LED bulbs have come quite a long way since their first iteration--in fact, some of the first LED bulbs were invented in the 60s and cost a whopping 200 dollars per bulb!! Read on for what to expect in today's LED bulbs and why we recommend switching your halogen bulbs out for them.
LED bulbs give off what's called a "wattage equivalent", meaning they give an amount of light that would be equal to the VISUAL wattage of an old style halogen bulb. Say you switch a 65-watt halogen bulb (which pulls 65 watts and creates 65 visual watts of light) in your house for a 65 watt EQUIVALENT LED bulb: The new LED bulb would only pull an actual 9 watts for the equivalent of 65 visual watts, saving you SIX TIMES more heat and power were you to use a traditional halogen bulb!
Some of you may believe that LED bulbs only offer a certain light tone, but fret not, today's LED bulbs offer a variety of different color temperatures. The most commonly used LED bulb nowadays is almost visually exact to the halogen bulbs used back in the day which would be labeled as “soft white” or “warm white," which is a nice yellowish tone. Any brighter than that would be labeled “daylight" and is also available if desired. Nonetheless, LEDs will save you energy in the long run and save your fixtures from crackling and turning a nasty brown from the excess heat halogen bulbs pull.
As a "Not LED related" bonus suggestion: In addition to replacing halogen bulbs with LED bulbs, an extra recommendation would be adding motion detector switches for bathrooms. These can aid guests and homeowners when using the facilities without needing to search for a light switch; the lights will simply come off and on automatically with a pre set time limit.
We hope this was helpful--thanks for reading!
Andrew & team
Gloudeman Electric, LLC