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Smart Light Bulbs vs. Traditional Bulbs: A Comprehensive Comparison

24 July, 2024

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This article will provide a thorough comparison between smart light bulbs and traditional bulbs, highlighting the differences in functionality, energy efficiency, cost, and convenience.

Introduction

Lighting technology has continually evolved over the years, with changes beginning with fires, torches, and natural light to indoor candles, gas lamps, and then electrical lamps. The incandescent light was created in 1879, and gained popularity for burning thirteen hours at a time. In 1904 fluorescent lights came into popularity instead, followed by HID lamps. Today though, the most advanced version today is the LED light used for smart lights.

What Are Smart Light Bulbs?

Smart light bulbs are LED bulbs used with smart switches or outlets. Smart light bulbs are known for their energy efficiency, long term cost savings, convenience, and functionality.

Energy Efficiency

The cost of investing in smart light bulbs might be expensive up front, especially if you are converting from regular switches and outlets.

Comparison of energy consumption between smart and traditional bulbs

Smart light bulbs come with more energy efficiency compared to traditional bulbs. Smart plugs and smart switches rely on LED bulbs and LED bulbs use an average of 85% less energy compared to traditional bulbs.

How is this possible?

Traditional light bulbs, incandescent light bulbs, use a lot of energy because of the amount of heat that gets dispelled from the bulb. Most of the energy consumed by a traditional light bulb, in fact, is wasted in this manner so it doesn’t get converted into light that you get to enjoy but rather into heat that dissipates into the room.

How do smart light bulbs work and save money on electricity bills?

Smart light bulbs save money on electricity bills because they are more efficient. They function as directional light, which means that they send light in a specific direction so you can control how well your room is and use fewer lights to optimize the lighting in your space. This can be a much better option compared to incandescent lights, the direction of which can’t be controlled and often requires additional lights just to achieve the same brightness.

Cost Comparison

If you look at a cost comparison you’ll see that smart light bulbs cost more upfront but they save you more long-term.

Initial cost of smart bulbs vs. traditional bulbs

A traditional incandescent light bulb can cost around $2 per bulb compared to the $7 per bulb you might pay for an LED smart light bulb.

Long-term cost savings due to energy efficiency and longer lifespan

Investing in energy smart light bulbs saves you quite a bit of money long term. Even though they might cost more upfront, they last an average of 15 times longer which means you save 15 times the amount of money you would spend replacing traditional incandescent bulbs on a regular basis by investing in an LED bulb once.

So the longer lifespan saves you money despite the upfront cost and the energy savings from a smart light bulb using significantly less than traditional incandescent saves you even more.

Value-added features of smart bulbs justifying the higher initial cost

There are also value-added features of smart bulbs that can justify this higher initial cost. When you initially learn how to install Smart light bulbs, you’ll realize that it’s more than just the bulb; it’s the smart plugs and the smart switches that allow you to make adjustments, use things like timers, and set schedules. All three of these things control the amount of energy used, how bright the light is, and how often it is turned on. These features might come at a higher cost initially, but they save you a great deal of money down the line.

light bulbs on blue paper

Convenience and Functionality

As mentioned, you can find an array of features associated with smart light bulbs.

Remote control and automation features of smart bulbs

One of the biggest benefits is the remote control and automation features. These include:

  1. Being able to remotely control your lights from your smartphone or another device. This means you don’t have to be at home to turn the lights on or off. Did you get a ping to your smartphone that some of the lights were left on in the house when you went to work? Turn them off remotely.
  2. Being able to set a timer for your lights. If you don’t want to deal with remembering to turn lights on or off, you can set schedules based on when you are home. These schedules, in some cases, can extend to things like the brightness you have, contingent upon how bright it is in the room, saving you even more.

Integration with voice assistants

Smart light bulbs also bring options for integration with voice assistance. You can incorporate your smart plugs and switches with corresponding LED smart bulbs into things in your home like:

  1. Alexa
  2. Google Assistant
  3. Siri

This makes it possible to control the lights that are turned on or off as you enter or leave a room with just your voice. You can also control things like dimming and brightness without having to leave your seat.

Scheduling and customization options with smart bulbs

As mentioned, there are scheduling and customization options with smart bulbs. depending on the switches and the outlets you have, you can create a schedule for when you want your lights to turn on and off. This schedule can be adjusted based on the time of year or whether it’s a weekday versus a weekend. Other customization options might include setting a feature to adjust based on the natural lighting in the room.

Installation and Setup

Learning how to install smart light bulbs is fairly easy. As mentioned, there are smart plugs and switches and these use LED bulbs. If you already have Smart plugs and switches installed, figuring out how to install smart light bulbs is easy because you just unscrew the light bulb that’s in there and put in an LED bulb.

Conclusion

Overall, energy smart light bulbs come at a higher upfront investment, but one that saves significant money over time due to the longer lifespan and better functionality. If you are trying to choose between smart and traditional bulbs, consider your budget, whether you use integrated Bluetooth functions like Alexa or Siri, and what automation features are important to you.