The cost of running downlights can be high if you are using typical halogen globes or incandescent lights that consume a lot of energy.
Downlights are becoming popular in many homes. Maybe it is because they offer a cost-effective and beautiful alternative to lighting an area. However, downlights can also be expensive to run – especially if you are using halogen bulbs rather than LEDs. A halogen downlight fitted with a 500Watt bulb will run you approximately $6.50 per month in electricity bills. This is much more than the cost of running an LED downlight which only costs about $2.00 per month – even if it uses 3 times the power! On average, LED downlights use just 10% as much energy and last up to 8 times longer than halogens.
An average LED will use 10% as much energy and last 8 times longer than halogen downlights. Most people are replacing halogen downlights with LED bulbs due to energy efficiency, as well as reducing budget and maintenance costs.
The problem with halogen lighting is that they produce light in a different way than LEDs. While LED lights have a simple, consistent process and produce high quality light – halogen lights burn hot tungsten filaments to get their job done.These filaments need constant cooling and as you can imagine this leads to high energy consumption. In fact, lighting your home with just 10 halogen downlights will use enough electricity to power everything else in the house for one day.
Thus, equivalent LED bulbs offer efficient lighting than existing halogen downlights, hence the preference for energy efficient LED downlights or CFL lights.
No matter which type of downlight you use, it is a no brainer that if it has a filament inside, a lot of electricity will be used to light your home.
It is estimated that almost 1/3 of your energy bills can be attributed to a typical halogen downlight. It really does pay to consider the watts and kilowatt-hours used by halogen bulbs before making a purchase, as this could result in some energy savings.However, if you are using LED lights, it is actually quite surprising how less energy they use to produce the same brightness because LEDs are so efficient and designed to last for many years – even with continuous use, thus making them highly energy-efficient as compared to traditional bulbs.
Having LED downlights installed also offers a range of colour temperatures from warm white to cool white, as well as less heat at a low cost making them efficient for task lighting suitable for different rooms in Australian homes.
The cost of running downlights can be high if you are using typical halogen globes or incandescent downlights that consume a lot of energy due to their inefficient technology. However, since the introduction of LED lights they have become a much more viable option for any home – not just as an alternative to ceiling lamps but even in place of direct LED lighting options like pendants, ceiling lights, and wall lights since they emit little heat that prevents fire risk, consume less energy, while offering sufficient light. If you are using halogen downlights for your general lighting – it is better to replace them and have LED downlight installed as soon as possible to enjoy their low voltage. Other light fitting alternatives to consider, besides LED downlight, include the Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) technology, which is efficient for ceiling lighting in different areas such as the lounge room where it complements natural light.
While this may sound like quite a big investment – consider the amount of electricity you will save across an entire year – and the fact that LED lights have such long lifespans mean it could be cheaper in the long run when compared with using halogen globes.
LED downlight can last between 5-10 times longer than halogens so they do save money as well as being environmentally friendly and much kinder to your electricity cost.
However, unlike a conventional halogen or incandescent bulb, an LED uses very little power to create this same amount of light (halogen globes would use 100-200 watts while an LED light globes can get by with just 7-20 watts) while emitting little heat.
They have many other benefits too – like being more energy efficient and much longer lasting than most types of lighting, which implies ability to save on the cost of electricity.
LEDs are described as semi-conductors because they rely on electricity passing through them to produce their brilliant white light or coloured light. These tiny bulbs are created using crystals made from special materials which then emit photons when stimulated with electricity.
An LED can theoretically last up to 100,000 hours – regardless of how often it is switched on or off.
This may sound quite unbelievable but if we consider a downlight that is used for four hours every night – it would take over 22 years for an LED to reach the same energy usage as a halogen bulb which lasts just 2,000 hours.
Other benefits include the ability to work without a transformer, as well as installing special electronic dimmers to dim the light and save more energy.