Girlawhirl thought that she was in good shape as far as lighting goes, with compact florescent bulbs in virtually every light, lamp and chandelier of her home. But now the spotlight shines on something different: LED lighting…
LED stands for light emitting diode. And truth be told, Girlawhirl would have to take a physical science class to explain exactly how these light emitting diodes work. But it's easy enough to say that anyone who owns a clock radio with numbers that light up, already has a little bit of LED lighting in their house.
And here's why there's a buzz about LED lighting:
• A LED bulb can last for up to 60,000 hours or more. That's about 16 1/2 years at 10 hours a day.
• There are no filaments or other breakable parts that can cause the bulb to burn out prematurely.
• They use about 1/3 of the energy of a compact fluorescent light bulb and 1/30th of the energy of an incandescent bulb.
• LED lights contain no mercury, while compact fluorescent light bulbs do. This means that compact fluorescents need to be disposed of properly, not just thrown in the trash.
And one last thing that Girlawhirl finds super-cool about LED lighting: it's not confined to the typical shapes or bulbs that other types of lights are. Designers will be able to create all new ways to shed a bit of light on the subject.
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Just like compact fluorescents, LED lights are more expensive to purchase than incandescent bulbs, but they end up saving money in the long run because of both their longer life and the fact that they use less energy. Some cities are updating traffic lights with LED bulbs and saving millions of dollars a year.
So does Girlawhirl have to change all the light bulbs in her apartment again? No, she's just going to replace those that burn out with LED bulbs when they do.
Find LED light bulbs suitable for home use here.
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| Jun 28, 2006: | girlawhirl finds a way to help the environment with energy efficient lightbulbs. read full entry |