What’s the big deal with LED strip lights anyway? Let’s be honest. Sometimes we can get so caught up in the beauty and aesthetics of our home lighting fixtures that we forget to add into our design the practical purposes of light. Not only does light allow us to see things clearly, but it also provides protection from the dangers hiding in the dark. We want to protect you and your family, so we offer lighting options and tips to help keep you safe.

Here’s what you need to know about LED strip lights:

LED strip lighting is an amazing technology that comes in different variations, but most have the same basic features: a continuous strip of thin and flexible LED lights on a flexible circuit board. They usually come on a reel or roll and can be adhered to almost any surface. Some options come with a fixed color and brightness while others allow for custom variations of both. Their safety comes from their low voltage power requirement and the versatility of adding lighting nearly anywhere that could be dangerous in the dark, offering additional safety for your loved ones at home.

In caring for seniors, ensuring an adequately lit living space can go a long way in preventing falls and other accidents. This is best done with motion-detecting lights that make it easy to light the space when someone enters. Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults.  Approximately one in four U.S. residents aged 65 years (or older) report falling each year.

Adequate lighting is also important for accident-prone individuals such as infants and young children. When lighting a home for these individuals, it’s important to place the lighting in key locations, as lighting from the ceiling and walls may not reach certain areas.

It’s best to mount them in places where the strip itself can be hidden but the light can provide a nice effect. Many people like mounting them under or behind unique structures to highlight interesting shapes or features of furniture or designs that would otherwise be ignored. But remember, safety is the first priority!

Here are some of our favorite places to use LED strip lights:

Kitchen

With sharp objects and hot surfaces, the kitchen can be a dangerous place for anyone. Having adequate lighting from top to bottom will help prevent accidents and keep you safe. Add LED strips under your kitchen cabinets that meet the floor—this area is known as the toe kick. This kind of lighting looks especially great under a kitchen island and makes those midnight snack runs or middle of the night drinks far less dangerous. 

Add safety lights for home kitchen

Bathroom

Much like the kitchen, installing toe kick lights adds a really beautiful effect while illuminating an otherwise pitch black area. This lighting allows for a clear view of the floor and helps prevent toe bumps and even slips and falls on those half asleep trips to the bathroom.

Try these easy-install LED tape strips

Stairs

Accident-prone or not, stairs present a hazard in any home. One misstep can send grandparents, kids, and even the rest of us clumsy folk tumbling, so add LED strip lights to the front, back, or side edge of each step to light the way as you walk. This way, each step is clearly seen and cannot be missed.

Try these affordable LED tape lights for your staircase

Outdoors

With the right outdoor LED strip lights, you and your loved ones can enjoy the evenings with the confidence that you are protected from falls, burglars, and even unwanted pests. Place the lights around a central structure like a grill, or use multiple strips to illuminate the ceiling, posts, and steps of your patio.

Find great deals on outdoor lighting here

Walls and Ceiling

The space where your wall and ceiling meet may not be very hidden per se, but is not immediately noticeable at first glance. By placing LED strip lights around this perimeter, you can essentially light the entirety of the room in a fairly discreet way.

Light your home with this LED strip

Staying Safe

LED lighting is a life-changing invention for the vision-impaired. LED lights are bright while still being easy on the eyes and present a lower fire hazard than other lighting options. With such a high risk of falls among the elderly, and dangers lurking in every dark corner, lighting your home for safety and efficiency must be a priority. Quickly add an LED strip anywhere more light is needed and reduce the risk of accident for the people you care about.

Shop at our store

It’s a fair question! I’ve seen their ups and downs, so let me tell you my experiences with the bulbs. When one of the first PAR30 bulbs came out, one of my clients invested a small fortune filling every can light in his home with those bulbs.  Supposedly, they were rated for 50,000 hours (about 20 years of life), but within the first year, he’d already lost one bulb. The second year, two more bulbs burned out. 

