What’s an LED?

What’s an LED anyway?

Lighting technology has exploded in the past few years. Many of us carry light emitting diodes (LEDs) now without even thinking about them.

The flash on your smart phone is an LED. The dashboard lighting in most new cars is all LED.  LEDs come in all shapes and sizes from tiny pen lamps to exterior streetlights. LED prices are coming way down.  

The biggest advantage LEDs have over incandescents is efficiency. The biggest advantage LEDs have over compact fluorescent lights is that LEDs avoid the use of trace amounts of heavy metals.

As with any technology, not all LEDs meet high performance standards. The EPA’s ENERGY STAR program qualifies LED lighting that meets specific standards for quality and efficiency.

Cool Bulb Finder app available

We need a dimmable bulb in a warm color (2700 K) with a small base (candle) that is less than 4 inches tall (to avoid peaking out over the shade) for our dining room chandelier.

The EPA has sponsored a nifty “lightbulb finder” app to help consumers figure out what kind of (LED or otherwise) light to buy.  

The app, by Eco Hatchery, was the winner of an EPA contest last year. Lightbulb Finder lets you sort through hundreds of options with a few easy taps from type of fixture to existing bulb wattage to controls (dimmable or 3-way) to how many hours a day you use that light. The app produces a summary that tells you much you’ll save and even produces a shopping list of the likely cost.

Using Lightbulb Finder, it took me only few seconds to find an LED candelabra replacement bulb for our dining room chandelier–something that I completely struck out at while standing in the lighting aisle of a major store.

The app pointed me to a 3 watt Phillips LED bulb. The app told me the bulbs are $19.97 each, but will save $146 over the life (25,000 hours) of the bulbs. If we use the dining room chandelier 3 hours a day, we won’t have to change the bulbs for 22 years!

But what is an LED?

LEDs are small light sources that illuminate through the movement of electrons through a semiconductor material. LEDs are integrated into all sorts of products to provide white as well as colored light, including flashlights, light bulbs, and integrated light fixtures.

LEDs are part of the revolution in solid state lighting that the Department of Energy has been tracking for some time. The DOE would like LED lighting to find broad market acceptance more quickly than the slow uptake a decade ago for compact fluorescent lighting.

What’s so good about LEDs?

According the ENERGY STAR program, ENERGY STAR qualified LED lighting will:

   Reduce energy costs. An LED uses at least 75% less energy than incandescent lighting, which saves on operating expenses.

   Reduce maintenance costs. An LED lasts 35 to 50 times longer than incandescent lighting and about 2 to 5 times longer than fluorescent lighting. No bulb-replacements, no ladders, no ongoing disposal program.

   Reduce cooling costs. LEDs produce very little heat.

   Be guaranteed. Qualified LEDs come with a minimum three-year warranty far beyond the industry standard.

   Offer convenient features. Qualified LEDs are available with dimming on some indoor models and automatic daylight shut-off and motion sensors on some outdoor models.

   Be durable. LEDs will not break like an incandescent or fluorescent bulb.

From an investment perspective at today’s prices, LEDs make the most economic sense as replacements for the highest wattage fixtures that burn the longest.