolet light, so they don’t attract bugs.

LED fixtures do cost more – a lot more

There’s not doubt LED fixtures cost more than other types. We trekked over to the Globe Lighting store in Vancouver, WA to make some comparisons of common lighting fixtures. (Thanks for the help, Vicki.) Here’s what we found:

For light bulbs, where we found the greatest disparity in price, LEDs right now can be as much as 60X more expensive that incandescent, yet last nearly 50X longer (we’re using the greatest numbers). LEDs are 12X the price of compact fluorescents, and last 10X longer. Yet for PAR lamps and candelabra candles the price gaps shrink considerably, making them a better value based on price vs. longevity.

LEDs do save energy, a lot of it, and could be a good long-term “investment” for your home

(Warning: Math Content*)

There’s no doubt that LEDs use less energy than incandescent, halogen or even fluorescent bulbs while emitting about the same amount of light. In fact, LEDs can use a watt or less to up to 11 watts for the brightest ones. If we assume that your home has 100 light bulbs, including outdoors and those in candelabras, and the average cost of LEDs is $52 each, you would pay $5,200 to retrofit.

Now, if you refit ALL your applicable incandescent bulbs with LEDs you could presumably save up to 86% of your lighting costs (although this does not account for energy losses to the fixtures). Lighting typically accounts for only 15% of your total electrical bill, with heating and cooling using the greatest amount of energy. That means if you pay $100 per month in electricity, you would save $12.90 per month – (.15 x $100) x.86 = $12.90. So you’re paying $5,200 for an energy savings of $154.80 per year.

There’s even more savings. This does not include the replacement of your other bulbs, which would be burning out regularly, let’s say once a year (although this is just a guess to keep the math simple). So if at most the average replacement cost of incandescent bulbs is about $3.50 each your would save an additional $350 per year, for a total savings of $504 per year, or a 10% return on cost of the LEDs per year. After 10 years you would get roughly $5,004 back.

Let’s compare that to compact fluorescents. If you replaced all your incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs you would pay about $728 – $7.28 x 100 = $728. Since we’re assuming you would change your incandescents once a year and compact fluorescents last 5X longer then we would double that to get the 10-year cost of $1,456. During that time you would save about (.15 x 100)x.75 = $11.25 per month, or $135 per year. After 10 years you would save roughly $3,414 in energy and replacement costs over incandescent bulbs.

**Incandescent bulbs would need to be changed every year, on average.
***Compact fluorescent bulbs would need to be changed every 5 years, on average.

Fluorescents seem like a better deal, except manufacturers claim LEDs can last 10X longer than even those thrifty bulbs, given them a potential lifespan of 50 years, based on our assumptions*. Does that mean you could get $25,000 back on your $5,200 investment versus a return of $24,250 on a cost of $7,280 over 50 years for compact fluorescents? I don’t know, but suffice it to say that you probably won’t be buying LEDs just because of the monthly savings. If you’re not all about dollars and value, then LEDs still make a lot of sense because of the energy savings.

(*We are making some key assumptions in this math, especially in regards to bulb longevity, and we will be happy to amend these numbers if someone has compelling evidence that they need to be changed.)

Should I buy LEDs for my home?

The answer to this depends on your goals. If you want to save energy at any cost, then LEDs are a great way to go green. If you are planning to stay in your home for 10 years, then there’s a good chance you will recoup the money you put into your LEDs. But if you are on a strict budget, then LEDs might just be too expensive for you to convert all your lights. You could try experimenting with outdoor and garage lights, which often can be difficult to change and expensive if they’re left on for long periods of time (ooops). Remember our example from above: If your home has 100 light bulbs, it would cost $5,200 to cast that house in the “green” glow of LEDs.

Pros

• Energy-efficient - An LED bulb that puts out the same amount of light as a 60 Watt incandescent only uses about 6 Watts.
• Long-lived - LEDs can last for 30,000-50,000 hours. Presumably that means you could leave an LED on continuously for nearly 6 years.
• Durable - LEDs are resistant to shock, extreme changes in temperature (although high heat can shorten their lives), and repeated cycling (turning off and on).
• Safe - LEDs bulbs operate at lower temperatures than other bulbs. You can’t even touch a halogen bulb when it’s off for fear of the oils on your fingers heating to a point that it shatters the bulb.
• UV free - LEDs don’t emit ultraviolet light, which can damage artwork and which attracts bugs
• Interference free - LEDs don’t have ballasts like fluorescents, so they don’t interfere with radio signals
• Multi-colored - LEDs can be manufactured in many different colors and don’t require filters – they literally make monochromatic light.

Cons to LEDs

• Expensive - No matter how you look at it this is the single most important deterrent to LEDs becoming more prevalent.
• Heat-sensitive - The lifespan of LEDs can be greatly reduced by excessive heat.
• Glare - LEDs can cast very bright glare off surfaces such as granite without a diffuser.
• Look - They’re getting much better that the blue-hued versions we are used to seeing, but can be a little overwhelming.

Links:

Where to get them:

Globe Lighting (My local favorite)

There’s also plenty of LED products available through online retailers. We’ve never purchased anything from these guys, but here’s a quick list:

• BestHomeLighting.com
• EnvironmentalLights.com
• USALight.com

Manufacturers:

List of LED manufacturers

History:

Facts and History of LEDs from Wikipedia

This graph, courtesy of the RMLS, shows the average sale price of homes in Vancouver and Southwest Washington since 1999.

The good news in the report is that inventory continues to decline. Fewer homes on the market could lead, ultimately, to increasing demand and therefore increasing prices.

However, some people are speculating that we could experience a “double-dip” recession. If you couple that with declining home equity, exploding ARMS resulting in increasing loan defaults, a tight credit market, and continued high unemployment (12 percent) throughout the area, it’s very possible that we will have a flat or declining market again this year. Time will tell.

If you like tracking housing prices, this is a good resource: HousingTracker.net

Shameless plug alert: If you’re feeling the pinch of a declining home value but also are pinched on space, maybe it’s a good time to consider an addition or renovation. Take a look at the values of renovation projects, then contact us for a free consultation.

According to the data, your remodeling projects might average around 71% yield on each dollar spent. That’s not bad considering housing values are still declining in many areas, including in the Portland and Vancouver markets.

The bottom line is updates to the exterior of your home will yield the most dollars on your project. I’ve always told clients that a changes to the front landscape or to the facade of their homes will be the number one areas where they will recoup value. When you drive down the street and see a house with fresh flowers and plantings, fresh paint, and a nice front door, it makes a “wow” first impression.

Hanley Wood provides a interactive tool that lets you explore the data for each region. Below is a sample of their national data.

We originally happened upon this data through the Portland Real Estate Blog, so thanks to them for posting it.

© 2009 Hanley Wood, LLC. Reproduced by permission. Complete regional and city data from the Remodeling 2009 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded for free at www.costvsvalue.com.