Light Emitting Diodes

LEDs can be used to build energy-efficient lighting products that save energy, help protect the environment, reduce maintenance costs and make people and things look much more attractive than traditional lighting. And they can last much longer than traditional lighting. LED lights have a variety of advantages over other light sources:

• High-levels of brightness and intensity
• High-efficiency
• Low-voltage and current requirements
• Low radiated heat
• High reliability (resistant to shock and vibration(
• No UV Rays
• Long source life
• Can be easily controlled and programmed

LED lighting can save up to 85% of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs and up to 50% of the electricity used by fluorescents

When comparing LED lighting to fluorescent lights, energy savings depend on the type of fluorescent light. For example, LED lighting can save up to 50% of the energy used by CFLs and between 20%-30% of the energy used by fluorescent tube lighting.

Since LED lights are so energy-efficient, the most common applications are places where lights are switched on for an extended period of time. You can find LED lights in restaurants, offices, parking lots, streetlights, dorm rooms, ice skating rinks and, of course, in homes.

Take a look at the statistics. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that widespread adoption of LED lighting by 2025 will:

• Reduce electricity demands from lighting by 62%.
• Eliminate 258 million metric tons of carbon emissions.
• Reduce the amount of materials being put into landfills.
• Avoid the building of 133 new power plants.
• Save the US over $280 billion.

Most of the energy emitted from incandescent bulbs is converted to heat instead of light. That’s why you’ll burn yourself if you try to touch an incandescent bulb once it’s turned on*. Since LEDs consume significant less energy, they don’t emit as much heat. That’s why you typically won’t burn yourself if you try to touch an LED light once it’s turned on. LED lighting is about 85% more efficient than incandescent bulbs. LED lights are also designed to last about 50 times longer, which means less ladder-climbing maintenance and less waste.

(*We do not recommend touching lights to see if they are hot or not. Instead, watch this chocolate bunny demonstrate the heat difference between incandescent and LED lights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlUtQt0fVbM)

• LEDs don’t contain hazardous materials, such as mercury. Since fluorescent tubes and CFLs contain mercury, they must be properly disposed of, in order to prevent mercury from poisoning landfills.
• Also, most fluorescent lights cannot be dimmed and many can flicker. Some people are sensitive to this flicker and experience headaches, migraines and eye strain. LED lighting uses solid-state technology, which allows effective dimming in many applications and eliminates flickering.
• Fluorescent lights can also take several minutes to achieve full brightness, and even longer in cold environments. LED lights are instant-on and can withstand extremely cold conditions – such as those in freezer cases, or on the streets of Alaska.
• High quality LEDs produce better light, which shows color more effectively than fluorescents.

With the right design, LED lights can have a lifetime of 50,000 hours and more in continuous operation. Depending on how many hours-a-day they are operating, that can be from 6 to 7 years to as many as 20 to 30.

Unlike other lighting technologies, LEDs do not completely fail—they grow dimmer. At the 50,000 hour mark, LED lights are designed to provide at least 70 percent of their initial light output. Many different factors (such as fixture design and operating conditions like temperature and current) determine the actual lifetime of an LED.

A main challenge with LED lighting is that it costs more upfront, but really, it’s no different than requiring insulation in homes and buildings. It can pay for itself over time with energy savings and lower maintenance costs. Keep this in mind when you initially invest in LED lights. Besides, how do you define expensive? Is it purely the up-front cost of a light, or do you factor-in the cost of the energy to run that light and, if you’re a business or government, the cost to change the lightbulb? And if you’re building a new building, installing LED lighting is often just about the same cost as traditional technology-and you’ll start saving money, through reduced energy consumption, the minute you flip the switch.

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