Vintage LED Savings Calculator

Today I’ll explain the very handy tool we have on our website: the Vintage LED Savings Calculator.

On the front page of the Vintage LED website you’ll find many links to our handy Savings Calculator, which quickly and simply demonstrates the savings you can achieve. The Calculator comes in two flavours: Basic and Detailed.

With the Basic Calculator, you simply need only input your number of light fittings, click ‘Calculate Savings’, and you will be presented with some results. These include:

• Cumulative running costs over the next three years, factoring in initial cost of installation.
• Total savings achieved over the next three years.
• Pay-off period, which is the time (in years) it will take before LED replacements begin to save you money.
• 3 year Return on Investment.

The Basic Calculator makes a number of assumptions, including that you are currently using 60W carbon filament bulbs. As such it is only roughly applicable to any given customer. Of course, there’s a reasonable chance you aren’t using those bulbs. This is where the Detailed Calculator comes in.

To illustrate how to use the Detailed Calculator, I’ll use our existing office as an example.

• No. of light fittings.
  • We currently have 12 light fittings.
• Details about your current bulbs, including Type and Wattage.
  • Our old bulbs were 60W carbon filaments – authentic hipster-grade power guzzlers!
• Usage of lamps. How many hours per day (on average); how many days per week; how many weeks per year?
  • Our lights are generally on for about 12 hours per day, 5 days per week, and we’re closed 2 weeks per year.
• Your current electricity rate. Generally lights are on at Peak times (especially in café or restaurant settings).
  • According to our power bill, our peak rate is $0.2202 per kWh.
• Replacement costs. This includes the cost per bulb of the LED solution you are interested in, and the cost of replacing your current bulb, of whatever type.
  • Chosen replacement is the A80 Filament Bulb, which are currently $44.95 each. Our old carbon filament bulbs were $17 each.

Once these details are complete, click ‘Calculate Savings’, and you will be presented with the same array of results. The difference is that these results will be more tailored to your particular usage and habits, and thus far more accurate.

In our case, the Savings Calculator that our LED solution will become cheaper after just one year, and over three years will generate savings of $1,668.42. Not too shabby.

Some other things to bear in mind:

• Our Savings Calculator uses a 3 year timeframe, but LED bulbs are rated for 30,000+ hours, and will often last at least 15 years. Over the longer term the savings will be much higher.
• As energy prices increase, the savings will only scale higher due to the far lower running costs of LED bulbs.
• Higher wattage carbon filament and other incandescent bulbs are progressively being phased out by governments around the world, including here in Australia. If you’re still using those you’ll probably have to switch to an alternative sooner or later. Why not sooner, and begin realising those savings?

It is our genuine belief that there has never been a better time to switch over to LED lights, given the spiralling costs of energy, the environmental impact of energy consumption, and the maturation of the technology itself. It has always made long-term financial sense to switch to from incandescent to LED lighting. Increasingly it makes sense even in the shorter term.