A new, cheap light bulb!

Okay, so most people don't get that excited about new light bulbs; in fact almost no one does. And generally speaking I don't either. I switched to CFL lights about a decade ago and have never thought much about it. It saved me some money every month both from using less energy and not having to change the bulbs as often. But I'll save this for another post.

The biggest problem I had with using a CFL bulb was outside lighting. On the front of my house there is an outside motion sensor light and it helps quite a bit when you're coming home and need to find the right key to get in the door. However CFL's weren't working with this light. We live in Kentucky where you get a full range of weather from really hot (105ºF/40ºC) to really cold (-5ºF/-20ºC) and when the temperature dropped so did the light output of the bulb. Of course a normal CFL isn't designed to be put in extreme conditions (or turned on and off frequently). I could have switched to a CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp) but they aren't easily available in my area.

So for the past six months or so I've been using the remaining incandescent bulbs I had around the house. A few days ago when I went to take the dog out, Pow, the last bulb went kabluey. CCFL's are available now but I wanted something better. I've been making the change to the even more energy efficient LED bulbs and I figured now was my chance. I immediately ran into a few problems. The outdoor LED lights are floodlights and they run upwards of $70! I went to Lowe's anyway and found a Sylvania 50-watt LED outdoor floodlight on clearance for $13 (they are normally around $30). The package had some mild damage but I didn't mind.

This light has an estimated cost of $1.32 per year and a life of 46 years! So in the course of 46 years it will cost me about $60 to run this light. A 50-watt light bulb would cost me $215 to run for that long not to mention the amount of times I would have to change it out. It looks a bit strange (see picture below) but it serves its purpose. And when they come out with a light that is a bit more fitting, I can move this light and use it for many years to come.