LED lights have been around for a while but are still relatively new to a lot of people. To help you get started, we've answered ten of the most common questions about LED lighting.LED (light-emitting diode) light sources work differently to traditional lighting sources, such as incandescent. Incandescent bulbs work with a burning filament at the centre of the bulb that eventually burns out. LEDs derive their light energy from electrons that move within a semiconductor material. When a voltage is applied to the leads these electrons are stimulated to create light-based energy. LEDs aren't just used for lighting either, and can be found across a wide range of electricals. For example, you can now get LED TVs that produce a better picture quality and allow for slimmer designs.As with any electrical fitting, you need to take obvious precautions during the installation process. If you're re-wiring directly to the mains, then we always advise that you contact a qualified electrician. And, as with any source of light, it's advised you don't stare directly at them, otherwise you'll run the risk of causing damage to your eyes. However, when installed, LEDs are actually safer than older light sources such as incandescent and halogen. This is because they are fitted with heat sinks that dissipate heat away – so you're less likely to burn your fingers upon contact, unlike with traditional lighting sources that are dangerous to touch.Yes they are – but you have to make sure you purchase a dimmable LED bulb . You can't just dim a standard LED bulb. You also need to make sure you have a compatible dimmer switch. If you're upgrading from incandescent or halogen to LED, it's more than likely you're currently using a leading-edge dimmer, and these aren't compatible with LED. We advise upgrading to a specialised LED dimmer , such as an LED-ready trailing-edge dimmer, that'll deliver the best performance while prolonging the lifespan of the bulb itself.Yes, LED lights are significantly cheaper to run because they consume less energy. While they'll cost you more up-front, you'll recoup that initial investment in a matter of months, then continue to save every month after.There are two key ways in which LED lights save you literally hundreds – if not thousands – during their lifetime. • Cost to run. LEDs use up to 90% less energy than incandescent and halogen light bulbs, which are the most commonly-used light bulbs around. This means that when you make a switch from an older light source to LED, you'll quickly start seeing your energy bills plummet. In fact, you'll make back your initial outlay in a matter of months and continue saving thereafter. It literally pays to switch to LED! • Lifespan. Incandescent and halogen light bulbs are made to last just 2,000 hours. LEDs, in comparison, are made to last up to 25,000 hours. Based on average use, that’s a whopping 15 years of service. So not only will you see those energy bills dwindle, you'll save money on replacements too.As with any light source, LEDs can flicker – particularly if they haven't been installed properly in the first place. One of the main reasons behind LEDs flickering is the power supply they're receiving. While older light sources require an AC power supply, LED bulbs require a DC power supply. That's why it's so important to have an LED driver that converts your power supply from AC to DC. This will ensure there's a constant supply of power to your LEDs to combat any flickering. Most LED bulbs have the driver built into them, but certain types of LED lighting require a separate driver to power them. Simply check before you buy.LED's consume very little energy, particularly when compared to halogen and incandescent equivalents. You can replace a 100W incandescent bulb with a 10W LED and still enjoy the same level of light output, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, LEDs don’t contain toxic chemicals such as mercury, unlike fluorescent lights that contaminate the environment when disposed of. Finally, LEDs last up to 20-times longer than any other traditional form of lighting, reducing the number of replacements you need and further lowering your impact on the environment.You can expect a little bit of warmth radiating from your LED lamp – but a lot less than halogen and incandescent equivalents. This is because LEDs use 90-95% of their energy supply to produce light, while the other 5-10% of energy used produces heat – the opposite being true for older bulbs, which is why you have to careful when changing them.They are indeed. You can now get LED hydroponic lamps that help stimulate plant growth by providing the optimum amount of light wavelength and intensity required for different growth phases, but without the inefficiency that comes with CFL and incandescent grow lamps.As with any source of light, we strongly advise that you don’t stare directly at LED lights as they could subsequently cause eye damage. Apart from that, no, they’re not bad for your eyes! If you're ready to make the switch you can find all of our LED lights here
Once upon a time, sailors navigated by staying close to the coastline. That was the earliest trick of navigation--to follow the coast and identify landmarks. And if land was nowhere in sight, ancient sailors relied on the sun.
We've come a long way since those early seafarers. In 1835, there was a new light. Literally--the first constant electric light was demonstrated by British scientists in 1835, more than 40 years before Thomas Edison first patented and commercialized his first incandescent bulbs. As lighting systems became increasingly refined, they changed the way we live, allowing us to travel in the dark, to illuminate areas safely, and venture further than ever before.
