For the past 120 years, the incandescent light bulb has been lighting our homes and offices. But over the past 10 years, a new technology has been developed that can cut lighting costs 30 to 60 percent, enhance quality and reduce environmental impacts, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. With the introduction of compact florescent light bulbs (CFL) and Light Emitting Diodes (LED), we all have reason to change out our lights.

photo by Jonathan Welch

When CFLs were first introduced, they were costly and didn’t always provide quality lighting. Today, the price of a 13-watt CFL (which provides roughly the equivalent of a 60-watt incandescent) typically starts at just a dollar, and the light quality has greatly improved. And thanks to their high efficiency, savings in energy costs can provide a quick return on the cost of the bulb. For a light that’s on for only three hours per day, the payback for changing to a CFL can be as little as four months. For a light that’s on for 10 hours a day, such as a porch light that’s left on all night, the payback is about one month.

CFLs produce less heat than incandescent bulbs, last up to ten times longer and use 75 percent less energy, benefiting both the environment and your pocketbook. CFLs are also available as spotlights, floodlights, three-way lights, dimmable lights and in many wattages. If every person in North Carolina installed a single CFL to replace an incandescent that was kept on for three hours per day, the energy savings would be over a million kilowatt-hours (kwh) and $100,000 each and every day, according to the calculations of the WNC Green Building Council. Six billion dollars leaves the state each year for energy resources; a switch to CFLs would help keep part of that sum in our local economy.

Need more convincing? Over the life of a bulb, replacing one incandescent with a CFL eliminates as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as not burning 500 pounds of coal, according to an article in the August 2005 issue of National Geographic. Change four bulbs, and it’s as if you’ve prevented a ton of coal from being burned over the course of a year.

The newest type of energy-efficient lighting is LED technology, which uses 90 percent less electricity than an incandescent bulb, lasts over 50,000 hours and gives off little heat. Currently, Energy Star-qualified traffic signals and exit signs use LED lighting. Thanks to a rapid increase in usage, the price of LEDs is going down, especially for commercial applications. Since exit signs are on 24 hours a day, switching to LEDs is a smart move: They use only 44 kwh per year, versus 350 kwh for incandescent signs, and provide a six-month payback.

Located in Raleigh, LED City™ initiative is an expanding community of government and industry parties working to evaluate, deploy and promote LED-lighting technology across the full range of municipal infrastructure. When applied on a citywide scale, LEDs can save 40 to 70 percent of the electricity used in certain lighting applications, such as parking garages, parking lots, outdoor public areas, street lights and portable lighting.

In January of 2007, the city of Raleigh implemented its first pilot project on the third level of the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex parking garage. This was the first LED City™ initiative between Raleigh and Cree Inc., geared toward saving tax dollars and protecting the environment. The city, with the help of Cree Inc. and Progress Energy, predicts that the 141 LED fixtures installed in the parking garage could produce electricity savings of 46,720 kwh per year. Thanks to the LEDs’ long life span, the savings in maintenance costs each year will result in an additional $3,000. The total savings will be $6,200 annually — resulting in a seven-year payback on the initial $42,000 investment.

If LED lighting were rapidly adopted throughout the United States over the next 20 years, electricity demands could be reduced by 62 percent, according to the Department of Energy, eliminating the need to build 133 new power plants. The environmental benefit of such a move would amount to 258 million tons of carbon dioxide not entering the atmosphere, while the financial savings are projected at $115 billion. With initiatives such as LED City™, the future of energy-efficient lighting is looking bright!

Resources:
• http://www.eere.energy.gov/states/alternatives/lighting_daylighting.cfm
• http://www.energystar.gov
• http://www.ledcity.org