And here's where I piss off the tree humpers.

Don't get me wrong. I love the planet and I do try my best to save the planet. But I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon when each and every new thing pops up. And I'm not going to be pressured into it just because it's Earth Day.

I speak of the new LED Lights from Phillips.

These bulbs are energy efficient at a really low 10 watts per hour consumption, last 30,000 hours (at 4 hours usage per night that's 20.54 years), give you 900 lumens (the light of a standard 60 watt bulb), and costs between $50 and $60.

Fuck. That.

Let's meet the contenders and crunch some numbers.

60 Watt Incandescent, 860 Lumens, 60 watts/hour, 1,500 hour lifespan (1 year), $1.00
60 Watt equivalent CFL bulb, 900 Lumens, 13 watts/hour, 10,000 hour lifespan (6.84 years), $3.00
60 Watt equivalent LED bulb, 900 Lumens, 10 watts/hour 30,000 hour lifespan (20.54 years, $50.00

Cost per 20 years:
60-watt at one year life will need one bulb per year at a total cost of $20
CFL will need three bulbs to get me to the 20 year mark at a total cost of $9
LED only needs the one bulb costing $50

CFL for the win.

20-Year Energy Usage (based on $0.09 per kilowatt for my area):
60-watt - 1,752 Kilowatts - $157.68
CFL - 379.6 Kilowatts - $34.16
LED - 292 Kilowatts - $26.28

LED for the win there.

Savings over Incandescent:
60-watt (no savings)
CFL - $123.52
LED - $131.40

LED gets the nod there as well.

Return on Investment:
60-watt (n/a)
CFL - $6.18 savings per year over 60-watt, meaning that the savings pay for the bulb in about 6 months.
LED - $6.56 savings per year, savings pay for the bulb in 7.62 years.

CFL for the win.

Now mind you that I'm not arguing that the LED's would be the best way to go all around. Take my situation for example. I live in a house with 22 fixtures that are running the CFL's. If I were to switch to the LED's I'd be saving an additional 4.38 kilowatts and $8.80 per year over the CFL's...

But I'd have to spend $1,100 to replace every light in my house to do it.

Or I can pay $66 to replace all my lights (which I have already done). Sure the LED is better, but until the price drops down to something a little more reasonable, it's a battle for inches that's not really worth it to the average consumer.

Drop that price to something reasonable and we'll switch over. Until then I'm still a lot greener than I used to be and to be honest, I think I'm green enough.