Eric Walker <eric.wal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> First, the light will know to turn itself off, and second, there won't be > a particular need to turn it off. I'll get my beloved regular old > lightbulbs back and will say goodbye to compact fluorescents forever. > Probably not. Compact fluorescent (CFL) are cheaper per unit cost than incandescent lights. The initial sale price is higher, but the cost is cheaper over the life of the bulb because they last so long. LED lights are rated to last 20 years, and some come with lifetime guarantees, meaning as long as you own it, they will replace it. The lifetimes are 50,000 hours for an LED and 1,200 hours for an incandescent. The LED cost is $36 versus $1.25, so it is marginally cheaper over a lifetime. CFL cost $4 and last 10,000 hours so they are much cheaper. See: http://eartheasy.com/live_led_bulbs_comparison.html For commercial, office or industrial applications, CFL and LED lights are far cheaper for another reason. They are replaced much less often. Replacing one usually calls for a maintenance person to bring a ladder and spend several minutes replacing the bulb and disrupting operations. That ends up costing more than the bulb. Obviously, with the cost of today's electricity both CFL and LED lights save a tremendous amount of money for energy. Per 50,000 hours of illumination, taking into account the unit cost of the bulbs, they cost about $88 versus $353 for incandescent lights. Using incandescent lights is economic lunacy. Even with cold fusion it would be crazy, especially in commercial apps. An expert described the advantages of CFL over incandescent by saying: "this is not a free lunch; it is a lunch you are paid to eat." - Jed
