Light em up

One of the first orders of business when we moved in was to change the light bulbs from energy-sucking heat-generating halogen bulbs to more efficient bulbs.  Halogen bulbs are slightly more efficient than traditional incadescents, but they can't a hold a candle (pun intended) to CFL or LED bulbs.



CFLs are a good choice because they are pretty cheap and almost as efficient as LEDs.  But they contain mercury, which means special care needs to be taken when disposing of (recycling) them.  LED bulbs are bit easier to recycle since they don't have any hazardous materials, and with their longer life, we won't be disposing as much of them.

LEDs can be costly, but the $45 price tag that the above chart refers to is from when they first hit the market some years ago; they're cost has come down significantly since then.  Our bigger bulbs cost $17 from Ikea (see below), and smaller 60 watt equivalent bulbs made by Phillips were only around $6 a piece.

We were a little afraid the color of the light would be too "white" and harsh, but we were very happy with the resulting color of the light output:

The color was warm and looked just like the halogen bulbs they replaced.  

Let there be light!