T8 LED and Fluorescent Cost Comparison
Trying to decide whether to retrofit your T12 fixtures with fluorescent or LED? Perhaps this cost comparison will help.
| T8 Ballast (Westburne) | $14.46 | |
| 2 Philips T8 fluorescent tubes (Westburne) | $6.00 | |
| Initial cost | $20.46 | |
| 1 set of replacement tubes | $6.00 | |
| 54W for 50,000 hours at $0.11/kWh | $297.00 | |
| Usage cost | $303.00 | |
| Total | $323.46 | |
| T8 Ballast (Westburne) | $14.46 | |
| 2 Philips T8 LED tubes (Westburne) | $21.98 | |
| Initial cost | $36.44 | |
| 36W for 50,000 hours at $0.11/kWh | $198.00 | |
| Usage cost | $198.00 | |
| Total | $234.44 | |
| Upfront savings of using inexpensive fluorescent tubes | $15.98 | |
| Long-term (50,000 hours) savings of using LED tubes | $89.02 |
Using these numbers we can calculate the breakeven point to be approximately 5050 hours - significantly below the 50,000 hour rated lifepsan of the bulbs and ballasts. In other words, after slightly over 10% of the components' rated lifespan, you will save money.
This does not consider the cost of labour to replace the fluorescent tubes one time.
