The honest dollar math
Incandescent bulbs cost about 1 dollar each and last 1,000 hours. LED bulbs cost 4 to 8 dollars and last 15,000 to 25,000 hours. The break-even point lands at around 2,000 hours of use, which is one year in a fixture you run six hours a day. After that, every hour is pure savings on the LED side.
Wattage and CFM-style math
| Output target | Incandescent | LED equivalent | Annual cost (6 hr/day) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 450 lumens | 40 W | 5 to 6 W | $4.40 (LED) vs $17.50 (incandescent) |
| 800 lumens | 60 W | 9 to 11 W | $8.00 (LED) vs $26.00 (incandescent) |
| 1100 lumens | 75 W | 12 to 14 W | $10.50 (LED) vs $32.00 (incandescent) |
| 1600 lumens | 100 W | 16 to 20 W | $15.00 (LED) vs $43.00 (incandescent) |
Numbers assume 14 cents per kWh. Multiply by your actual rate for the exact figure.
The three LED pitfalls
- Cheap LEDs have a low CRI (color rendering index). Below CRI 80, wood tones and skin look flat. Spend the extra dollar for CRI 90+.
- Dimmer compatibility. Not every LED works on every dimmer. Look for the explicit dimmer compatibility list on the bulb box.
- Color temperature drift. A bulb rated 2700K will drift to 3000K after a few years. Stick to reputable brands that bin their LEDs tighter.
When incandescent still wins
Three situations. Vintage-style exposed bulbs in a fixture where the bulb itself is the design element (Edison style, cage pendant). Heat-loving applications (a brooding lamp in a chicken coop, an oven bulb). And short-term holiday lighting that runs a few weeks per year.
How to pick the right LED
- Color temperature: 2700K to 3000K for living spaces, 3000K to 3500K for kitchens, 4000K only for task rooms.
- CRI: 90 or higher for any room where people gather.
- Beam angle: 360 degrees for table lamps, 120 degrees for pendants, narrow spot for accent lighting.
- Dimmable: only buy dimmable if you actually have a dimmer.
The fixture angle
Most of our wood and metal fixtures at LoryLAB are engineered around LED. They ship with integrated LED modules sized for the fixture. Adding a separate LED bulb only matters for the screw-in socket fixtures in our collection. Browse the LoryLAB Lighting collection to see which fixtures integrate the LED and which accept a bulb.
