“L-E-D”. In terms of lighting, you’re hearing these three letters over and over again… you see it posted around lighting websites, and its beginning to bug you. It seems to be a thrilling new trend…some type of new innovative light…but you do not know what it is. You would like to know very well what everybody’s talking about- what’s all the rage?
LED’s – Light Emitting Diodes – To put it simply, LED’s are diodes that…(huh?) hold on, I’ll explain: a diode may be the simplest type of semiconductor device. (what’s that?) wow, you’re impatient: A semi-conductor is a material having the ability to conduct electrical current. Basically, rather than emitting light from the vacuum (as within an incandescent bulb) or a gas (as in a CFL), LED emits light from the little bit of solid matter, its semi-conductor. Stated very simply, an LED produces light when electrons move around within its semiconductor structure.
They tell you when to avoid and go. They will have ruled your driving, saved your life countless times, and that little red man made you hold out till you were in a position to cross the street. That is right – the red, yellow and green on the traffic lights are Led lights right in front of your nose. Actually, Light Emitting Diodes have already been around for some time, conceptualized in 1907. However, magnetic track light price wasn’t until the 1960s that practical applications were found and LED’s were first manufactured. LED was previously used exclusively for traffic signals, brake lights and headlights on luxury cars, and indicator lights on appliances.
You probably didn’t even understand that LED lights were smoking cigarettes your digital clocks, flashlights and telling you when you’ve got a new voice message on your cell phone. Expensive in the beginning, as applications grew, benefits were discovered and manufacturing costs transpired. Based on the American Lighting Association (ALA), lighting manufacturers have invested time and effort, effort and research into adapting this super energy-efficient technology for household use. The technology has advanced enough to win approval from the government’s popular and well-respected Energy Star� program. So here’s why:
They do more for less. LED’s are efficient-producing a great deal of light from the little power. For instance, one 5-watt LED can produce more light (measured in lumens) than one standard 75-watt incandescent bulb. The 5-watt LED could do the job of the 75-watt incandescent at 1/15 of the energy consumption. LED’s save energy and, therefore, money. This is due to in LED lights, 90% of energy is changed into light, during incandescent bulbs 90% of energy would go to heat and only 10% to visible light.
They last longer. LED is virtually maintenance free – they don’t have a filament that will burn out, so they last much longer. A typical “longevity” household bulb will burn for approximately 2,000 hours. An LED can have a useful lifespan up to 100,000 hours! By some sources, LED’s can last so long as 40 years. Imagine devoid of to change a light bulb for years. You can find LED products available this year that will make frequent lamp changes so 20th century.
How it really works… (skip this part unless you really care) Light is a form of energy that can be released by an atom. It is comprised of many small particle-like packets, called photons, which will be the most elementary units of light. LED’s are specially constructed release a a large number of photons outward.When a power charge strikes the semiconductor, a small electrical current, that is measured by watts (oh! so that’s what they mean by ‘has low wattage’!) is passed through the semiconductor material. this causes the electrons to go around, become “excited” and give off photons. The vast majority of the power emitted is light energy.
In an ordinary diode, such as incandescent bulbs, the semiconductor material itself ends up absorbing a lot of the light energy so it produces more heat energy than light energy.That is completely wasted energy, unless you’re using the lamp as a heater, just because a huge portion of the available electricity isn’t going toward producing visible light. LED’s generate hardly any heat, relatively speaking. A much higher percentage of the electrical energy is going directly to generating light, which significantly reduces the electricity demands considerably. As you can plainly see in the diagram,they’re housed in a plastic bulb that concentrates the light in a particular direction. Almost all of the light from the diode bounces off the sides of the bulb, traveling on through the rounded end.
They are a better buy (in the long run). Until recently, LED’s were very costly to use for most lighting applications because they’re built around advanced semiconductor material. The price of semiconductor devices has plummeted in the last decade, however, making LED’s a more cost-effective lighting option for a variety of situations. While they may be more expensive than incandescent lights up front, a 60-watt LED replacement bulb runs in your community of $100, and also the lower-output versions, used for things such as spot lighting, will definitely cost between $40 and $80.
That’s compared to a $1 incandescent and a $2 fluorescent bulb.The reality is, even at $100 for an individual bulb, LEDs find yourself saving money in the end, because you only need one or two every decade and you spend less overall on home lighting, which can take into account about 7 percent of your electric bill [source: Greener Choices]. But don’t worry, the scary price you must pay upfront won’t last too much time, the lighting industry in general expects LED costs ahead down quickly. Lighting Science Group, an organization that develops and manufactures LED lighting, estimates a 50 percent price reduction within two years.
