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Electricity usage of an Incandescent Light Bulb

An incandescent light bulb also known as an incandescent lamp is an electric light with a wire filament which produces light when current passes through it. Incandescent lighting is cheap to produce but is very inefficient, converting only 5% of the energy into light.

Click calculate to find out the electricity cost of a single incandescent light bulb running at 60 Watts for 5 hours a day @ $0.10 per kWh, keep in mind you can edit the numbers in the calculator.

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Cost Per Year:

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Hours Used Per Day: Enter how many hours the device is being used on average per day, if the power consumption is lower than 1 hour per day enter as a decimal. (For example: 30 minutes per day is 0.5)

Power Use (Watts): Enter the average power consumption of the device in watts.

Price (kWh): Enter the cost you are paying on average per kilowatt hour, our caculators use the default value of 0.10 or 10 cents. To find an exact price check your electricity bill or take a look at Global Electricity Prices.

Comparison Between LED, CFL and Incandescent Light Bulbs:

LEDCFLIncandescent
Lifespan in hours10,0009,0001,000
Watts (equivalent 60 watts)101460
Cost per bulb$2.50$2.40$1.25
Daily cost*$0.005$0.007$0.03
Annual cost*$1.83$2.56$10.95
Cost for 50k hours @ $0.10 kWh$50$70$300
Bulbs needed for 50k hours55.550
Total cost for 50k hours with bulb price$62.50$83.20$362.50

* Assuming 5 hours a day @ $0.10 per kWh.

Incandescent light bulbs have been discontinued from sale above a certain wattage in many regions, as they are not very energy efficient. If you are still using incandescent lighting, it is highly recommended you switch to LED or CFL lighting to save energy and increase the longevity of your light bulbs.