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Recently becoming a new homeowner, it has become more important than ever to find easy ways to save money where possible. One of the many areas I explored to save money was in the area of electricity. And since we are home most evenings for our cook at home dinner, the first light bulbs I wanted to replace were those in the kitchen, nook (over our informal dinner table), and family room.
Regardless of the room, PG&E charges me $0.13627 per kWh at the lowest (cheapest) tier. This is an important number to know as it can be used to calculate your money saving. For my analysis, I will assume 3 hrs of usage per light bulb per day. Although this is by far an over-estimate based on my usage (your situation may be different), the CREE lighting package claims their LED bulb has a life of 22.8 years at 3 hrs a day. Finally, I purchased each CREE LED 40W light bulb on sale $7.97 each (Their retail price is higher, but I've seen them on sale for even less).
For simplicity of calculation, I use Electricity Usage Calculator website. By plugging in the numbers stated above, I find that at 3 hours a day at $0.13627 kWh, it will cost me $1.26 per year to run the CREE LED light bulb. The same 40W incandescent light bulb in those same conditions will cost $5.95 per year. That is a difference of $4.69 per year. Based on that, it will take about between 20-21 months to pay off the cost of the CREE LED light bulb. Assuming the price of electricity stays the same (it will most likely go up), you will be saving $4.69 for the next 20 years, which means one CREE light bulb will save you $93.80 in the course of 22 years.
My kitchen has 4 canned lights, my nook has 5 light bulb hanging light, and my family has 6 canned lights. A total of 15 light bulbs, it would cost me a whooping $119.55, but the lifetime saving of 15 CREE LED light bulbs is $1407. And if the price of electricity increases, you will save even more! Also remember replacing with CREE light bulbs is a long term investment, but one that only requires screwing in a light bulb.
If you are interested in replacing light bulbs with LED light bulbs, I would highly recommend:
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Do a count of the number of light bulbs in your house. Consider the total up-front cost and affordability.
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I highly recommend the LED CREE light bulbs. I've read many positive cree lighting reviews and have loved my CREE bulbs so far (3-4 months and already paid off).
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Remember that if your light bulbs are not on a dimmer, you should also consider CFL light bulbs (if you're okay that they contain some mercury).