LED Light Bulbs | The Future of Lighting?
Overview:
- An overview of LEDs
- The technology behind LED Light Bulbs
- Brief history
- Features & key Benefits
- Disadvantages
- Making the switch
LED Light Bulbs – An Overview
LED stands for light-emitting diodes. Initially only used in indicators, these days LED light bulbs are gaining in popularity for other uses as well, probably due to its remarkable efficiency; up to 80% of the electrical energy fed to it is converted to light, as opposed to incandescent light bulbs, where only 10% is converted to visible light! Indeed the incandescent bulb’s days are numbered.
In 1 year, there are 8,760 hours. Having to change your bulb 8 times a year looks almost stupid if you could be doing it once every 3.5 years.
When you look at the numbers, it’s obvious that LED Light Bulbs could save you $200+ this year!
We recommend looking around at several manufacturers and finding LED Lights at the lowest price. If you look around, you can get them cheap, and save hundreds of dollars this year on electricity bills.
It is safe to say that currently, mostly the more knowledgeable (the tech savvy guys) are interested in the concept of the LED light bulb as they realize the potential and possibilities. However, it won’t be long before LED light bulbs become the convention. Already, for many people, whenever “bulb” is mentioned, “LED light bulbs” come to their mind, rather than the big, yellow and hot bulb.
The technology behind LED Light Bulbs
80% efficiency. That’s huge.
How is that possible? And why? In this section, we will address these curiosities.
To uncover the mystery of the LED light bulbs, we need to go into the science of it.
First, let’s see how the “classic” bulbs work, and why only 10% of the total energy input is emitted as light.
Basically, an incandescent light bulb consists of a thin metal filament (often tungsten), in a glass enclosure that contains an inert gas or a vacuum.
Light is emitted by passing an electric current through the filament. This causes it to rise to a very high temperature; a temperature high enough for it to glow. Since there is no oxygen surrounding the filament, it doesn’t burn. So, why is it so inefficient? Quite simply, the incandescent light bulb needs the heat to light up – and the heat takes up to 90% of the electrical input!
Now, how are the LED light bulbs different?
Talking about p-n junctions and band gap energy is not what we are after here. We’ll only cover the technical details that everyone will be able to follow and understand despite not being physics geeks.
Put quite simply, the LED light bulbs do not consist of a filament (and hence, it doesn’t burn out or become hot). Instead the light that comes off them is a result of electroluminescence, which is basically just a fancy name to say that the movements of electrons through a semiconductor results in light being emitted.
This not only allows more energy to be converted to light, but also it allows the LED light bulbs to have a much longer lifespan than their incandescent counterpart.
Brief history
Electroluminescence and infrared emissions were comcepts discovered a very long time ago, but it was not until 1962 that the 1st practical LED was developed. Back then, only red LEDs were developed. This was made possible thanks to Nick Holonyak Jr. 10 years later, M. George Craford followed Holonyak’s steps and invented yellow LEDs. He also brought a drastic improvement to the brightness of the existing red LEDs.
Fast-forwarding to a bit later, LEDs were used only in expensive equipment, especially in laboratories. Years later, their use was slowly propagating to home appliances. It should be noted that back then, the brightness was just enough to be used as indicators (such as in digital clocks), and not as a true source of light.
The development of the LED light bulbs kept going on at an amazing rate. White LED was later created and it started replacing incandescent light. Efficiency and reliability are still being constantly improved however LED light bulbs are no more reserved for industrial applications; they are now made available to everyone.
Features & key benefits
Benefit #1: Lower power consumption
As mentioned before, LED light bulbs can emit more light energy with the same electrical input. By using lower wattage LED light bulbs not only give you more light, but also they cut down your electricity bills.
Benefit #2: Lower overall cost
Yes, on the surface, LED light bulbs seem to be more expensive, but here is the true cost of having incandescent bulbs lighting your home when it gets dark:
1. Buying the incandescent bulbs
2. Paying the extra bill at the end of each month
3. Buying incandescent bulbs to replace the ones that burn out
4. Paying the same extra bill at the end of the month
5. Repeating the whole process for as long as you shall live
With LED light bulbs, the purchase is made only once, and your electricity bill will reduce by more than 65%.
Benefit #3: Lifespan
An average incandescent bulb has a typical lifespan of 1,000 hours. LED light bulbs usually last for over 30,000 hours (VERY conservative). Take a look around at different manufacturers. It’s hard to go wrong with LED Lighting!
Disadvantages
At this point in time, LEDs are more expensive when you consider the price per lumen. The startup cost can be little high but once you make the switch, you will only be saving on your bills every month. In addition to that, the long life expectancy of the LED light bulbs ensures that you won’t need to worry about having to replace the bulbs every 3 months if not less as is the case with the incandescent light bulbs on the market.
Under LED illumination, the true colors of objects can sometimes be hard to decipher. Due to metamerism, color rendering leaves a bit to be desired but with some of the available state-of-art white LEDs, it seems that LED light bulbs are well on their way to match the performance of incandescent lighting.
The performance of the LED light bulbs can depend to a large extent on the ambient temperature of the environment. When the temperature is too high, overheating of the LED package may result.
Making the switch
Soon enough, the world is going to witness the multi-billion dollar lighting industry switch to a new and innovative technology brought about by new lighting concepts, improved pricing and to some extent, legislation. To make a smooth switch to LED illumination, one only needs to take a few things into consideration
- Choosing the shape of the bulbs you want
- Consider brightness and energy efficiency
- Pick your color temperature based on the setting of your home
- Consider base configuration
- Consider warranty coverage