An Investment In Home Energy Efficiency Better Than Wall Street?

Faith in the stock market is at an all time low, with protest rallies going on around the world and investors suffering from crippling losses in their retirement portfolios. Maybe it's now time to start investing in "Your Street" instead of Wall Street. Here is one investment that you can make that offers a guaranteed payback of up to 500% or more.

It's Not Always How Much Money You Earn, It's How Much You Don't Have To Spend!

One of the great American fallacies is that the "more you earn, the better you live". It has to be true, right? How else would all those Real Housewives and NFL players be able to live so well? Sadly, many celebrities end up flat broke and filing for bankruptcy after a few years, when their superstar incomes begin to fall. The most common reason for this is that they continued to spend like rock stars late into their careers, even as their incomes declined,

Many working class people have adjusted their spending habits after suffering salary cuts, job losses, loss of home equity, etc, yet they still have big leaks in their monthly budgets. One big leak in the typical American household budget is that of home energy bills. Most people tend to think that there is nothing that they can do about them, or if there was something they could do, it would mean a huge sacrifice. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

As I have demonstrated in my own home, and for my clients, as a licensed home inspector and certified RESNET Energy Rater, you can find a way to save energy in almost every home. I won't get into all of the ways you can invest in your home with a guaranteed profit, since I have written several Hubs about the subject, which you can browse below. I do want to mention one energy saving item, that will give you profits greater than just about any stock investment you can imagine.

LED Bulbs, No Mercury and Last Longer Than Compact Fluorescents

A few years ago, LED bulbs were very expensive. Now you can buy them all day long at home improvement stores and online for around $15 to $30. Still, many people balk at that price, and can't understand why anyone in their right mind would pay so much for a bulb when incandescent bulbs are so cheap. The fact is, that by converting your home to LED bulbs, you can save several thousand dollars. So called "warm white" LED bulbs give off normal, eye pleasing light, using a fraction of the electricity that incandescent bulbs, or even compact fluorescent bulbs use. Another great feature of LED's vs. compact fluorescents is that they contain no mercury.

How much profit can you earn on this investment? Let's do a little math and see..

Return On LED Bulb Investment

I recently converted my entire home to EarthLED ZetaLux 7 watt LED bulbs. These bulbs are guaranteed for 3 years, and have a life expectancy of more than 25,000 hours. Laboratory testing of LED bulbs has shown that most will still be working at 50,000 hours. Even at 25,000 hours, which is a conservative estimate, my LED bulbs will still be in use about 20 years from now, with about 3.5 hours of use a day. In that time the 20 bulbs I purchased for around $300 will save me, conservatively, over $2,200 over a twenty year time span, plus hundreds of dollars in bulb replacement costs. This is using the figure of ten cents per kWh (kilowatt hour), which is pretty low for most cities. In some places consumers pay over twenty cents per kWh.

Here is how we did the math. (Note, most people pay much more than ten cents per kWh.)

• Cost Of 20, 450 Lumen LED bulbs = $350
• 20 LED bulbs x 7 watts x 3 hours a day each = .420 kWh per day, or 12.6 kWh per month = 151.1 kWh per year = 3,024 kWh in 20 years = $302
• 20 Incandescent bulbs x 60 watts x 3 hours a day each = 3.6 kWh per day, or 108 kWh per month = 1,296 kWh per year = 25,920 kWh in 20 years = $2,592.
• Savings over incandescent bulbs = $2,290 in energy cost alone, plus another $800 or so worth of bulb replacement costs. If that's not a good investment, I don't know what is!

Note: Your payback is probably going to be much higher, since energy rates are going up each year. If energy rates keep up their present rate of increase, you could actually earn up to $7,000 or more on your $350 investment. Show me a guaranteed Wall Street investment that can do that and I'll quit my job.

Tips On Purchasing LED Bulbs

Look for "warm white" bulbs that give off light in the temperature range of 2,700K or Kelvin. These are very similar to incandescent bulbs in light quality. Since most LED bulbs radiate light in a 180 degree pattern, you can use those with less output (measured in Lumens), than incandescent bulbs in overhead fixtures such as ceiling fans. Look for brands that offer at least a three year warranty and a 25,000 hour life.

See some of my other Hubs below about how to make your home super energy efficient. You can also visit SaveGreenly for tips on how to reduce your home's energy use.

Would you spend $350 to save over $2,000? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.