HI

“L-E-D”. With regards to lighting, you’re hearing these three letters over and over again… you view it posted all over lighting websites, and its beginning to bug you. It seems to be an exciting new trend…some type of new innovative light…nevertheless, you have no idea what it is. You’d like to know very well what everybody’s talking about- what’s all the rage?

LED’s – LEDS – To put it simply, LED’s are diodes that…(huh?) hang 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, instead of emitting light from the vacuum (as in an incandescent bulb) or perhaps 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 let you know when to avoid and go. They have ruled your driving, saved your daily life countless times, and that little red man made you wait around till you were in a position to cross the street. That’s right – the red, yellow and green on the traffic lights are Led lights right before your nose. Actually, Light Emitting Diodes have been around for quite a while, conceptualized in 1907. However, it 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 lighting up your digital clocks, flashlights and telling you when you’ve got a fresh voice message on your own cell phone. Expensive in the beginning, as applications grew, benefits were discovered and manufacturing costs transpired. According to the American Lighting Association (ALA), lighting manufacturers have invested considerable time, 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 a 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. For the reason that in LED lights, 90% of energy is changed into light, while in incandescent bulbs 90% of energy goes to heat and only 10% to visible light.

They last longer. LED is virtually free of maintenance – they don’t have a filament that may burn out, so they last much longer. A typical “longevity” household bulb will burn for approximately 2,000 hours. An LED might have a useful lifespan around 100,000 hours! By some sources, LED’s can last so long as 40 years. Imagine not having to change 100 watt high bay led lights for years. There are LED products available this season that may make frequent light bulb changes so 20th century.

How it really works… (skip this part unless you really care) Light is a form of energy that could be released by an atom. It is comprised of many small particle-like packets, called photons, which are the most basic units of light. LED’s are specially constructed release a numerous photons outward.When an electric 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. Almost all of the power emitted is light energy.

Within an ordinary diode, such as for example incandescent bulbs, the semiconductor material itself eventually ends up absorbing most 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, because a huge portion of the available electricity isn’t going toward producing visible light. LED’s generate very little heat, relatively speaking. A higher percentage of the electrical power is going directly to generating light, which cuts down on 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 specific direction. A lot 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 end). Until recently, LED’s were too expensive to use for some lighting applications because they’re built around advanced semiconductor material. The price of semiconductor devices has plummeted over the past decade, however, making LED’s a more cost-effective lighting option for a wide range of situations. While they may be more costly than incandescent lights up front, a 60-watt LED replacement bulb runs in the area of $100, and even the lower-output versions, used for things such as spot lighting, will cost between $40 and $80.

That’s compared to a $1 incandescent and a $2 fluorescent bulb.The truth is, even at $100 for an individual bulb, LEDs will end up saving money in the long run, because you only need a couple of every decade and you spend less overall on home lighting, that may account for about 7 percent of one’s electric bill [source: Greener Choices]. But don’t worry, the scary price it is advisable to pay upfront won’t last too much time, the lighting industry generally expects LED costs to come down quickly. Lighting Science Group, an organization that develops and manufactures LED lighting, estimates a 50 percent price reduction within two years.