Smart bulbs are a great addition to any home and running costs matter
Smart bulbs are becoming more affordable, yet the initial expense isn’t just what you should consider; thinking about daily usage is important too. Do smart bulbs actually use more electricity? Will they save money in your household?
In short: while it’s true that a smart bulb needs power to stay online for control via app or voice commands and adjust brightness levels, the amount of extra energy consumed depends on specific models rather than general categories.
The Mechanics Behind Smart Lighting
This is because in order to control the bulb using an app the light source needs to connect to Wifi or Bluetooth. Regardless of the brand you choose a smart bulb requires you to always have the light switch turned on so that this connection can be maintained and managed by your home network.
It’s this constant power supply which allows you to control bulbs with voice assistants, tablets, or mobile devices while setting brightness levels and even colors. The nature of being ‘always on’ might lead one to expect a smart bulb to use more electricity than non-connected lights; however this largely depends on the brand.
Smart bulbs consume power based on two key pieces of information: standby consumption when waiting for commands, and light consumption during usage. A Philips Hue White Ambience allows you to have a dimmable adjustable warm to cool light bulb controlled easily through your phone or voice device.
Real World Usage Costs
The Philips example illustrates the power split clearly: The hue white ambience has a maximum operation power of 9.5 watts and a max standby power of only 0.1 watts per unit.
This means that if one bulb spent an entire year on standby, each will cost you roughly 16 pence annually in electricity bills alone compared to running costs when illuminated at full brightness for the whole year costing around £15 per bulb.
Comparison with Traditional Bulbs
If it is always on do smart bulbs use more electricity? Yes technically, however this does not cause significant impact as dimmer levels draw less power consumption overall. Of course you never leave light full brightness all year and the chances are that won’t happen either.
How does this compare to other lighting solutions? If you compare this against non-smart LED bulbs it is likely to depend on wattage but running costs remain very similar minus about 16 pence per bulb for standby usage. However, if comparing this to energy saving lamps then the hue will cost slightly less than those models.
Most notably when compared to a traditional filament lamp which might use around 85 watts you’re talking about using an smart LED costing roughly eight times less than that older technology thanks to efficient power delivery while maintaining high brightness levels for your home environment.
Savings and Conclusion
In conclusion regarding savings: Realistically updating energy saving bulbs or LEDs to Philips Hue isn’t going to save you direct money on operation if usage habits remain exactly the same, however being able to set automations based on location or time of day may well save a small amount over year.
Being eco friendly is another benefit. The significant thing remains that despite this ‘always on’ nature it doesn’t cause them to use any signifiant additional electricity making these a great purchase for any home regardless of your specific budget!