Today, one of the fastest-growing lighting technologies on the market is the light-emitting diode, or LED. Where the first light bulb inventors wanted to create light, innovators of today want to shed a light on environmental impacts--and make a bulb that lights the way toward a brighter environmental future.
This starts at the most basic elements of the LED bulb--its materials. You see, when you're trying to build a better bulb, you have to start at the beginning.
LED materials include:
Several materials on the list are used as a phosphor source, as phosphor-based LEDs are the most popular option for high-intensity LEDs. Many of the materials are also used for various components of the semiconductor, which is the most important part of the bulb, as LEDs become illuminated through the movement of electrons through a semiconductor.
How do all of these materials translate to environmental toxicity? To understand how LED bulbs stack up to traditional lights, it first helps to look at what isn't present: mercury.
Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are not to be confused with incandescents. Incandescents run an electric current through a wire filament, heating the filament until it starts to glow. CFLs drive an electric current through a tube containing argon and a small amount of mercury vapor, generating invisible ultraviolet light to excite the fluorescent coating (phosphor) inside the tube, which then emits visible light.
It's a clever system, minus one glaring problem: mercury is an incredibly dangerous neurotoxin, and exposure to it can create a wide range of adverse effects from sensory disturbances to "pins and needles" sensations to insomnia to memory loss. It's just as bad for the environment, as a ubiquitous endocrine-disrupting marine pollutant.
LEDs do away with the need for mercury vapor. Instead, these bulbs pass an electrical current through a microchip, illuminating light-emitting diodes to create light.
LEDs still contain some concerning materials, like lead and nickel. The worst offenders are low-intensity red LED bulbs, which contain eight times the amount of lead. However, white LEDs contain the lowest lead concentrations and lack many of the hazardous materials that make CFLs and incandescents require specialist disposal (otherwise, the materials leach out in landfills to contaminate the soil and groundwater).
In addition, because LEDs do not require specialist disposal (i.e. you don't need a truck to come and pick up your dead bulbs) it has a much lower carbon footprint at the end of its life. That might not seem like a big deal for one bulb, but think about that impact multiplied across hundreds or even millions of bulbs!
What if you didn't want to throw your bulbs away? What if you wanted to recycle those materials instead?
While the mercury and toxic materials in CFLs and other bulbs cannot be reused, recycling CFLs actually benefits the environment, since other materials used to craft the bulb can be reused. And in the process, you prevent the release of toxic materials in a landfill. Some jurisdictions actually require these bulbs to be recycled.
But what about LEDs?
Here's the good news: 95% of an LED bulb can be recycled. The bad news is that not all facilities recycle every part of the bulb, since not all facilities are equipped to process these bulbs (the cost of separating materials can be prohibitive for some). But you can still recycle your bulbs, if you're willing to do your homework.
Many big-box stores like Home Depot, Lowes, and even IKEA offer in-store recycling bins for LED bulbs. Contact your local store for details. In addition, many municipal safety departments offer specific days for LED and CFL recycling--just check with your city for details. Some hardware stores also accept LED bulbs for a fee.
And if you can't find a local option, some companies offer mail-in recycling options for a fee. It's not as easy as municipal recycling or dropping it off in a bin, but you can still put those precious materials to good use.
Of course, LED bulbs get the most credit for their energy efficiency compared to other light bulbs on the market. And when it comes to LED energy efficiency, the numbers speak for themselves.
Broadly speaking, LED bulbs use 25% to 80% less energy than traditional incandescents. To understand how that breaks down in the finer details, let's shine a light on individual bulbs.
Incandescent bulbs are considered the least energy efficient type of electric lighting, though many people still use them because they're cheap. There are three main types of incandescents:
The main point to be aware of with incandescents is that while they can cast the same amount of light as other bulbs, they burn through a lot of energy to produce that light. In fact, about 90% of the energy incandescents use is wasted as heat.
There is a form of energy-saving incandescent called halogen light bulbs. This is a type of incandescent that holds a special halogen gas around the filament to increase energy efficiency. Plus, there's an inner coating that reflects heat back at the capsule, thus "recycling" heat as more light. All told, this means halogens use about 25% less energy than traditional incandescents.
