Potlights and the LED Option

I am falling a little behind on my blog entries. Work, cross-country skiing and the house are getting in the way.

One entry that I didn’t want to forget about is our visit to Marchand Electric. First of all because the person we met with was very helpful. His name is Jerry Towns. He explained the world of potlight housing and bulb options to me while also helping me see what the next step is in terms of fixture selections (something that I want to put off as long as possible – my brain just doesn’t want to think about chandeliers or ceiling light styles right now). On the theme of cost savings, I also really felt that he wasn’t just trying to sell me the high end stuff but that there was room to talk about more affordable fixture options.

The second interesting lighting topic is the world of LED lights. We have to decide if we buy lights that operate using typical incandescent bulbs or compact fluorescents and then use dimmer switches to increase the green factor. Or, we pay a little more so that the potlight housing is compatible for use with a LED bulb when they come more readily available. Some say this is soon and that the bulbs won’t be as expensive as we think. Others say that it could be five years or so before the market is ready for the LED bulb and that a bulb could cost $80. Why this is important to us is the fact that we want to make a conscious decision now whether or not to install the potlight housings that can accommodate the LED bulb. Once we install the potlights, we are not changing the housing in five years as the option becomes available. Also, it is my understanding there is no point installing dimmer switches if you end up using LED bulbs (they just don’t work that way).

In terms of cost, the housing compatible with LED bulbs appears to cost $10-$20 more than the typical version.

I know that I have posted this photo before of our hallway lantern original to the house but since we just got to call to say that the rewiring is done (thank you Arevco), I thought that I would post it again. We are not going to try and match the other lighting to this piece. We are just going to honour this fixture that came with the house by reinstalling it in the front hall.