One of the easiest but most impactful changes you can make in an older home is to replace old incandescent recessed lighting with modern, energy-efficient LED retrofit lighting fixtures. This not only benefits the environment but also your wallet, almost immediately. And it's literally as easy as screwing in a light bulb.
Why Switch to LED Retrofit Recessed Lighting?
LED lighting, known for its energy efficiency, durability, and high-quality light output, uses significantly less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. This results in considerable savings on electricity bills. Moreover, LEDs have a longer lifespan, reducing the frequency of replacements.
When we moved into our home a few years ago, it came with 48 can light fixtures that all housed 65W incandescent bulbs. As the lighting world has moved away from incandescents, it has become increasingly expensive to replace these kinds of bulbs. A 2-pack was costing us $22. We finally found some bulk purchase options, which got the cost down to $5 per bulb. Still, it hurt our wallet every time one of them burnt out, and we were replacing about half of the bulbs every year.
We had contemplated switching to LED bulbs but always preferred the softer lighting from incandescents. However, we figured that the technology must have improved. We tested out a bunch of different options and landed on one that we really liked, which is detailed below (jump here if you're in a hurry).
Saving $400+ per Year!
Switching from 48 incandescent bulbs (65W each) to LED fixtures (13W each) delivers substantial savings on out energy usage:
Energy Usage Comparison
Incandescent bulbs: 48 x 65W = 3120W
LED bulbs: 48 x 13W = 624W
Energy reduction per hour = 2496W
Annual Savings
Daily savings: 7.488 kWh (conservatively assuming 3 hours of use)
Annual savings: 2733.12 kWh
Financial savings: $327.97/year (conservatively assuming $0.12/kWh)
To estimate your own savings, you can use the LED Energy Savings Calculator calculator below.
On top of the energy savings, we also save money by not having to replace bulbs for 7 years, which is the length of the warranty on our long-lasting LED fixtures.
Cost of Incandescent Replacement Bulbs
Incandescent bulbs replaced: 24 replaced every year x 7 years = 168 bulbs
Cost per bulb: $5
Total cost of replacement bulbs: $840
Cost of new LED Fixtures
# of Replacement Fixtures: 48
Cost per Fixture: $5 (yes, they're only $5 apiece!)
Total cost of new LED Fixtures: $240
Financial savings over 7 years: $600
Financial savings per year: $86.71/year
So our total savings per year with the switch is over $400! That's from adding up the $330 per year of savings from less energy usage and $87 per year of amortized savings on the hardware!
Best LED Retrofit Kit
Research the LED Retrofit Kit that has the look and lighting options you want
We went on Amazon and bought 3 of the top-rated options with the recessed look we wanted, ones with a real recess as opposed to some of the flat options where the light is more flush with the ceiling.
We wanted options that had a range of lighting so we could optimize the brightness for different rooms. Plenty of fixtures can switch among a range of brightness levels, e.g. 2700K/3000K/3500K/4000K/5000K. These numbers don't match up with wattage, but most of the listings have images of the light, so you can get a sense of what 2700K (warmer) vs. 5000K (whiter) looks like. That's tough to convey in a picture, so we wanted to test them out at home to see how they looked in rooms with varying levels of natural light.
We ultimately picked the Sunco Retrofit LED Recessed Lighting 6-inch model, which we thought looked the best and gave the softest, warm light. You can switch the light temperature on all the devices when installing, and we've kept them all at the lowest setting. The cheaper models do require you to pull the fixture down from the ceiling and move a switch on the back to change levels, but we just keep them all at the lowest level all the time. In some rooms, we also have dimmer switches, and these fixtures are dimmable.
How to Install an LED Retrofit Kit
The process of upgrading to LED is one of the easiest home improvement projects given how LED retrofit kits are designed. If you're just not comfortable, you should always use a registered electrician.
Safety First: Always turn off the power at the breaker before starting, and have the switch turned off as well. Obviously, the bulb should no longer be on. Remember to let it cool before touching it as well!
Remove the Old Bulb and Trim: Unscrew the incandescent bulb. If you've got a voltage tester, you can wave it near the socket to confirm the power is out. Once that's set, you can slowly pull down the trim to remove the housing of the lighting fixture from the ceiling. Most recessed lighting fixtures are attached with v-shaped torsion springs (see image below) which you can squeeze to remove the fixture.
Install the new LED Retrofit Kit: These kits are connected to your old fixture via a socket that looks just like the bottom of an incandescent bulb (also in image below). So you just screw that in, and then connect the new fixture using v-shaped torsion springs, and push the trim up the ceiling so that it is secure.
Test your lighting. Once it's fully installed, go ahead and turn the breaker back on, flip the switch, and enjoy the savings!
Conclusion on LED Retrofit Kits
Switching to LED lighting is not just an environmentally conscious decision but also a financially smart one. With easy installation and significant savings in energy costs, it's an ideal time to upgrade. Among the various options available, WattSherpa highly recommends Sunco Retrofit LED Recessed Lighting. If you click this link to purchase the device, we will get a small fee for the recommendation. We happily purchased 48 of them ourselves after testing many options, but you are always welcome to navigate to purchase these lights or other options on your own. Either way, we hope you consider making the switch to LED lighting if you haven't already!
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