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There has been a lot written about the Phillips LED light bulb, to be sure, but unfortunately a lot of that information focused on the cost of the bulb rather than on the environmental impact that it could possibly have and the overall benefit to the consumer and the planet. So, rather than sit here and debate whether or not the new LED bulb is too expensive let’s instead take a look at some facts and figures that will show the actual impact that this will have on your home, your wallet and your world. The Environmental Benefit of the LED bulb. By switching one ‘regular’ bulb in your home to an LED bulb you will keep approximately a half ton of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere over the life of the bulb. You will also decrease the amount of sulfur oxide that is being dumped into landfills across the country by over 70% and reduce the amount of nuclear waste that is being put into the environment too. In fact, statistics show that if all of the homes in the US switched to the new LED bulbs we would be able to retire over 90 power plants! The fact is, Philips made their new bulb super sturdy and it’s intended to last almost 23 years! Compare that to some bulbs that don’t even last 1 year and you can see that, over the long run, there will be a lot less bulbs going to the dump. The impact on your wallet of the LED bulb. We know that the LED bulb is substantially more expensive up front than any other type of bulb currently available but, when seen over the long term, it actually will pay for itself in it lifetime. This is because LEDs use only 1/3 of the energy, so if you use an 18w LED to replace a 75w regular bulb, over the lifetime of the LED you will save approximately 570 kw hours of energy, or roughly $50.00. One final note; I mentioned that the LED bulb was sturdier, but I didn’t mention that, should you actually happen to break one, you’re NOT going to be exposed to mercury or lead.  Maybe it’s time to give the new LED light a little more thought and not focus so much on the cost.