Goodbye to Edison's bulb: LEDs bring 'new age of light'

For those who cringe at energy-guzzling incandescents but still hate the icky light and mercury of compact fluorescents, 2010 is the year you've been waiting for.

Big-box stores are already reconfiguring their lighting aisles, making way for a super-efficient - albeit expensive - newcomer, the light emitting diode, or LED.

With LEDs, lighting is changing faster now than at any point since Edison invented the incandescent bulb in 1879, industry officials say.

"You're going to see an explosion of products and applications," says Kevin Dowling of Philips Electronics, one of the major bulb manufacturers. "What we're seeing in 2010 is a new age of light."

Among the pluses of LEDs: They are 80 percent more efficient and last up to 50,000 hours - longer than your roof. You could keep it lit four hours a day for 30 years and still bequeath it to your children. Full Story

Benefits of LED lightbulbs

Long-lasting - LED bulbs last up to 10 times as long as compact fluorescents, and far longer than typical incandescents.

Durable - since LEDs do not have a filament, they are not damaged under circumstances when a regular incandescent bulb would be broken. Because they are solid, LED bulbs hold up well to jarring and bumping.

Cool - these bulbs do not cause heat build-up; LEDs produce 3.4 btu's/hour, compared to 85 for incandescent bulbs. This also cuts down on air conditioning costs in the home.

Mercury-free - no mercury is used in the manufacturing of LEDs.

More efficient - LED light bulbs use only 2-10 watts of electricity (1/3rd to 1/30th of Incandescent or CFL) Small LED flashlight bulbs will extend battery life 10 to 15 times longer than with incandescent bulbs. Also, because these bulbs last for years, energy is saved in maintenance and replacement costs. For example, many cities in the US are replacing their incandescent traffic lights with LED arrays because the electricity costs can be reduced by 80% or more.

Cost-effective - although LEDs are expensive, the cost is recouped over time and in battery savings. For the AC bulbs and large cluster arrays, the best value comes from commercial use where maintenance and replacement costs are expensive.

Light for remote areas - because of the low power requirement for LEDs, using solar panels becomes more practical and less expensive than running an electric line or using a generator for lighting.

This posting is courtesy of Eartheasy.