Led Bulbs

The latest in lighting technology, LEDs, really has a lot going for it. More and more people are ditching the traditional lighting products like incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs in favor of this more efficient LED lighting technology. Every emerging technology needs some information campaign as well, which shows the purpose of this article.

So what is an LED bulb, how does it work, and what makes it tick in our modern world?

Basic Features of LED Bulbs

An LED light bulb, or an LED lamp, is a kind of lamp that uses a light-emitting diode (LED) as the light source. The LEDs involved can be the conventional LEDs, organic LEDs, or the polymer LEDs.

The light output from a light emitting diode is usually small when compared to the traditional light sources like incandescent or halogen lighting. To remedy this, multiple diodes are often used together to give off a better white light quality. Also, with the improvement of diode technology also come the developments of high power LED lamps with a higher lumen output that can be made as replacements for screw-in lamps. LED lamps can already be interchangeable with incandescent or fluorescent lamps making it ideal for house lights or street lights.

LED light bulbs can be made interchangeable with incandescent lamps so they are usually manufactured in the standard light bulb shapes like the Edison screw base with the standard lamp sizes and bases.  For example, an LED lamp with E27 Edison can also be used on a screw base for an incandescent lamp with E27 Edison as well. The same goes with MR16 LED bulbs that can also be used in place of standard incandescent light bulbs for both residential and retail lighting. The pin base of the LED lamp should correspond with the screw base in order for LED lamp to be interchangeable with the traditional incandescent lighting fixtures.

Benefits of LED Bulbs

LED light bulbs are generally preferred because they have a higher energy efficiency. They use 80% less electrical energy, so you save money on the electricity costs. Besides the energy efficiency being boasted by lighting producers of the LED light bulbs, LED lamps are also said to last longer than the traditional light bulbs. LED lamps offer a significantly longer service life than incandescent or fluorescent lamps. LED lighting products are supposed to last for tens of thousands of hours, at around 20 to 30 years depending on the usage. You also save money on the maintenance costs as downtimes are reduced to a minimum and LED lamps are generally maintenance-free.

LED lamps are also made with a low voltage as replacements for the regular 120v or 240v AC lighting. One high power LED light can produce 7,527 lumens using only 100 watts of electric power. That example in itself would show that an LED lamp indeed is the best in terms of energy efficiency as compared to the traditional lighting technologies like incandescent, halogen, or fluorescent lighting.

Another benefit of LED lights is in grow lights. LED grow lights are more preferred for indoor plant growers because they use less electrical power and are able to emit only the right amount of wavelength that would correspond to a plant’s ideal photochemical process absorption peaks.

Some Disadvantages of LED Bulbs

Initial costs of commercially available LED lamps are higher than those of fluorescent lamps or incandescent lamps. This is particularly due to the high costs of production as the processing aspects involved in white LED manufacture still have significant rooms for improvement. However, since the user is able to save on with the variable cost of electricity and less maintenance in the long run, LED lighting products are generally more cost effective in comparison to other lighting technology.

Another downside of LED lighting, feature-wise, is the soft white color of its light. The warm white, bluish character of the light from LED light fixtures gives off a traditionally cold feeling in huge contrast to the warm traditional light glow from the fluorescent or incandescent bulb.

With the increasing awareness of the public on the importance of being eco-friendly, preserving energy, and maintaining a green environment, more efforts have been geared toward the development of more efficient lighting technologies. In 2008, the US Department of Energy held a competition called Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize aimed to encourage lighting producers to design other lighting technologies that are of high quality light output and high energy efficiency that will be suitable to replace the common light bulb.

More research and development is currently being undertaken to produce better LED lighting products with a better color rendering index, better lumen output quality, and better temperature tolerance. With this also come the efforts of developing manufacturing processes that would reduce overall manufacturing costs of LED technology. So in the near future, one can expect that a day will come wherein you would see the streets lined with LED street lights.

So whether people would prefer to buy a lamp that is more expensive yet more efficient and durable would depend on the person in the end. However, for the average user like me who prefers to experiment with the latest technologies, I would say that LED lamps really have a long exciting way to go and I will be there to watch it and use the technology advancements in my own home.