Still, CFL bulbs have halogen and incandescent bulbs beat by a long shot. While CFLs need a bit more energy to get going, once the electricity is running, CFLs use about 70% less energy than incandescents.
This brings us, at last, to LEDs.
In terms of the bulb itself, LEDs use about 75% less energy than incandescents. That's because the design of LED bulbs creates a far more efficient use of light and heat. Incandescent and CFL bulbs emit light and heat in all directions, which is why so much heat and light is wasted. LEDs are directional, meaning they emit light in a specific direction and thus waste far less energy and heat in the process.
That's not just great news for your budget. It's a fantastic investment in the environment, allowing you to use less energy and reduce your carbon footprint every time you switch on a light just by switching over to an LED bulb.
Of course, energy is just one part of efficiency and performance. You also have to think about the bulb's lifespan and how well it does its job. After all, if a bulb saves energy but doesn't have the performance to back it up, it's not very good at its job. Here's a look at a few other key features of LED bulbs and how they stack up to other available bulbs.
First, let's take a look at how long your bulb lasts. This is more than a question of convenience. If you have to replace your light bulb every time you turn around, it doesn't do much good that it's energy efficient--you're still burning through a lot of supplies to keep a set of functional light bulbs, and that's not any better for the environment.
Let's start with the lowest on the totem pole: the incandescent bulb. Unfortunately, not only is this light bulb inefficient, but it also has a comparatively short lifespan. Incandescents typically last for about 750 hours, or about 31 days altogether.
That might sound like a lot until you tally up the average lifespan of other bulbs. CFL bulbs are much more efficient than incandescents and they last remarkably longer, with an average projected lifespan of about 8,000. That's about 333 days.
Then there are LED bulbs, which blow both CFLs and incandescents out of the water. They last an average of 25,000 hours. For context, that means that if you left your light bulb on 24/7, you would only need to replace it every 15 years.
You also have to think about the performance of the bulb in question. If it's less of a bright light and more of an unintended mood light, it's not an effective light bulb.
But in order to talk about the area of coverage, you first have to understand lumens, foot-candles, and watts.
Lumens measure how much light you get from a bulb. In basic terms, more lumens means more light. However, light bulbs are sold by wattage, so it's more useful for the average consumer to translate lumens to watts. Watts are not a measure of brightness, but rather the amount of energy a bulb consumes to reach its desired brightness. Basically, watt measurements describe the rate of power flow.
For reference, a standard 100-watt incandescent bulb produces roughly 1,500 to 1,700 lumens. To be clear, a lumen is always a lumen, so 600 incandescent lumens gives you the same light as 600 LED lumens, but watts translated into approximate lumens can vary mildly between different types of bulbs.
Then there are foot candles. A foot candle is the illuminance of one square foot from a uniform light source. Or, in plain English, a foot candle is how bright a light is one foot away from its source. This is crucial in lighting an area.
To determine how many lumens you would need in a room, you first need the square footage and the type of room. Lighting experts recommend higher foot candle counts for certain areas that require a lot of visibility. A bathroom or kitchen, for instance, will have a higher recommended foot candle count than a bedroom.
Once you have your square footage, you can turn to lumens, as lighting designers usually rely on lumens per square foot to provide adequate lighting. You can find the lumens per square foot by dividing the total lumens by the total square footage of an area.
Let's say you have a 120-square-foot area lit by a single fixture with two bulbs at 800 lumens each (a total of 1,600 lumens for the fixture). You can find this easily--energy efficient bulbs like LEDs have to have their lumen count printed on the package. 1,600 lumens divided by 120 square feet means the room gets 13.3 lumens per square foot from that light fixture. A living room is generally recommended to have 10 to 20 foot candles, which translates as roughly 1,000 to 2,000 lumens.
This brings us back to LEDs.
Thanks to new labeling requirements for light bulbs, you can now find the lumen count on the packaging. Once you know the lumens you need, you can look for bulbs with that lumen count and the lowest wattage for maximum energy efficiency.
Remember when we said LEDs are much more energy efficient than incandescents and CFLs? This is where that works out in your favor. You can get the same area coverage for a lower wattage, meaning you get the same great lighting with a reduced environmental impact.
Ultimately, LEDs are the smarter choice for the environment. They contain fewer toxic materials, require less energy to dispose of, can be recycled, and use energy far more efficiently, allowing you to get the same amount of light using far less energy.
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