Enter your number of bulbs and daily usage hours to see annual savings from switching to LED.
A 60W incandescent bulb is typically replaced by an 8-9W LED for the same brightness — roughly an 85% reduction in energy use per bulb.
Incandescent bulbs waste roughly 90% of their energy as heat rather than light, while LEDs convert most of their energy directly to light — the wattage difference for equivalent brightness is the entire story behind the savings. Bulb lifespan differences (LEDs typically lasting 15-25× longer) add further savings not captured here.
The physics behind this savings gap is straightforward: incandescent bulbs generate light as a byproduct of heating a filament, wasting roughly 90% of input energy as heat rather than light, while LEDs generate light far more directly with much less waste heat — which is also why LED bulbs stay cool to the touch and incandescents don't.
They're designed to be roughly equivalent in lumens (brightness) — the wattage difference reflects efficiency, not a dimmer bulb.
No — this shows only ongoing electricity cost; LED bulbs typically cost more per bulb but last so much longer that the total cost of ownership, including replacements, still favors LED heavily.
Published LED lifespans (often 15,000-25,000+ hours) generally hold up well in real-world use for quality bulbs, though heat buildup in fully enclosed fixtures can shorten actual lifespan somewhat compared to open fixtures.