Smash Those Incandescents. LEDs Really Do Save Money.

Do me a favor, will you?

Walk around your house, and find all your incandescent bulbs. Remove them all from their fixtures, take them outside, and smash them. Smash them into tiny pieces.  

(Warning: before any smashing, double check that the lamp is not a compact fluorescent bulb. Those contain mercury, and must be recycled. If you have any doubts, bring them to your local hardware store or municipal waste facility and ask there. But once you’re sure that they’re incandescents, smash them! It’s fun.)

I know that it seems absolutely crazy. You’re taking perfectly good, working bulbs, and smashing them into bits. What a waste, right?

No!

Do it.

Why?

• You like saving energy, right?
• You like saving money, right?

Smash them all.

Take the time to double check that you got all the incandescents. Look in your recessed lights in your kitchen, your bathroom fixtures, and those shelves where you keep the ancient stack of spare incandescents you bought on special at the hardware store.

We here at Sense were faced with this exact situation recently. While packing to relocate to our beautiful new office, we found a box of old bulbs in the basement. And what did we do?

Now, go to your local hardware store and buy yourself some LED bulbs. Ask about discounted bulbs and rebate opportunities. Many states offer rebates or deeply discounted LED bulbs, subsidized by your utility company. New LEDs are flicker-free, most are dimmable, and they are available in many color temperatures, so you won't have to sacrifice the "warmth" that's often associated with incandescents. Try bulbs in the 2700K-3000K range, and avoid the 5000K bulbs unless you want that "industrial clean room" feel.

There are also some magnificent new styles of LED bulbs these days. Love the vintage Edison bulb look? Get a LED filament bulb!  Have a specialty bulb in your bathroom fixture? LEDs are available in practically any shape or size.  Have a 3-way bulb in a table lamp? There are LED bulbs compatible with those fixtures as well. Sense even integrates with Philips Hue lighting now, making it possible to monitor your LED lights, and turn them on and off right from the Sense app.

Once you’re done, use your Sense monitor to check your energy usage, and you should be able to see an immediate reduction in your total wattage when using your lights. How very Sense-ible of you!