The Evolution of LED

So are LED lights a bust? Hang with me for the rest of the story. Over the years that followed, the industry went crazy about LEDs and the progress was astounding. Infamous hot-to-the-touch energy-sucking halogen bulbs were replaced by clean, crisp LED bulbs. 

Similarly, some LED fixtures, such as the standard A-19 lamp, even have a clever filament-imitation inside the bulbs. This way, they provide all the functional benefits of LED lighting, while still catering to traditional expectations of how residential-use bulbs should look.

Function and Form

But does that mean LED lights are all style, with disappointing results? Actually, thanks to a few more years of trial and error, today’s LED’s are reliable, affordable, very functional and save lots of energy. They decrease wattage use and offer options all over the Kelvin scale (varying light color temperatures).  Almost any fixture can be fitted for LED bulbs, and most manufacturers recommend them for new fixtures.

Let’s Check the Math Out

A traditional incandescent bulb runs at 60 watts and will last a year with average use in a home, and average energy costs nationwide add up to $.15 per kWh (kilowatt hour).  A typical American home has approximately 50 light bulbs and run an average of 3 hours per day, requiring roughly 270 kWh to power those bulbs and need to be changed every 6-8 months. 

Check out the annual costs of incandescent bulbs in both a home. The results will surprise you. 

Lighting Costs in an average Home:

Incandescent Bulb Cost

$1.50 ea bulb x 73 bulbs (based on average life) =

 $109.50

Incandescent Energy Cost

60 watts x 3 hours x 365 days x 50 bulbs=3.3 million-watt hours (3,285 kWh) =

$493

Total Incandescent Cost Per Year in a Home $602.50 

LED Energy Costs

At home: 9 watts x 3 hours x 365 days x 50 bulbs = 492k watt hours (492 kWh) =

 $73.80 per year

LED Bulb Cost

$3.50 ea bulb x 7.5 bulbs (based on average life) =

 $26.25 per year

Total LED Cost Per Year in a Home $100.05 

Average LED Savings

$502.45 per year

Replacing your incandescent bulbs with energy efficient, longer-lasting bulbs save you an average of $502.45 in a typical size American home. Larger homes, or homes where power cost exceeds $.15 per kWh would see an even more dramatic savings. Not to mention that LED bulbs usually last much longer than incandescent bulbs and will save you the cost of constantly buying new bulbs. 

These bulbs have finally become what they were intended to be—beautiful, functional, long-lasting, affordable bulbs.  All the things you want in a light bulb! So, are LED’s worth the money? Now that we’re past their beginning stages… Absolutely. 

Who doesn’t like the idea of saving some extra money? Maybe you want to save up for a fun trip to Disney World or buy a new car. What if we told you can save money by doing something as simple as changing out the light bulbs in your home?

No, it may not give you all the cash you need to get to Disney World, but it’s a great start.

Changing the light bulbs in your home to ones that provide more energy efficient lighting can provide some great benefits and save you money.

Before we dive into how you can put some extra coin in your pocket, let’s talk about the different kinds of lights you can put into your home. Things are about to get a little more technical so, safety glasses on everyone.

CFL vs. LED vs. Incandescent

Let’s take a look at the differences between these 3 types of lighting.

CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lights)

• Creates ultraviolet light that turns into visible light
• Takes longer to warm up
• Use 70% less energy than LED
• Last years longer than traditional bulbs

LED (Light Emitting Diodes)

• Instant light
• Can be dimmed
• Last longer than CFL
• Higher cost
• Use 95% of electricity for light

Incandescent

• Known as the traditional light bulbs
• Slowly being phased out
• Complete ban takes place in 2020
• Burns 97% of electricity as heat (which makes your house warmer)
• Shorter life span

As you can see, incandescent lighting, though still viable is not as great an option as CFL and LED. More energy efficient lighting such as CFL and LED are the better choices for your home and your wallet. To see a breakdown of the costs for each of these lights, check out this article.

