OSU Green Home Workshop 5-16-17 Energy Smart Home Performance Residential Lighting: How to Determine the Most Energy Efficient Technology for Your Needs OSU Green Home Workshop 5-16-17 Nate Adams Energy Smart Home Performance nate@energysmartohio.com

Who has bought an efficient bulb they hated? Raise your hand if you have bought an energy efficient bulb you hated. Raise your hand if your bulbs tend to go out at really convenient times? At 66 cents, what bulb can you replace where the act of changing the bulb costs less than the bulb?

Who likes choosing an efficient light bulb? Raise your hand if you have bought an energy efficient bulb you hated. Raise your hand if your bulbs tend to go out at really convenient times? At 66 cents, what bulb can you replace where the act of changing the bulb costs less than the bulb?

Who likes changing light bulbs? Raise your hand if you have bought an energy efficient bulb you hated. Raise your hand if your bulbs tend to go out at really convenient times? At 66 cents, what bulb can you replace where the act of changing the bulb costs less than the bulb?

Who thinks bulbs burn out at convenient times? Raise your hand if you have bought an energy efficient bulb you hated. Raise your hand if your bulbs tend to go out at really convenient times? At 66 cents, what bulb can you replace where the act of changing the bulb costs less than the bulb?

Who likes getting on a ladder to change bulbs? Raise your hand if you have bought an energy efficient bulb you hated. Raise your hand if your bulbs tend to go out at really convenient times? At 66 cents, what bulb can you replace where the act of changing the bulb costs less than the bulb?

Good light and long life are first. Efficiency Last. Good light and long life are first. In our world, efficiency is a natural outcome of the work. It is not an aim. Buying the new bulbs is a pain, making it more convenient is usually worth more than the cost of the bulb.

Let’s Talk Turkey Let’s start with the usual conclusion about cost to operate. This is great, but what you really want is a bulb you don’t mind looking at for the next 20 years.

Let’s Talk Turkey LEDs win.

The cost spectrums don’t even cross! Let’s Talk Turkey The cost spectrums don’t even cross! LEDs win again.

It’s actually kind of dumb to keep using incandescents. Conclusion: It’s actually kind of dumb to keep using incandescents. The cost of LED’s has dropped so precipitously It pays to throw away your incandescents, even if they’re brand new. LEDs win.

LEDs are still getting cheaper. $0.66/bulb on clearance At 66 cents, what bulb can you replace where the act of changing the bulb costs less than the bulb? These are great for closets and lamps.

You can’t get LEDs for weird fixtures. Objection: You can’t get LEDs for weird fixtures. Let’s deal with another common objection. You can’t get efficient bulbs for weird fixtures like track lighting or halogen fixtures. Track lighting Halogen fixtures

You can get them for weird fixtures. Track lighting

You can get them for weird fixtures. You can buy LED bulbs for just about every application now, and manufacturers are adding more every day. Look on Amazon to see if you can replace weird ones in your house. By replacing these bulbs in several heavily used light fixtures in my house, it offset switching my water heater to an electric heat pump one. Halogen fixtures

Understanding Efficient Bulbs Because we started with the conclusion first, let’s look at how to buy an efficient bulb now that you know it’s silly not to.

How Bright? You don’t need to know this. (Most boxes tell you what they are equivalent to.)

LED bulbs consistently win this one. Efficiency LED bulbs consistently win this one.

How long do they last? Yes, some will fail early. Avoid closed fixtures. Consumer Reports and UL labs still have a number of LED bulbs burning after 25,000+ hours.

How long do they last? LEDs win again. Failure = 70% brightness It’s important to note that failure in an LED doesn’t mean it burns out. It means it falls below 70% of original brightness.

Two Numbers: Buying a Bulb You Actually Like 90+ CRI This is the part that really matters. We already know LED bulbs make a ton of sense to buy, now the key is getting one you like so you can enjoy it for years to come and never have to get on a ladder again. For most purposes you want to buy bulbs with these attributes: 2700K and 90+ CRI. Let’s talk about what that means.

2700K 2700 Kelvin, or K, is pretty close to the yellow color of an incandescent bulb. Most people like these best. The one exception is for work lights, where a bluer 5000K is a preference for some. Let’s take a look at how they look side by side.

Here’s a room with simulated color temperatures Here’s a room with simulated color temperatures. We humans are used to the warm colors of incandescent bulbs or candles. Cool color temperatures in the green and blue range feel weird, especially at night.

2700K

Poor CRI = Sickly Skin Tones Color rendering index is a measure of how well a bulb compares to a perfect light source. The perfect light source is usually the sun or an incandescent bulb. An 80 CRI is 80% as good as a perfect light source. That’s the minimum you want to buy. If a bulb has a 90 CRI or higher, you probably won’t be able to tell the difference between it and an incandescent. Poor CRI = Sickly Skin Tones

90+ CRI No CRI on the package? It’s probably lousy. Color rendering index is a measure of how well a bulb compares to a perfect light source. The perfect light source is usually the sun or an incandescent bulb. An 80 CRI is 80% as good as a perfect light source. That’s the minimum you want to buy. If a bulb has a 90 CRI or higher, you probably won’t be able to tell the difference between it and an incandescent. No CRI on the package? It’s probably lousy.

Really Nice Label 90+ CRI 2700K There are a bunch of different label designs, this is one of the best that I have seen. Just about everything you need to know about the bulb is on here, but note the 2700K and 90+ CRI.

Energy Smart Home Performance Two Numbers 2700K 90+ CRI Nate Adams Energy Smart Home Performance nate@energysmartohio.com We’ll end here. Look for 2700K color temperature and 90+ CRI. The odds are you’ll love the bulb. Don’t buy a ton at a time, though. You may literally have this bulb when you die, choose carefully. Buy one or two, try them out. If you like them, buy a bunch. Remember, 2700K and 90+ CRI.

OSU Green Home Workshop 5-16-17 Energy Smart Home Performance Residential Lighting: How to Determine the Most Energy Efficient Technology for Your Needs OSU Green Home Workshop 5-16-17 Nate Adams Energy Smart Home Performance nate@energysmartohio.com