Light Emitting Diode Lighting

By Author: Mohan Chen
Total Articles: 434
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Light Emitting Diode or LED lighting has been in existence for many years, mainly in niche applications like small trinkets and indicator lighting. However, due to LED lighting being highly energy efficient, not to mention technologically superior over other light sources such as incandescent and fluorescent lighting, it is forecasted to reach beyond electronic applications into commercial and home LED lighting as well. In a recent report by Global Industry Analysts it is predicted that the market for fluorescent and LED lighting could climb to $97 billion by 2010. The spike in growth would be mainly from construction and industrial development industries.

As more individuals become aware of the energy efficiency of led lights, the price of such items as LED bulbs will decrease in price. Currently, the price of one LED bulb is substantially higher than the price of incandescent or fluorescent lighting. However, the initial price for LED bulbs would more than pay for itself in the long run. On average, one incandescent 60-watt bulb lasts 1,000 hours whereas one 2-watt LED light bulb ...
... lasts 60,000 hours. Therefore, one would need to purchase 60 incandescent bulbs for every one LED light bulb.

The $100 billion global lighting industry is undergoing radical change: New office buildings and retail outlets are abandoning fluorescent lighting in favor of LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, those tiny, energy-efficient, long-lasting, and blindingly bright points of light. Giants such as GE (GE) and Philips are shifting production from incandescent bulbs to LEDs. Even the local Home Depot (HD) -- which today probably stocks only a couple of LED lighting products -- will soon carry a bouquet of LED bulbs, ultimately edging out fluorescents and halogen lamps. By the end of the decade, analysts predict, LEDs will be the dominant source for commercial and residential lighting.

LEDs, which are based on a technology similar to that of computer chips, have more in common in their design and manufacture with your laptop than with the incandescent bulb that Thomas Edison patented almost 130 years ago. As lighting goes digital, the industry is likely to encounter some of the same upheaval that took place when television, music, and other businesses shifted away from analog technologies.

First (excluding camp fires and lanterns) came the incandescent bulb, thanks to Thomas Edison. In fact, many homes are lit exclusively with incandescent lighting to this very day. But wait! There are better alternatives. Fluorescent lighting brought an incredible improvement to the residential marketplace when introduced. It literally transformed kitchens and bathrooms.

LED lighting is compatible with most systems. Some models screw in, replacing incandescents. Others can replace halogen bulbs. The under-cabinet light bar is popular for kitchen lighting and other work spaces.

Bulbs for special occasions? Of course! Who doesn't have problems with burnt out Christmas lights every year? They can easily be replaced with LED Christmas light bulbs. Imagine not dealing with this problem for more than 50,000 hours?

So when a lighting designer two years ago proposed installing light emitting diodes or LEDs, an emerging lighting technology, the royal family readily assented. The new lights, the designer said, would last more than 22 years and enormously reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions — a big plus for Prince Charles, an ardent environmentalist. Since then, the palace has installed the lighting in chandeliers and on the exterior, where illuminating the entire facade uses less electricity than running an electric teakettle.

LED lighting was once relegated to basketball scoreboards, cellphone consoles, traffic lights and colored Christmas lights. But as a result of rapid developments in the technology, it is now poised to become common on streets and in buildings, as well as in homes and offices. Some American cities, including Ann Arbor, Mich., and Raleigh, N.C., are using the lights to illuminate streets and parking garages, and dozens more are exploring the technology. And the lighting now adorns the conference rooms and bars of some Renaissance hotels, a corridor in the Pentagon and a new green building at Stanford.

LEDs are more than twice as efficient as compact fluorescent bulbs, currently the standard for greener lighting. Unlike compact fluorescents, LEDs turn on quickly and are compatible with dimmer switches. And while fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, which requires special disposal, LED bulbs contain no toxic elements, and last so long that disposal is not much of an issue.

And in the rush to make cheaper led lights, poorly made products could erase the technology's natural advantage, experts warn. LEDs are tiny sandwiches of two different materials that release light as electrons jump from one to the other. The lights must be carefully designed so heat does not damage them, reducing their lifespan to months from decades. And technological advances that receive rave reviews in a university laboratory may not perform as well when mass produced for the real world.

Britain's Low Carbon Trust, an environmental nonprofit group, has replaced the 12 LED fixtures bought three years ago for its offices with conventional bulbs, because the LED lights were not bright enough, said Mischa Hewitt, a program manager at the trust. But he says he still thinks the technology is important.