A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

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31 January 2022 — 0420 mst

Flathead Electric’s 2021 free LED bulbs
are better than its 2019 free LED bulbs

Twice beginning in 2019, Flathead Electric, Montana’s largest rural electric cooperative, has made available to its members packages of free LED light bulbs and other energy saving devices.

The 2019 package that I discussed on 23 August 2019 included eight LED bulbs with a light output equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent bulb. Last year’s package contained a low flow showerhead, a smart power strip, and eight LED bulbs with a light output equivalent to a 75-watt incandescent.

The nameplate ratings of the bulbs differ from the values I measured with my Kill-A-Watt meter, a very useful instrument that costs approximately $35 at Amazon. For example, the 76-watt equivalent bulb’s package claims the bulb draws 11 watts, but the Kill-A-Watt meter reports the lamp draws 13 watts. I suspect the nameplate rating reports the energy consumed by the LED, but not the energy consumed by the circuit that drives the LED. The Kill-A-Watt meter, placed between the lamp’s A-19 base and the power outlet, measures the draws of both the LED and its driver.

Here’s a tabular comparison of the bulbs.

fec_free_LED_bulbs

Last year’s bulbs are better than the 2019 bulbs in two ways. First, they clearly have a higher color rendering index. Second, they have a higher power factor, which means they are more energy efficient in a way that reduces the need for Flathead Electric to buy more power. I think that federal law should require a minimum power factor of 0.95 for consumer LED light bulbs. That’s technically achievable at a cost of perhaps two bits a bulb.

I suspect Flathead Electric will offer another package of free LED bulbs in two or three years. When it does, I hope it will include some 100-watt equivalent bulbs for people with aging eyes. At 55, we need approximately twice as much light as we did at 25. And at 75, we need twice as much light as we did when we were 55. I run two 100-watt equivalent bulbs in the table lamp I use for reading, and would like a 200 or 300-watt equivalent bulb.