Essentially, LED lights are going to cost you the least amount of money in the long run. They may be more expensive upfront, however their cost is continuing to drop. According to The Simple Dollar, by changing 20 of your incandescent light bulbs in your home to LED, you could save up to $3,260 over the course of 23 years. CFLs are still cost effective and provide great benefits so it’s really up to you which one you prefer.

Now that we’re done with the technical talk, safety glasses off everyone. Let’s look into the benefits of changing the light bulbs in your home to more energy efficient lighting, why it’s a good investment and how to do it:

Longer Lasting Lights

Spending a little more cash upfront for lighting will actually save you money in the long run. When you purchase higher quality lights that last longer you are not running back and forth to the store every few months when a bulb burns out. Most bulbs offer energy efficient lighting that can last you years before you have to replace them again.

Lower Utility Bills

Way back in the old days there weren’t as many choices of light bulbs. Most people would just visit the store and pick up a new bulb whenever one burned out.

Now, most light bulb technology is extremely efficient when it comes to saving energy. Efficient lighting doesn’t burn out as quickly, which means it’s also not emitting as much energy as the older bulbs. In turn, you receive lower utility bills.

If you have incandescent lighting in your home, it can actually increase your utility bill not only for the amount of energy it uses, but also for how much heat it releases. Because incandescent lights can get so hot, it heats up your house more which makes your AC work harder to cool everything down, thus increasing your utility bill.  

You may be thinking: Well, my current energy bill isn’t really costing me all that much, so why would changing my light bulbs make that big of a difference?

To which we answer: small savings can make a big difference over time.

Think about it: let’s say you save $10.00 per month just from changing a few bulbs in your home. Over the course of a year, you’d be saving yourself $120.00 which still may not seem like a lot of money. However, over time, it adds up to quite a bit and before you know it, you’ll be able to try that extra fancy restaurant you’ve been eyeing. Or better yet, you can buy even more energy efficient lighting for your home!

Better for the Environment

Not only will you be saving some money when you change your bulbs for more efficient lighting, but you’ll also be saving the planet.

New light bulb technology has proven to last longer because it isn’t emitting as much energy which means it’s also producing less heat. Have you ever noticed how some bulbs can get so hot to the point where you don’t want to touch it for fear of burning yourself? Sometimes even just sitting under a lamp with an outdated bulb can bring the heat and make you uncomfortable.

Energy efficient lighting isn’t going to overheat like other outdated light bulbs. Lower heat means it’s better for the environment which also means your house will stay at a manageable temperature. And like we said before, this will save you money on utility costs when your AC isn’t blasting all day to try and lower the temperature of your home because your light bulbs are too hot.

Improve Your Productivity

It’s been shown that having better lighting can increase your productivity. Adding more energy efficient lighting to your workplace or home can help you focus more, have less eye strain and help you concentrate longer.

How To Do It

Hopefully, you’ve been convinced of the importance of switching out all the light bulbs in your home to more energy efficient lighting, here’s a few ways of how to do it:

One Room at a Time

Investing in new light bulbs can be just that: an investment. If you’re not wanting to dish out all of the money at once, you can start by changing the bulbs one room at a time.

You can also simply change the bulbs as soon as your old ones burn out. When you do, notice the difference the new lighting provides. Does it feel brighter? Less intense and easier on your eyes? These are just a few of the benefits you’ll gain when you switch to energy efficient lighting.

What about Wattage

If you’re going to spend some money on new lighting, it’s important you choose the right ones. Some light fixtures require different wattage amounts and picking the wrong one can lead to overheating and quicker burn out.

Not sure where to start with the watts? No problem. Lighting experts at All-Phasecan help you choose the correct bulbs for your home. You can visit our showroom for a lighting experience and see for yourself the vast difference energy efficient lighting can make in your home.

So how much can you really save with energy efficient lighting? Well, that’s up to you and how soon you want to change the bulbs out in your home.

Visit the All-Phasetoday for better lighting and a better way of living.