CFL? No, LED! LOL

ryan — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:37:25 +0000

While I may have gotten carried away with three letter acronyms in the title of this post, energy savings in your home achieved through the use of energy efficient bulbs is no laughing matter! Energy efficient bulbs can save you hundreds of dollars every year on your electricity bill. CFL, which stands for compact fluorescent lamp, is a popular energy saving replacement to your old incandescent bulbs, as they generally use less power, and have a longer rated life. However, there are a few downsides to these bulbs, in that they can be more expensive, they contain mercury, which complicates their disposal, and they cannot be used with a dimmer switch (of which, I am a big fan of). Nevertheless, the energy saving characteristics of this bulb typically outweigh their negatives, and have thus found there way into the hearts of many environmentally conscious homeowners.

Photo: Mourner

However, the real star of this post is not CFLs, but LEDs or Light Emitting Diodes. The LED was first invented in Russia in the 1920s, and introduced in America as a practical electronic component in 1962. All early devices emitted low-intensity red light, but modern LEDs are available in a large variety of colors and light wavelengths. LEDs present many advantages over traditional light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, multiple and switchable colors, improved robustness, smaller size and faster switching. Previously, the production cost of LED was too high in order for it to be competitive against incandescent and CFLs. However, this is already starting to change as companies like Philips are using new technology to make cheaper and cheaper bulbs.

The new LED lights from Philips come in a variety of colors and are especially durable for outdoor use due to their waterproof, non-breakable bulb. Some of the products they offer can also change light level and color on-demand, to suit your mood or the time of day. LED lighting is definitely the future of energy-efficient home lighting!

New LED lights from Philips

For more information on the lighting options available from Philips, visit: philips.com
For a great overview on ‘Eco Home Lighting’, check out this post.

Does anyone know of a good source to buy LED lights online?

Conservation Tutorials » LED

CFL? No, LED! LOL