LED Light Bulbs: The Greenest So Far, But Challenges Remain

Nine percent of the average household's electricity bill comes from lighting, the second-biggest source of power usage after your refrigerator. Fortunately, it's one of the easiest power hogs to actually do something about.

I've been slowly transitioning my house from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescents. My early experiences with CFLs hadn't been too successful: The bulbs were enormous and the light they put out was downright ugly. That's changed, and today's CFLs are about the same size as a regular incandescent bulb, and options that put out attractive light are available, too. And best of all, they use far less power than an incandescent: A 12-watt CFL puts out as much light as a 60-watt incandescent. And they last about four times as long as an incandescent.

Now, a cool new option is coming on the market: Light bulbs filled with LEDs instead of standard tubes. LED bulbs generally use even less power than fluorescents (though it's not as dramatic as going from incandescents to CFLs), and they last a whopping 40 times as long as incandescent lights. Unlike CFLs, they don't contain mercury, either, making them easier to recycle when they do burn out, and most LED bulbs are dimmable, while few CFLs can be dimmed.

I've been testing a couple of LED bulbs from the C. Crane Company, and while I love the technology (the bulbs don't even heat up) it's got limitations you need to know about. First, the bulbs are not currently available in brightness that's substantial enough for regular room lighting. A 72-LED spotlight (the PAR 38) I'm testing puts out a whopping 200 lumens, about the same as a piddly 25-watt incandescent. Frankly, you can barely tell it's turned on, making these bulbs really suitable for accent or mood lighting only.

Then there's the cost: The PAR 38 spot runs $60. Still, C. Crane assures me that brightness is going up and prices are coming down, fast.

On the other hand, CFL prices have already dropped radically such that they don't cost much more than premium incandescents. In multi-bulb packs, CFLs now run about $3 a pop.

Both CFL and LED technologies have a long way to go before they completely replace incandescents, but they're both going to play a big part of our future. If you haven't given these technologies a try yet, Earth Day is the perfect excuse to do so!