# Will Halogen bulbs ever pay for themselves? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-halogen-bulbs-ever-pay-for-themselves/619653 "2012-04-23T02:13:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-halogen-bulbs-ever-pay-for-themselves/619653/21 "2012-04-24T01:06:36Z")
LEDs are expensive to buy but the economics do make a lot of sense. LEDs “last” 25,000 hours (defined as the point where the lamp will probably be 70% brightnesss). A 12.5 watt replaces a 60 watt incandescent for a savings of 47.5 watts, at 8 cents a k/w hour that’s close to $100 saved for a $25 bulb. If you wanted to you could probably keep using it even as a replacement for a 40 watt bulb for a while longer. Maybe a good comparison would be bulb+energy costs per 25K hours: 60 watt incandescents: $10.00 bulbs + $120 energy= $130 48 watt halogen: $50 bulbs + $92 energy = $142 15 watt CFL: $8.00 bulbs + $30 energy = $38 12.5 watt LED: $25 bulb + $25 energy = $50 Unsurprising conclusion -LEDs and CFLs both save a ton of money if you can put up with their drawbacks. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-halogen-bulbs-ever-pay-for-themselves/619653/22 "2012-04-24T01:11:46Z")
> [@Mdcastleman](#): > > I know halogen bulbs have an extra capsule inside where the actual bulb is , but I see conventional bulbls on sale for a quarter, so I don’t see how a halogen bulb is 8 times more difficult/expensive to manufacture. The capsule is quartz or a special high-temperature glass, not cheap soda-lime glass, so it adds substantially to the price. As for the savings, it depends on where you live. I pay around $0.34/kW-h, so halogen bulbs are a no-brainer. LED is even better. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-halogen-bulbs-ever-pay-for-themselves/619653/23 "2012-04-24T01:31:50Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > So which type of the “new” bulbs last longer and are more efficient? LED’s or CFL’s? I’ve replaced just about every incandescent bulb in my house with CFL’s but I generally dislike the “shade” of light they produce. I like LED’s output and coloration more, but aren’t they quite a bit more expensive than CFL’s right now? They are more expensive, but the difference is small to insignificant in the long run. The best LED bulb on the market is currently the Philips AmbientLED series. It’s a little more efficient than the equivalent CFL. So: 75 W - 17 W = 58 W savings 58 W \* 25000 / 1000 = 1450 kWh savings over the lifetime If you are lucky enough to have $0.08/kWh electricity, that comes to $116 gross savings. The bulb costs about $40 at Home Depot, so the net is $76. A decent quality CFL costs around $2 and lasts 10,000 hours. It requires more like 20 W for the same output. So: 75 W - 20 W = 55 W 55 W \* 10000 / 1000 = 550 kWh lifetime savings 550 kWh \* $0.08/kWh = $44 So, $42 over the lifetime. Over the same period as the LED, that’s $105. That’s more than the LED, but not by that much. The LED light quality is much better. If you pay what I do ($0.34/kWh), the respective savings is $453 vs. $462. In fact, the LED probably wins out if you include the warm-up time on the CFL where you don’t get full brightness immediately. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-halogen-bulbs-ever-pay-for-themselves/619653/24 "2012-04-24T01:54:38Z")
I started using halogens long before the incandescent ‘ban’ because of their long life and wonderful light quality. At the places I shop (grocery store, Walmart, Target, hardware store) there is NO alternative to CFLs so I have to buy my bulbs online. They run about 2.50 shipped but I really have no choice. The halogens disappeared from store shelves shortly after the incandescent bulbs did much to my regret. Of course special use incandescent bulbs still exist for special purposes in stores. Bob [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-halogen-bulbs-ever-pay-for-themselves/619653.md?page=1)