LED Lighting

LEDs present many advantages over traditional light sources including -

> lower energy consumption > longer lifetime > improved robustness > smaller size > faster switching.

With the development of high efficiency and high power LEDs it has become possible to incorporate LEDs in lighting and illumination. Replacement light bulbs have been made as well as dedicated fixtures and LED lamps.
LEDs are used as street lights and in other architectural lighting where color changing is used.

The lack of IR/heat radiation makes LEDs ideal for stage lights using banks of RGB LEDs that can easily change color and decrease heating from traditional stage lighting, as well as medical lighting where IR-radiation can be harmful.

Sustainable Lighting

Efficient lighting is needed for sustainable architecture. A 13 watt LED lamp produces 450 to 650 lumens, which is equivalent to a standard 40 watt incandescent bulb. A standard 40 W incandescent bulb has an expected lifespan of 1,000 hours while an LED can continue to operate with reduced efficiency for more than 50,000 hours, 50 times longer than the incandescent bulb.

An Environmentally Friendly Option

A single kWh of electricity will generate 1.34lbs of CO2 emissions. Assuming the average light bulb is on for 10 hours a day, a single 40 watt incandescent bulb will generate 196 lbs of CO2 every year. The 13 watt LED equivalent will only be responsible for 63 lbs of CO2 over the same time span. A building's carbon footprint from lighting can be reduced by 68% by exchanging all incandescent bulbs for new LEDs.

LEDs are also non-toxic unlike the more popular energy efficient bulb option: the compact florescent a.k.a. CFL which contains traces of harmful mercury. While the amount of mercury in a CFL is small, introducing less into the environment is preferable.

Economically Sustainable

LED light bulbs could be a cost effective option for lighting a home or office space because of their very long lifetimes, even though they have a higher purchase price. The high initial cost of the commercial LED bulb is due to the expensive sapphire substrate which is key to the production process. The sapphire apparatus must be coupled with a mirror-like collector to reflect light that would otherwise be wasted.