LED vs. CFL: Which Bulb is Best?

The rapid progress in technology brought some innovations about lighting in our homes. At past, we used only incandescent lamps in our homes. After that we started to use compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) know as energy saving bulbs. CFL began to use in almost all homes.

While we get used to CFL, LED technology knocked our doors. That situation forces us to make a choice between LED bulbs and CFLs. Which one gives the brightest light? Which one offers longer service life? And lastly which one is cheaper?

If we use a general expression, LED bulbs which produced by today’s technology give brighter light per watt than CFLs. For instance, in order to get 1000 lumen light you need to use 10W LED bulb. But you can get this light with an 18W CFL. This means, LED bulb gives the same light with less energy consumption.

Most of the LED bulbs produced in our day are above the efficiency factor of 100 lm/W. We can say that the LEDs convert the electricity energy to light with higher efficiency.

When the LED bulbs came to the market they were sold at higher prices than previous generation bulbs. So it took some time to use it at homes. Today while you can buy an 18W CFL $1.5-$2.5, 10W LED bulb with same light output can be buy in the same price range.

If we compare them according to service life, while CFLs offer 8.000 hours service life, LEDs offers more than 25.000 hours. It means that, LED bulbs offer 20 years of service life by using it 3 hours a day.

Beside the purchasing cost, we should also calculate service life and electricity consumption in overall cost calculation.

LED bulbs have great advantage comparing to previous technology CFLs with its efficiency, long service life and price advantage. Technological developments show us that this difference will be more and more by time. Until a different technology emerges, the best available technology to illuminate our homes is considered as LED bulbs.

If you decided to buy a LED bulb, now you should make a choice about which LED bulb you will buy. You can read “How to Choose the Best LED Light Bulb” article in order to make better choice.