LED light bulbs are currently about to take over the lighting technology market by storm. And this with good reasons, because as you know, LED bulbs are a far more energy efficient, more environmentally friendly and also a cost-saving alternative to the old conventional incandescent and CFL light bulbs.
These are also the main reasons for both private and public transformations and upgrading of residential and commercial lighting technology systems to LED illumination. But are you aware of just how much of a difference LED light bulbs can make to energy saving, sustainability and financial spending?
Already back in February 2009, the Clinton Climate Initiative replaced 140,000 streetlights in Los Angeles with energy-saving LED fixtures.
This investment into energy efficient LED lighting solutions is now saving the city of Los Angeles more than US$ 5 million annually, a number that is to reach $7.5 million per year once the entire LED upgrade has been made. Saving US$ 5 million per year by switching over to LED light bulbs, imagine that!
Clearly, LED lights are a revolutionary, cost-saving and energy efficient lighting solution - but just how different is the LED technology when compared to incandescent and compact fluorescent light bulbs, the CFLs?
So let’s take a closer look at the top 5 reasons LED lighting clearly outshines its alternatives and leaves the other conventional lighting technologies left behind and in the dark.
LED Bulbs are great with energy efficiency
The main argument, of course, refers to the clear advantage of LED lighting technologies to have with regards to energy efficiency. With increasing costs of electricity, the cost factor of electricity is becoming more and more relevant. For example, up to 40% of a city’s electricity costs are spent on street lighting only!
By applying energy efficient LED light bulbs these costs can be reduced by 70-90% and generate significant cost-savings for urban communities and municipal governments.
LED bulbs last more than incandescent bulbs
When looking at the average life span of LED, conventional incandescent and CFL light bulbs, it is crystal clear to anyone why LED lighting is by far the best solution. An average CFL’s lifespan is approximately 8,000 hours, whereas incandescent light bulbs only light for about 1,200 hours. LED technology, on the other hand, has an average lifespan of an impressive up 50,000 hours or more! That means an LED light bulb is an investment you make to last for many years or even decades of sustainable illumination in your personal home residence or on your commercial business premises and other public venues or buildings.
For urban lighting, this long life span also pays back in the form of substantial cost-savings in maintenance:
Instead of having to replace conventional light bulbs regularly and thereby generating high maintenance costs especially in a large-scale urban municipality setting, LED light bulbs with their exceptionally long life expectancy lead to significant cost-savings in regards to maintenance and replacement workloads.
Save money on your utility bills
LED lights to use less power (watts) per unit of light (lumen) generated. Therefore, they are not only much longer-lasting in lifespan but also lower your electricity bill providing 100 or even up to 200 lumens per watt. CFLs, in contrast, use about twice the amount of watts and incandescent light bulbs around 10x as much power with only ca. 18-20 lumen per watts.
In a home or residential setting, this difference in lifespan and efficiency between incandescent lighting and LED lighting helps you to significantly reduce your electricity bill.
In conclusion, a LED light bulb is therefore almost 50 times more efficient in lifespan, and ca. 70-80% more energy-efficient than a conventional incandescent option. Impressed yet? It gets better!
LED lights are non-toxic and greener than incandescents
Apart from the compelling differences in efficiency, lifespan and therefore also electricity cost, LED lighting is also the greenest solution available in today's markets. For one, LEDs, in contrast to CFLs, do not contain the highly toxic mercury, which is harmful not only to the environment but also to your personal health.
LED lights are free of toxic materials and are 100% recyclable, and besides this, they will help you to reduce your carbon footprint by up to a third:
The long operational lifetime span mentioned above means also that one LED light bulb can save material and production of 25 incandescent light bulbs. A big step towards a greener future!
Most important for issues regarding global warming and environmental change, LED light bulbs to release substantially less CO2, sulfur oxide and nuclear waste. Where 30 incandescent light bulbs release about 2500 kg's of these emissions a year, LEDs only produce about 200 kg's annually. Taking into consideration the increasing threats of global warming and the effects of CO2 emissions on our planet and personal health, it goes without saying that LED bulbs are by far the greenest lighting solution so far.
LED lighting is flexible in color and design
LED lights can easily be combined in various shapes and designs in order to produce highly efficient solutions for both residential and commercial illumination. Individual LEDs can be dimmed and both light, color and distribution can be dynamically controlled and adjusted either via timers or also remote and even via the internet or your home WLAN. A well-designed LED illumination system can achieve some amazing lighting effects that influence not only the eye but also for the mood and the mind of human beings.
LED mood illumination is already being used in airplanes to bridge jet-lags allow for more natural sleep patterns, and also in classrooms where the right lighting has proven to improve students learning abilities.
You can expect to see a lot more LED mood illumination that is being dynamically controlled depending on settings, moods and so on in our daily lives within the next few years.
LEDs are the way to a bright green future
Mostly, when thinking about personal and individual benefits and comforts of LED bulbs, one considers factors such as the non-effect of on/off cycling in LED bulbs which means lifespan doesn’t decrease.
Energy Saving LED Light BulbsAdditionally, the much lower output of heat which ensures that the bulbs typically do not overheat is also an important factor to consider. Besides these benefits, it is clear that with the efficiency, lifespan and ecological factors mentioned, the advantages of LED light bulbs range far beyond these simple comforts.
LED technology is substantially more efficient, longer lasting and far more sustainable than other lighting alternatives, especially in comparison to incandescent bulbs - which, in our opinion and also in that of many regulators should be removed entirely from the market because of their massive environmental impact.
If you want to learn more about the advantages of LED technology and digital illumination, feel free to explore our LED Bulbs category page on LEDMyplace.
Have you moved lighting to LEDs yet?