Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Beat the winter blues with cheaper bills

Winter is coming. Longer nights mean needing those lights on longer. Beat those bills with LED bulbs.


With autumn nearly upon us the nights are getting longer meaning the lights are on longer. Over summer you might not have noticed how much electricity light bulbs at home use. However over winter with the lights on more those electricity bills are certain to increase.

There are numerous ways to minimize home energy bills – many include behavior change and so can be hard to maintain. We love LED lighting as a means to reduce home energy bills, as switching to LED lighting is a one-time behavior change through a one off purchase.

Our favorite phrase here is ‘fit and forget’ because with quality LED office lights  lasting anywhere from ten to twenty five-years means once you make the switch you can forget about it. You can continue to behave at home in exactly the same way and benefit from burning around 90% less energy on lighting energy bills.
Another huge benefit from LED is that the vast majority of fittings are a direct retrofit replacement meaning no re-wiring necessary. Key exceptions here are MR16 fittings that will need new drivers and strip lights that always need a driver.
Another consideration is dimming – not all LEDs dim as standard, and not all dimmer switches are compatible with LED lighting. Make sure the manufacturer packaging clearly states this is a dimming LED light and you have a trailing edge dimmer. If you do not have the right dimmer switch it is likely that you may experience flickering or buzzing issues.
Many people are hesitant when it comes to making the switch because the fear efficiency may mean a loss in quality however the truth is far from it. LED lights can actually be brighter and you have a great range of options when it comes to customization.

Beam angle and color temperature both have a massive range of choice when it comes to LED. This means you can choose how concentrated you want the light to wash areas around the home, and how warm that light should be.

The result is that you can have the lighting exactly how you want it and have a lower energy bill. There are not many opportunities to have your cake and eat it in life but this is one of them.
With respect to quality LED lights do fail from time to time. This is the exception rather than the rule but it does happen. With this in mind we recommend picking a quality light from a trusted manufacturer.

This normally means spending a little bit more up-front but it is worth it in the long run. With lifetimes of ten years upwards it is important to make a purchase from a manufacturer you are confident will be able to honor the warranty in the event of quality issues. With respect to quality LED lights do fail from time to time.
So, what kind of cut in bills can you expect to see from switching over to energy efficient lighting? Well this is dependent on what your current level of usage is; a combination of how many lights you have, the current wattage, and how long they are on for.

If you have ten 60-watt lights on for 6 hours per day then we estimate you could save around £197 per year over the lifetime of the lights. To put this in perspective, over 15-years that's an extra £3000 in the bank.

That money could be an exotic holiday, several years car insurance, or money towards a deposit on a house. Not a bad result for changing a few light bulbs!

Resource[whichledlight]

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