LEDs (light-emitting diodes), the technology used to illuminate our traffic lights, computers, televisions, and cell phones, now making its way into our homes as LED fixtures. Currently their residential uses are limited, canned lighting being one of the few uses, but industry experts say that this technology is quickly advancing and new LED products will be making their way to home improvement stores soon.
LEDs are very small chips that light up when electrical current is passed through them. There are several advantages that LEDs offer, including energy-efficiency, small size, and long rated lives. The only true disadvantage is their cost. LEDs are considerably more expensive than traditional light fixtures, but this too is expected to change, as experts say pricing will decline with improved technology. LED lighting fixtures that can be purchased for residential use cost around twice as much as conventional lighting fixtures. The argument has been raised that factoring in the cost of replacing typical bulbs and the cost of electricity will be higher than if you were to switch to LED lights and fixtures.
LEDs Lights in the Home
LEDs use little power and often surpass other light sources in energy-efficiency. The white LEDs, a blue led with a yellow phosphorus coating, that are currently on the market emit anywhere from 20 to 80 lumens of light. By comparison, a standard 60W incandescent bulb found in most homes produces about 11 to17 lumens per watt and a good fluorescent bulb can produce around 900 lumens, about 11 times brighter than a high-powered LED. Experts expect LED efficiency to increase to 100 to 120 lumens per watt in the next few years. However, the amount of light that is produced by a single LED is limited. Because of this, LED lights are often clustered in bundles of anywhere from a half-dozen to a couple of hundred chips. LED lumen output has nearly doubled in the past couple of years.
LED lights do offer more longevity, lasting as long as 50,000 hours. That means that if you have your lights on 8 hours a day, the LEDs should last about 17 years. LED life spans are measured differently than the life spans of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. LEDs don’t burn out; instead, they get dimmer over time.
Special features have to be specifically designed for LEDs due to the fact that warmth in an environment greatly reduces the performance of LED lights. There are light engines that make it possible to use LEDs in existing fixtures, but due to the fact that the fixtures weren’t designed for LEDs, the light engines suffer in efficiency, light quality and longevity.
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The good thing about LED is they dont go out. I use them on my boat trailer and never have any trouble with them.
LED lighting is awesome. These modern lights can transform rooms and brighten up the most gloomy of atmospheres.
Another advantage they have is that they are better for the environment. Unlike CFL bulbs, they don’t have any mercury in them. The amount of power they use is minimal. Once they figure out how to boost the amount of light they produce, they will become the new standard.
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Interesting post. I agree with Gilbert Networking Groups. I don’t think it will be long before the prices go down.
Good point there Charles, I believe the LED lights are better for the environment. It makes sense for us to be consious to the environment and (try to) implement, where possible, processes to combat our effect. Changing your light bulbs is a small change with potentially huge implecations.
LED lights are fantastic. I use them in my house and I have cut my carbon footprint. Everyone should implement these.
first of all i think led lights changes the house looks it makes the house look nicer..but my question is, dont led lights consume more energy? or is it the other way around…another thing is that the bulbs get too hot, when the light its on for a certain amount of time the bulbs gets hot.
I’ve been converting my house over to LED lights. They are great, produce good light… and… no heat!
LED lighting has made it’s way into the home, now many commercial applications are now being adopted by big businesses all across the US. Broadcast studios are testing LED lighting configurations in real world applications, but have some issues with the color temp of the lights and reproducing accurate skin tones. Warehouses and other commercial entities that keep the lights on 24/7 can save well over 70% with the switch to LED lighting… not to mention, the HUGE reduction in heat.
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I used to have problem with standard bulbs burning out on my boat trailer after several uses and dips in the water. I replaced them with LED tail lights for my boat trailer and now I don’t have to worry about them. They seem to be brighter than the standard tail light.
Although I am always looking for ways to save energy and be generally GREEN, I find the light quality is not always so good, with flickering. Has anyone else noticed this?
