LED Efficiency
How do
LED light bulbs compare to incandescent bulbs? A regular 40 Watt incandescent bulb burns through a lot more energy than it needs to produce the light you see. Remember the Easy Bake Ovens that use incandescent bulbs to bake brownies? A large percentage of the energy that goes into a 40 Watt bulb is wasted as heat - great for toy ovens but not so great for conserving electricity and saving money. LED light bulbs, on the other hand, generate very little heat. They transfer most of their energy into light.
The latest LED light bulbs now produce about the same amount of light per watt as compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL). However, unlike incandescent bulbs and CFLs, which splash light in all directions, LED bulbs are directional. They drive their light in one direction so that you have light exactly where you want it. This directional lighting equals savings in yet another fashion. LEDs don’t waste light (energy) on areas you don’t need illuminated so they make the perfect task light.
LED bulbs are designed to fit standard bases, range from 0.85 to 7.3 watts. In addition to low wattage you get the bonus of long life and energy efficiency. This adds up to a 90% savings over standard bulbs. Starry Night Lights can help you make the switch to LED lights.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 3:59 am and is filed under Do It Yourself, LED Light Bulbs, Starry Night Lights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
2 Responses to “LED Efficiency”
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May 6th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
the task lighting analogy seems ok, but splashing light around is great for ordinary light fixtures and its what CFL do more efficiently and with better color than LED. LED lights seem ok for low light specialty applications, seems they are still not ready for general lighting
May 6th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
LED’s are definitely favored in situations where directional lighting is appropriate. Task lighting, spot lighting, recessed lighting are all areas where LED light bulbs excel. As you’ve correctly noted, fill lighting is not one of those areas. I’m not sure if LED’s will ever be ideal for these situations, but given the amount of R&D being pumped into the technology, I certainly would not rule that out in the future. LED’s are also a cleaner technology than compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). This and its energy efficiency could be what ultimately decides the question. In the meantime, either is a better choice than incandescent light bulbs. These 100+ year old relics will likely fade into history in the coming years.
Anthony