Why Use LED Lights?
The following information will help you understand the benefits of choosing LED lighting as you begin a new commercial lighting project, or replace conventional lighting in a residential application you may already be using.
LED is an acronym for Light Emitting Diode. LEDs are tiny devices made of semiconductors-solid materials such as silicon that have varying abilities to conduct electricity and produce light. Incandescent bulbs on the other hand are incredibly non-energy efficient as approximately 90% of the energy created by incandescent bulbs is heat and ultra-violet light, with only about 10% going towards the bulb’s intended use which is to create visible light. This is why effective December 31, 2011 incandescent bulbs will no longer be able to be manufactured and ultimately phased out completely. However, unlike incandescent bulbs, LEDs emit light without a wire filament, allowing LED’s to achieve a much longer life and produce far less heat. Today's LEDs are producing more light than earlier LEDs and can have a wider beam spread allowing for a wider light pattern.
Here are some reasons to use LED lighting.
LED lamps have little or no hazardous substances and are therefore are RoHS compliant. All fluorescent lighting, whether straight linear or Compact (CFL) contain small amounts of Mercury, and the responsibility of disposing of the lamps properly is often ignored which is detrimental to the environment. LED lights however do not contain Mercury, are completely disposable and are much more durable than incandescent or fluorescent bulbs.
LED lamps emit no Infrared or Ultraviolet radiation assuring there is no degradation as a result of Ultraviolet radiation exposure. This makes LED lighting perfect for lighting Art work or fabrics where color fading could occur as a result of Ultraviolet radiation.
Unlike fluorescent lamps, LED lamps do not emit Radio Frequency (RF) interference.
LED lamps use less power (watts) per unit of light than incandescent and fluorescent. In order to produce the light you see, conventional lighting burns through a lot more energy than is needed and as mentioned, a large amount of the energy (up to 90%) is wasted as heat. LED lamps generate very little heat, instead transferring most of their energy directly into actual light. The result is lower energy consumption and a lower cost of service which means lower electric bills!
As already noted, LED lamps generate much less heat than conventional lighting (some halogen bulb lenses can exceed 300 degrees). Heat has two issues that must be considered. The first issue is that the amount of heat emitted by conventional lighting (wasted energy) must be offset by cooling. This compounds the waste and expense of using conventional lighting. The second issue is the matter of safety. Many conventional lights are simply much too hot to touch, and are often hot enough to burn! By contrast, LEDs are cool and efficient and clearly a better choice.
Many LED bulbs come in normal light bulb bases such as standard Screw-In (E26) base, MR16, GU10 and LED Tubes (G13 base) which allow for easy plug and play installation.
LED lamps are not sensitive to frequent power switching. The lifetime of fluorescents is greatly reduced by frequent cycles of turning them on and off. Ultimately, this deteriorates the filament used in all linear fluorescent lamps. LEDs are not affected by power switching as it relates to the life of the bulb.
LED lamps turn on instantly in all weather conditions; there is no powering up time as with CFLs. Therefore, there is no wasted time or electricity.
With LED lamps you have better control of the direction in which the light is emitted, known as the beam angle which with LED lights, have a wide verity of options from very narrow for direct spot applications to a wide flood allowing the illumination of a broad area. This is extremely helpful when tighter beam applications are required. Additionally, this direction control is very beneficial for task lighting and spot lighting.
LED lamps tend not to have unpredictable failure modes. They do not require external ballast or the consequential safety issues that may be related to ballast failure.
LED lamps can be used in many different environments such as colder temperatures. Fluorescents do not start up well in the cold weather, or if they do start the brightness is much diminished.
LED lamps are available in a wide range of colors and shades know as Color or Kelvin Temperature. Conventional lighting must use a lens or in the case of fluorescent lamps, a mixture of numerous phosphors to obtain a particular color. Also if you desire a more white light (more true to daylight known as 5500 Kelvin) it is available in LED.
With LED lights, in addition to standard Kelvin Temperatures (warm white, cool white, etc.) LED bulbs, LED strip lights and many other types of LED lights can emit light in a million different colors (RGB) allowing them to used in numerous interior and exterior applications where the color of the light is used to enhance the visual appearance of the environment.
As with LED Strip Lights and LED MR16 bulbs, many LED lamp models operate at 12 volts or 24 volts allowing them to be utilized in numerous low voltage applications.
Whether you advocate the notion of "Going Green" or not, you cannot disregard all the other factors involved. Energy consumption is not only a "green" issue; it is an economic issue when you consider the energy and maintenance savings that can be achieved by using LED Lighting. LEDs don't have disposal issues (Mercury) and their longevity insures that replacements will be few and far between allowing for a return on investment that can sometimes be realized in less than a year.