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In most
of our cost savings examples shown on this site, we look
strictly at wattage and bulb replacement savings because
that's where the meat is and we want to be conservative when
comparing options. Savings associated with switching to LED
lights do not need to be sold...they sell themselves and our
job is to present the information clearly and get out of the
way. Smart people will see the opportunity right away.
There is one piece however that we need to mention even it
is not included in our cost estimates. Government rebates
and tax treatment. Once you have changed over your lighting
to high efficiency LED lights, it's time to look at what
government is doing to reward you for an already rewarding
choice.
The first place to go is
here.
You can find a collection of government rebates across
Federal, State, and Local levels. We linked directly to the
"Search" feature since it's the best way to narrow the
rebates available to you. Rebates are typically
administered through the local utility which makes sense
since power originates there. There are three main
classifications of rebates to look for.
Rebate
per KWH. This is a measure of electricity usage and it
breaks down into a 1000 watts of energy used for 1 hour.
This is about as direct you can get. The government body
will rebate back to you a certain amount of money (such as 6
cents) usually for KWH's saved. Since LED lights can drop
wattage consumption and therefore KWH by 90%+, savings can
be significant. This is a rebate on the net difference in
total energy usage that a switch to LED lights saves. It's
also the gift that may keep on giving as it's not related to
fixed purchase cost but ongoing energy usage. One 60 watt
bulb used 10 hours a day for 365 days a year would consume
219 KWH in a year. Our 3 watt LED replacement would consume
10 KWH in a year with the same usage. The rebate on the
difference with a 6 cent value would $12.48 alone. That's
only one bulb and this is in addition to energy and
replacement savings. That's the first rebate to look at in
your State.
Rebate
per lamp. This is a rebate usually of a fixed dollar amount
per high efficiency LED light purchased. It can run from $1
to $20 for standard commercial and residential lights. This
rebate is a one time amount at time of purchase but still
significantly offsets the higher costs of LED lights so can
recoup the savings more quickly with energy savings and less
replacement costs.
Rebate
per square foot. This generally applies to commercial LED
light installations but it's impressive. You may be looking
at 60 cents per square foot rebate for new installs as in
California. That's sizeable. Not to belittle anyone's math
but for a 10,000 sq ft building with full LED switchover,
that's $6K rebate on top of KWH and per lamp bulbs.
Finally, there can be accelerated depreciation for LED
lights which normally have a 5 year schedule.
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