Light Bulb Battle Heats Up and We Should Care Because…?

Statistical evidence of widespread light bulb hoarding has yet to emerge, but the anecdotes make such colorful copy that you would think everyone in the U.S. is rushing out to buy those good old fashioned incandescent light bulbs before they disappear. Seriously, let’s give ourselves a little credit for having some good old fashioned common sense. At least one survey shows that a significant majority of Americans are already trying new energy efficient lighting in advance of the federally mandated incandescent bulb phase-out. There are a couple of obvious reasons – saving money and conserving energy – and there may also be some underlying currents at work, too.

Light Bulbs and Household Hazards

Part of the light bulb ruckus is over the small amounts of mercury used in the new high efficiency compact fluorescent light bulbs. Detergents, cleansers, insecticides, lawn products, paint thinner; bleach, prescription drugs, nail polish, hobby supplies and scores of other household products contain varying amounts of hazardous substances. Most Americans seem perfectly at ease with the idea that some household products contain hazardous substances. In fact, some people passionately cling to their favorite hazardous substance-containing products. http://cleantechnica.com

Light Bulbs and Lifestyle

Compact fluorescent light bulbs are just one energy efficient alternative. Light-emitting diode (LED) technology and halogen technology are others. LEDs in particular are opening up whole new avenues for amateur home decorators and do-it-yourself fans in creative lighting design. We Americans are known as home fixer-uppers, do-it-yourselfers and gadget lovers, which could be another reason why the survey showed such widespread interest. The idea of sticking a high efficiency light bulb in a socket and being reasonably assured that you will never have to change it until you move (the average American moves 11.7 times in a lifetime) is also probably very appealing to most people.

Light Bulbs and People

Speaking of people, what is this thing about people? The new phase-out does not apply to individuals. It applies to companies. It phases in new energy efficiency standards for light bulb manufacturers. U.S. manufacturers had to decide if it was worthwhile to invest in the R&D needed to produce more efficient incandescent bulbs that could be retailed at a reasonable price. None of them were interested. People who really, really care about incandescent light bulbs will find a way to get them for as long as somebody, somewhere, continues to make them. As for the rest of us, most people seem ready to move on.

SOURCES: solarlednews & cleantechnica

What makes an LED such a good colored light source ?

If you want a colored light, LEDs can’t be beat for efficiency. The process that gives off the light makes light of a certain wavelength, which is a function of the junction material. The efficiency of that process is much higher than with incandescent lamps—15% for LEDs compared with 5% for incandescent. Then when you filter an incandescent light down to a single color, you give up as much as 90% in the process. So when you need a colored light, such as a traffic signal, or an exit sign, LEDs have a significant advantage.

Conversely, LEDs aren’t yet as efficient at making white light. LEDs commonly make white light by the process of exciting a phosphor, which gives off other wavelengths of light, giving a combined effect of a white light. The conversion of the phosphor isn’t perfect, so some efficiency is lost.

LEDs last for 100,000 or 50,000 hours.

This statement is a heresy! Everyone knows the game about the “weakest link”... This applies perfectly to the luminous sources with LED technology. LED spotlights and bulbs are assemblies of components, but which component is the weakest link in this assembly?
The diode itself has a life span of 100,000 hours, but the transformer (or ballast) does not work for more than 30,000 hours. The transformer that regulates the LED current is, therefore, the assembly’s “weakest link”, which will limit the life span of a LED luminous light for the general public to 30,000 hours. So, for the moment, systematically avoid products announced as having life spans of more than 30,000 hours.