WAVE-B: Worth And Value Economic Blog

In my past post the focus was on car depreciation, I referenced a Consumer Reports breakdown of how much costs of ownership is in the first 5 years. This got me wondering could anything purchased be broke down in this way? Could this be useful information?

Livermore Centennial Light Bulb

In the cost of ownership of a car in the chart was divided in two major categories:

Carrying costs - Costs related to purchase

Depreciation
Interest on loan
Taxes related to purchase

Operating costs - Costs related to running the car

Fuel
Insurance
Maintenance & Repair

The recent changes in what type of light bulbs you can purchase in the US could possibly be one way to illustrate the two different type costs. There are four major types of bulbs: incandescent, halogen, compact fluorescent and LED. Each type has a cost to purchase and a cost to operate. Below is a layout of the four compared to each other on a ten year period.

Light Bulb Costs Compared

The initial cost of the LED bulbs are expensive but, the cost per year is less then everything but CFLs. The LEDs appear to be the future of light.

I decided to do my own comparison at the Lowes Web site:

Bulbs in the Comparison

The bulbs an be compared in 1000 hour usage blocks (due to the incandescent bulb life).

1000 Hour Usage Costs

The breakdown of the rankings by carrying cost are: CFL, Incandescent, LED, then Halogen

The breakdown of the rankings by operating costs are: LED, CFL, Halogen, then Incandescent

Overall the best two are LEDs and CFLs. per 1000 hours. The use of the light also has an effect on the cost effectiveness.

If you have a closet or attic light that is not used to often is it really cost effective to use the LED or CFL? As long as you have a low use lighting area traditional lighting might be more cost effective:

Low Usage Lighting Areas

Time becomes the your friend when you have low operating costs the longer you can hold on to a low operating cost item the more you gain out of it. So I guess the answer to the question of which cost more carrying or operating depends on how long you use something.

As a side note the most effective light is the :

Solar Bottle Light