Follower not a LEDer? Time to do both.

Got a few minutes? That’s how long it takes to improve the energy efficiency of your home. Replacing existing light bulbs with light emitting diode (LED) bulbs is, almost certainly, the easiest thing anyone can do to make their home more eco-friendly.

But many don’t understand why. Having a name in the foreign language of science acronyms doesn’t exactly make it clear how they’re any different. 

The origin of the LED is actually intricate semiconductor technology, which is the same technology that powers everything in the digital world. This makes them very different indeed to traditional incandescent light bulbs. They are even more advanced than the modern compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs.

Efficiency

As far as household applications are concerned, the difference between traditional and LED lighting is energy efficiency.

LEDs are about 8x more efficient than incandescent bulbs as they require far less power to produce the same amount of light. They also last longer and produce less heat.

A standard LED is roughly 40-50% efficient, depending on the manufacturer of the bulb. Some reports suggest that LEDs can have efficiencies of up to 80%.

So: the light from the bulb consumes 40-50% of the energy coming through the socket. The remainder dissipates as heat. If that sounds a bit underwhelming for all the hype, compare those figures to 20% for a CFL bulb and a measly 10% for an incandescent bulb. 

To put these percentages into perspective, consider replacing, say, 10 40W incandescent light bulbs with 6W LEDs.

If we assume that the bulbs are switched on for an average of six hours each day, roughly 750 kWh of electrical energy will be saved in a single year.

For context, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to produce 750 kWh of electrical energy is equal to that produced by 650 mile drive in a diesel car. That’s roughly the distance from London to Berlin.

Whilst giving up 650 miles-worth of driving per year may present some commitment issues (or not – e-bikes can be an effective alternative to driving), replacing ten incandescent light bulbs requires a trip to the electronics shop and about half an hour of DIY.

Stayin’ Alive

The other highlight (no pun intended) of LEDs is their long life. LEDs last an outstanding 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs and 10 times longer than a CFL bulb.

That’s extraordinary. Install good quality LEDs and you can save yourself countless trips to B&Q. LEDs have the potential to save you carbon, money, time and shoe leather.

LEDs in (small) numbers

It’s hard to beat the long-term payback that comes from greater lighting efficiency and lifetime.

After a year of operation, the savings made by replacing ten incandescent light bulbs with LEDs is about £80. After five years, the savings are about £600, taking into account incandescent replacement costs. Even replacing CFL light bulbs with LEDs will save about £125 after five years.

It is hard to argue against the ecological and financial benefits of LED lighting.

However, households that have recently switched to a renewable energy supplier may be questioning the use of fitting LED light bulbs. What does energy efficiency matter if the electricity is provided by the Earth’s infinite wind?

But there are a number of reasons why installing LEDs still has a green impact, despite the origin of the power making them shine.

More Green Impacts

One reason is due to the long life of LEDs compared with older types of bulb.

It is frankly unsustainable to keep producing the materials needed for cheap, old light bulbs that stop working after a couple of months.

Meanwhile, providing households with LEDs that could last for up to 12 years only requires a fraction of the production – that’s less CO2 emissions from manufacture and less use of non-recyclable materials to make the products, not to mention less ethical controversy surrounding the sourcing of electronic materials.

LEDs are also produced free of mercury, unlike traditional light bulbs. Their disposal is thus risk-free when it comes to poisoning water supply and marine habitats. 

The second reason applies to households on electricity tariffs with “light green” energy suppliers. The reason being that light green energy suppliers could well be providing households on renewable energy tariffs with electricity sourced from fossil fuels. (And, if that doesn’t make sense, I suggest you have a quick read about the variety of so-called green suppliers). 

Not all LEDs are alike

Sounds like a no-brainer? Don’t be fooled. Whilst LEDs are a fantastically simple, cheap way to reduce a household’s carbon footprint, it is vital to only use LEDs that are made with good build quality. In other words: don’t just settle for the cheapest.

This is due to the precision to which LEDs are made – poor quality LEDs have been known to flicker and fail at high surrounding temperatures. Good quality LED bulbs are built with a heat sink, which removes this problem. 

Club together

Don’t do a Dodo aims to make green decisions easier. In registering with our free-to-use service, you can join like-minded people in local and national carbon clubs to gain access to discounted LEDs. We have offers on the following:

Phillips classic LED E27

• Fitting: Screw-fit
• Price: £
• Power: 7 W
• Incandescent equivalent power: 60 W
• Luminosity: 807 lumens
• Colour: ‘Extra warm white’
• Anything to be aware of? Phillips have been flagged by the Corporate Information Transparency Index for ecological concerns, particularly water pollution in their supply chain.

Phillips CorePro E27

• Fitting: Screw-fit
• Price: £
• Power: 5.5 W
• Incandescent equivalent power: 40 W
• Luminosity: 470 lumens
• Colour: ‘warm white’
• Anything to be aware of? Phillips have been flagged by the Corporate Information Transparency Index for ecological concerns, particularly water pollution in their supply chain.

Mirrorstone Eco-Rocket B22

• Fitting: Bayonet
• Price: ££
• Power: 15 W
• Incandescent equivalent power: 100 W
• Luminosity: 1400 lumens
• Colour: ‘Warm white’

Phillips CorePro B22

• Fitting: Bayonet
• Price: ££
• Power: 13 W
• Incandescent equivalent power: 100 W
• Luminosity: 1521 lumens
• Colour: ‘warm white’
• Anything to be aware of? Phillips have been flagged by the Corporate Information Transparency Index for ecological concerns, particularly water pollution in their supply chain.

Houseof E27 LED

• Fitting: Screw-fit
• Price: £££
• Power: 5 W
• Incandescent equivalent power: 40 W
• Luminosity: 470 lumens
• Colour: ‘warm white’
• Anything to be aware of? Houseof lighting is a very new manufacturer. Reliability of their products is perhaps harder to gauge.

V-TAC LED Pro

• Fitting: Bayonet
• Price: £
• Power: 9 W
• Incandescent equivalent power: 60 W
• Luminosity: 806 lumens
• Colour: ‘warm white’
• Anything to be aware of? V-TAC light bulbs use LED chips manufactured by Samsung, a company with a seriously poor human rights record and ecological concerns.

What would the dodo do?

The dodo, if it were alive today, would light its house with prehistoric incandescent lights. Don’t do that.

Sam