There are new lights out there that are huge savings in electricity use, and especially when people are trying to save money and still enjoy the season, these lights are a good way to do both.
The technology is called light emitting diode (LED for short), and until four or five years ago, just about the only place you’d see them was on VCR screens, microwaves and the occasional ancient calculator from the 1970s.
The first high-profile breakout from traditional LED applications appeared in Christmas lights in 2002. Nowadays an entire string of colourful LED holiday lights uses less energy than did a single old incandescent holiday bulb.
The working life of LED lights is measured in tens of thousands of hours, not just thousands. So, how long before LED bulbs become available for serious, interior lighting applications in lamps and overhead fixtures?
LED bulbs are particularly efficient and long-lasting because they produce light in an entirely different way from other kinds of bulbs. Instead of using electricity to heat up a metal filament or excite a conductive gas, LEDs produce light by channelling electric current through a semiconductor. In the most efficient examples, this approach converts almost 100 per cent of the electricity into light, with virtually no waste heat produced.
It’s now possible to buy LED equivalents for retrofitting various types of household and specialty light fixtures that were originally designed for incandescent bulbs. You won’t see many of these on hardware store shelves yet, but leading Canadian specialty suppliers are beginning to offer a growing line of LED bulbs. The only problem is cost, though that’s changing.
The price of an MR16 LED to replace traditional halogen designs runs from $35 to $60 for a single bulb. That’s about five to eight times more money than a regular halogen bulb, but the LED lasts 20 to 25 times longer while using 90 per cent less energy.
That’s why LEDs make especially good sense in applications where lights stay on a lot, where the heat buildup of traditional bulbs is a problem, or where it’s difficult to change bulbs after they burn out. These include commercial and high-rise residential applications, where lights are burning 24/7 — here I am thinking of hallways, stairwells and elevators.
They’re also useful for exterior residential applications, especially when changing a bulb involves climbing up a ladder. LEDs last for years and function well where it’s cold. They don’t emit UV rays, either, so they won’t cause fading of fabrics and surfaces.
I have bought some of these lights as emergency light sources at the local dollar store, and I found they are excellent to use when the power goes out. The small, round disks are lit by 3 LED bulbs, each connected to a AAA battery.
The market for these is growing, so if you have a bit of extra money to spend on lighting, there are some fixtures and lights available for everything from solar path lights to flood lights.
Considering these will last up to 20 years (yes I did say years) and use a great deal less electricity, they will likely pay for themselves at least twice over.
If you can find a good instruction book at your local library, you can also build home-made solar panels, and then you may well end up either breaking even or making money off the local power company if you can make enough of the panels and use LED and those wonderful new induction cooking tops.
Posted by ninemoonjupe 