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The quality of the LED lamps and lights available now is improving, however you do get what you pay for. This would explain the comments about flickering and light color. Traditional leading and trailing edge dimmers were not made with dimming LEDs in mind. LED lamps that run “hot” will also degrade in color quickly, and not last the 50,000 being promised.
LED lighting is awesome. These modern lights can transform rooms and brighten up the most gloomy of atmospheres.
Having just finished the full switch-over to “old style” energy saving bulbs, we are on the look-out for a long term lighting solution at home – sub basement flat with minimal natural light, so it’s going to be important to brighten it up before we try to sell.
I’m hoping that the quality of LED options will continue to improve, because at present the only viable options we have are commercial lights, which run conventional (hi-energy) bulbs!
After experimenting with LED and traditional lighting – most of my clients are opting for traditional. LED just doesn’t have the quality – except for specialty needs (like Christmas).
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I totally love the LED lightning we put in our new house. I wouldn’t go back to traditional light bulbs.
This comment may be swaying into a slightly different field but recently Ive seen the release of LED TV’s which are super thin (about 10mm). This is a GREAT use of LED lights in the home (and like Steve mentioned, for Xmas as well)!
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LED lights are the wave of the future. I visited a local dealer today to convert some of my interior lighting and was really impressed.
Led lamps are great. They use less energy, last longer and gives off greater light.
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I’m a big fan of LED lighting, they make some amazing LED lighting fixtures for aquariums now that are just incredible.
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It won’t be long until indoor led lighting is commonplace and we’ll wonder what we ever did without them. Once they become more accepted the prices will drop and the technology improve. Seriously, if they can squeeze 3 billion transistors onto a piece of silicon the size of a finger nail they can surely make a plan with led’s.
Low voltage lighting, is for me at least, one of the most exciting developments in lighting technology we have seen. The potential of LED bulbs are amazing, lower power usage and a longer life will benefit everyone once they become mainstream. Lets just hope the cost of LED technology drops faster than it is doing so at the moment, so that we can finally replace current lighting technology such as incandescent bulbs and flourescent bulbs.
Nice design for LEDs. Do they have these available in Europe or only in the US. If someone knows of where i can get a copy of these for my home office that would be appreciated.
It will be nice to see the new replacement LED fixtures which come out over the next few years. Hopefully they will continue to improve. Currently, the life of LED fixtures is limited more by the quality of non-LED parts (capacitors) than the LEDs themselves. So, if you have an LED bulb rated at 50,000 hours, it might fail before that time due to other failed parts.
One other benefit of LED lights is that they don’t contain (as far as I know) the toxic chemicals that CFL lights contain and can be disposed of without any special handling.
One thing to note about LEDs also is that color creation in diodes is hit-or-miss. Most white diodes come out looking sort of blue. Therefore, what you are paying for with high quality diodes is all the wasted bluish ones. This problem hasn’t really been solved yet, so LEDs may not drop in price as quickly as many say.
I agree with Daniel, it can be difficult to find LED lighting that retains the warm glow of a standard filament bulb. I think this is improving, however. Try looking for “warm white” LEDs.
It will be interesting to see the next development of light bulbs in and around the house. Yes LED lights are energy efficient, but if you had a house full of them, there wouldn’t be a ‘homely’ feel at all as most are so bright! Hoping some alternative designs and colours will be available in the near future.
Interesting point from Ken and something that I had never picked up on, that LED lights can easily be disposed of and you don’t have to pay some sort of handling fee. I agree with others, LED lights aren’t quite ‘warm’ enough to make you feel fully comfortable.
I too am a fan of the LED lights. It seems nowadays, they are the light of choice. At least here in NY.
Now efficiency of LED can be over 100lm/w in the market. In the lab, efficiency of LED is over 200lm/w. It’s over 10 times higher than efficiency of incandescent bulbs, and we believe with the rapid development of LED industry, the efficiency will still increase. more super high power LED lights will come to our lives.