LED lights isn't a brand new technology - it has been with us since the 1960's .
LED light bulbs were initially used as a replacement for incandescent indicators and displays in laboratory apparatus and ultimately in TV's, watches, radios and calculators. LED prices have only recently dropped an adequate amount to make them viable for residential and commercial markets. LED home lights can include everything from outdoor to Christmas lights .
EFFICIENT POWER...
Regular light bulbs only convert around 10% of the electrical energy it consumes into light with the rest being output as heat, LED lights on the other hand converts more than 70% into usable directional light making them far more efficient .
While regular Halogen, fluorescent and other lights have a typical 6000 hour lifespan, LED's will last for more than 50,000 hours .
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY...
LED lighting is safe, environmentally friendly and contains no toxic mercury.
Because LED's use so little power their environmental impact is drastically reduced - there is no need to burn extreme coal etc to make electricity as consumption is reduced .
LED's are designed to last for 50,000 hours more resulting in a reduced amount of resources being used as there is no longer the need to replace used bulbs that will get thrown into the dustbin The LED life cycle is also healthier for the natural world because of their long lifespan there is much a smaller amount rubbish from burn out LED bulbs and this reduces the load on recycling depots and rubbish dumps .
The below is a short history of man-made light
Our entire history of light has been an inefficient one! Why? Because we have always used heat as a source of light - we have used wax, oil and gas to burn in order to generate light. This process is highly inefficient as most of the power is wasted producing heat and not light. Even fluorescent lights uses a type of gas which is electrified to heat up and produce light .
The basic method has been " Heat it up and it glows"
For more than 120 Years, incandescent light bulbs have brightened and warmed our lives. Electric powered bulbs were a major improvement over candle, gas and oil light sources - but they are extremely ineffecient. Up to 90% of the power going into the bulb is converted to heat!
Compact Flourescent Bulbs are more effective and are an excellent alternative for Edison-Socket light fixtures, however, they contain a small amount of mercury making them hazardous garbage when they break or burn out .
In the past 4 years a new light source has emerged that is sufficiently bright and effective to be used for general illumination.
The Light Emitting Diode aka the LED uses far a reduced amount of energy and lasts many times longer than all bulbs and contains no lead or mercury . The first commercially viable LED was introduced in 2006 and now lighting manufacturers around the world are producing a whole new class of LED products for general illumination.
Light Emitting Diodes (LED's) are solid state lighting components. They are not flimsy or easily broken making them easy to use and transport . LED's are many times more cost-effective than Incandescent Bulbs. Just as vacuum tubes were replaced with solid state components, the last remaining vacuum tube light bulbs are being replaced by solid state components.
Imagine a grain of sand that emits a very bright light when an electrical current is applied. That's essentially an LED. The actual science and manufacturing process to develop an LED is quite complex, but the principle is simple .
The first LED's for commercial applications were red. They functioned as on/off indicators in electronic devices such as VCR's, calculators, strereo systems and even automobile sub-systems. Eventually LED's were produced in green and amber as well. The major breakthrough can in 1989 when CREE, INC. of Durham in the United States, started shipping the first commercially viable blue LED based on silicon carbide. The blue LED enabled white LED's to be made because mixing red, blue and green light produces white.
Today a more effective and cost effective white LED is revolutionising the lighting world. The white LED, based on a blue LED chip coated with phosphor is bright and economical enough to be used in general illumination.
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