Choosing Lighting Fixtures –
Light-emitting Diode (LED) Technology and Applications

There have been great leaps in efficient lighting in recent decades, from the traditional incandescent to halogen to compact fluorescents. The next technology on the horizon is light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

The first practical visible-spectrum red LED was developed by an American scientist Nick Holonyak Jr. in 1962. This student of the two-time Nobel Prize winner John Bardeen is now known as “the father of the light-emitting diode.”

Around the world, red LED lights have been used in the “Exit” signs for decades. The lights that were installed in 1990 still continue to light up the signs to this day, without burning out.

In the past, LED bulbs could not light up standard rooms: there were no white-light emitting LED bulbs. Today, the bulbs produce high-intensity white-light using phosphor-based Light-Emitting Diodes. To achieve such results, blue-coloured LEDs get coated with coloured phosphor.

LEDs are green and eco-friendly lighting source without mercury.

The lighting revolution is coming! LED Fluorescent Lights are the next generation solution to replace conventional fluorescent light. They feature higher efficiency, more reliability compared to the previous generation. These eco-friendly, energy efficient tubes can be installed wherever fluorescent tubes are used

-indoor/outdoor/ residential/commercial /industrial
-parking lots
-street lighting
-offices
-stores
-warehouses
-museums and galleries
-hotels, restaurants and meeting rooms etc.

GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

White LED technologies have the potential to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce global warming, reduce acid rain, eliminate the need for over 30 electrical power plants, and reduce the 32 ton annual US consumption of mercury for fluorescent lighting. Sounds too good to be true?
These incredible benefits are actually achievable over the next 10 years by aggressively developing and deploying White LEDs. On its current trajectory, White LED technology will achieve efficiencies 12 times greater than incandescent and 2 times greater than fluorescent with device lifetimes 100 to 1000 times greater than their glass cousins. While these represent stretch goals, major headway can be made at the local, regional, national, and global levels.

These gains are possible because LED directly fights these wastes:

  • 21% of all energy (oil, gas, coal, nuclear) goes to lighting.
  • 30%, the largest single category, of all electricity is consumed by lighting.
  • 7% of the 463 tons of mercury used annually, or 32 tons is used to make high efficiency fluorescent lighting.

And produces environmentally sound benefits:

  • Reduction of $125 billion spending on electricity over the period 2005-2025
  • 50% reduction in electricity use for lighting
  • 30% reduction in total electricity production a savings of 3.5 quadrillion BTUs Elimination of approximately 115 million metric tons of carbon emissions and over 1 million tons in combined nitrous and sulfur dioxide emissions annually  

LEDs consume very little power – they are up to 90 percent efficient, which means that only a small proportion of the input energy is consumed to produce heat. In comparison, traditional light sources (e.g., incandescent bulbs) are 5 to 10 percent efficient, with 90 percent or more of the input energy wasted in the form of heat.
This represents significant cost advantages to consumers and reduced greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

  • Long life – will last up to 60,000 hours compared to 6,000 hours from Fluorescent lights conventional and up to 100 times longer than a typical incandescent lights);
  • Easy installation – no ballast & starter needed;
  • Energy saving – low power consumption;
  • LED lights run cool – do not contain any mercury.
  • Reduced maintenance costs – they can avoid the material and labor costs
    involved with continually replacing conventional bulbs;

In addition, LEDs perform well in temperatures from -35C° to +45C°, making them ideal for applications subject to frequent on-off cycling, such as garages and basements.

Other benefits of LEDs over fluorescents include:

  • Quick and easy installation to minimize retrofit costs;
  • no ballast and starter needed, thus no radio frequency to interfere with radio and television signals;
  • instant, full-strength light up;
  • no buzzing or flickering;
  • directional distribution of light—good for interior task lighting.

Solid-state design renders LEDs impervious to shock, vibration, frequent switching and environmental extremes. Savings from reduced maintenance costs and downtime quickly return the capital investment expenditure, making them as friendly to the environment as they are to the operating budget. The positive environmental impacts of LED lights additionally come from the consistent, reduced power consumption, long service life, high-quality light, and cold temperature operation, with the corresponding reduction in greenhouse gases and the reduced waste from fewer replacements. Unlike conventional fluorescent bulbs, LED lights are not disposed of as hazardous waste at end of life.

Clearly a leader on the energy efficiency front, LED technology is poised to revolutionize how lighting systems are designed and installed across North America. The future looks brighter indeed with LEDs.

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