Archive for June 22nd, 2009
The Benefits of LED Lighting
Light Emitting Diode Bulbs are Energy Efficient and Long Lasting
The world of economical residential lighting continues to offer homeowners new choices. As energy costs fly off like a hot air balloon, new innovations come to the marketplace. As far as home lighting is concerned, new strides are being made not only in energy efficiency, but in bulb life. These are the benefits of LED lighting.
The History of Lighting
First (excluding camp fires and lanterns) came the incandescent bulb, thanks to Thomas Edison. In fact, many homes are lit exclusively with incandescent lighting to this very day. But wait! There are better alternatives. Fluorescent lighting brought an incredible improvement to the residential marketplace when introduced. It literally transformed kitchens and bathrooms.
Other Energy Efficient Choices Illuminating the Home
Compact fluorescent bulbs arrived and expanded the possibilities for efficient home lighting. Then low voltage lighting started showing up in exterior applications such as landscaping. The obvious migration to home interiors was inevitable. Halogen bulbs showed promise but they are problematic for some applications. They generate far too much heat and are very fragile. The time had come for the LED light bulb!
What is an LED Light Bulb?
The LED (Light Emitting Diode) light bulb is actually a cluster of individual units. Many of these produce white light but others generate light of other wavelengths. The exact combination yields the desired light tone.
This modern lighting falls into the SSL lighting category (Solid State Lighting). This simply means that the light seen is emitted from a solid object, rather than a vacuum or a gas.
The Specific Benefits of LED Light
- Energy efficiency – The light bulbs burn very cool, while incandescent bulbs emit 98 per cent of their energy as heat! Much more bang for the buck.
- Long life – These lights can last from 50,000 to 100,000 hours. Incandescent light bulbs typically last around 1,000 hours and fluorescents are good for roughly 10,000 hours.
- Rugged durability – LED lights have no fragile filament to contend with, and no fragile tube. They are resistant to heat, cold, and shock.
- Lumens per watt – While manufacturers are still finding new ways to increase this ratio, Cree Inc. has been able to produce an LED bulb that generates 131 lumens/watt. This is research, though. Today’s available LEDs are the same as compact florescent bulbs, averaging around 55. Incandescent bulbs wander sadly in at about 15.
Installation of LED Bulbs
LED lighting is compatible with most systems. Some models screw in, replacing incandescents. Others can replace halogen bulbs. The under-cabinet light bar is popular for kitchen lighting and other work spaces.
Bulbs for special occasions? Of course! Who doesn’t have problems with burnt out Christmas lights every year? They can easily be replaced with LED Christmas light bulbs. Imagine not dealing with this problem for more than 50,000 hours?
Advantages of LED Lights
LED Light Bulbs
The future of household lighting will soon be the wide spread adoption and use of white LED light bulbs. Though the present market for finished white LED products is geared mainly towards enthusiasts and early-adopters, the efficiency and cost effectiveness of LED lighting systems will drive demand for more affordable LED lights. Opto-electronics is an exciting area and we predict, that in the near future, white LED lighting applications will be powerful and cheap enough to replace incandescent lighting for everyday use in our homes, in street lights, outdoor signs, and offices.
The operational life of current white LED lamps is 100,000 hours. This is 11 years of continuous operation, or 22 years of 50%
LED Frosted Candelabra Bulb
operation. The long operational life of an led lamp is a stark contrast to the average life of an incandescent bulb, which is approximately 5000 hours. If the lighting device needs to be embedded into a very inaccessible place, using LEDs would virtually eliminate the need for routine bulb replacement.
There is no comparison between the cost of LED lights vs. traditional incandescent options. With incandescent bulbs, the true cost of the bulb is the cost of replacement bulbs and the labor expense and time needed to replace them. These are significant factors, especially where there are a large number of installed bulbs. For office buildings and skyscrapers, maintenance costs to replace bulbs can be enormous. These issues can all be virtually eliminated with the LED option.
The key strength of LED lighting is reduced power consumption. When designed properly, an LED circuit will approach 80% efficiency, which means 80% of the electrical energy is converted to light energy. The remaining 20% is lost as heat energy. Compare that with incandescent bulbs which operate at about 20% efficiency (80% of the electrical energy is lost as heat). In real money terms, if a 100 Watt incandescent bulb is used for 1 year, with an electrical cost of 10 cents/kilowatt hour, $88 will be spent on electricity costs. Of the $88 expense, $70 will have been used to heat the room, not light the room. If an 80% efficient LED system had been used, the electricity cost would be $23 per year – there would be a cost savings of $65 on electricity during the year. Realistically the cost savings would be higher as most incandescent light bulbs blow out within a year and require replacements whereas LED light bulbs can be used easily for a decade without burning out.