light-emitting diodes, or led‘s, are a type of lighting that works substantially different from a standard light bulb. The diode is an electrical component with two terminals that conduct electricity in one direction only. When an electrical current is passed through the component, the diode gives off a bright light. By combining many of these diodes to a pcb (printed circuit board) we get an amazing uniform light with an unparalleled light quality and at a very minimal energy cost. One other great thing about LEDs is that they can produce a variety of colours easily and brightly making them an extremely versatile light source for many applications, such as mood lighting, commercial use and many more.
LEDs are more efficient than any other lighting source on the market, whereas the traditional incandescent lamp or halogen lamp convert most of the electricity used to heat rather than light.
They are fully dimmable but please make sure you check the specification before you purchase as you will need to buy a dimmable lamp as opposed to a standard led. Not all dimmable led lamps are compatible with older dimmer switches so again please check which dimmer switch you have and whether it will be compatible with your new lamps. Most LEDs are designed for trailing edge dimmers which can be setup to a desired cutoff point to avoid lamp flicker, they are pretty easy to setup so should not cause much concern. As led lighting becomes more common in households, we will see a greater choice of dimming controls come to market. The biggest complaint for homeowners that use LEDs is the cost of them, but as demand picks up the cost will drop dramatically as can be seen on most online retail stores. The thought of spending tens of dollars/pounds to replace led lightbulbs wards off many consumers from buying them but the reduction in energy usage and long lifespan make them a very wise choice on your investment and with payback times in less than a year you can see why.
led lightbulbs or downlight’s come in a variety of shapes and sizes with many popular household lamps including the GU10 led spot, E27 Edison screw lamp and many more, they last on average of 25 times longer and use about 85 percent less energy than traditional incandescent light bulbs (not bad yeah). LEDs also outlast the popular compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) and require no warm up time, giving off the full light output instantly.
So how do LEDs compare when measuring their output? As you may have already noticed while out shopping or online that most lamp packaging has a figure on it quoting ‘Lumens’. Lumens are just a convenient unit of light output that can be accurately compared to other light sources whereas wattage is not a useful measure of light output. As mentioned above most traditional lamps convert the electricity used to heat which in turn is using up most of the wattage of the lamp and not producing any use to the end result. LEDs produce enough lumens to replace a standard 40 or 60-watt lightbulb. And they only use about 9 to 12 watts instead. So, if you want to replace one 60-watt lightbulb, look for an led lightbulb with about 800 lumens; for a 40-watt bulb, look for 450 lumens.
So there are many benefits to using led lighting over traditional CFL or incandescent lightbulbs. They use less energy and last longer, the costs are dropping rapidly and the light quality is far superior. And one massive advantage that hasn’t been mentioned yet is the cost to the environment, obviously with a reduction in your carbon footprint you’re saving on CO2 emissions which ultimately is a big deciding factor for many of environmentally friendly consumers.
So what are you waiting for, make the change today and start saving.
