Surrounded by grim news each day regarding the decay of our economy and the depletion of our planet, it's easy to feel consumed by the darkness. Fear not! Technology has introduced us to a new light.
LEDs (light emitting diodes) have been around since the 1960's. You may even remember the excitement generated by the first red-glowing LED calculators and wristwatches popularized in the 70's. And who could forget the introduction of the cool blue LED chip that was the hallmark of the first Nokia cell phones? Our electronic gadgets have brought the color of LED into our lives in a permanent way, but use has been limited by that color range until now. In 2002, Nichia Corporation, the Japanese LED chip-making giant, invented white LED light. With this major accomplishment in color technology, the field of general lighting suddenly broke wide open.
Unlike regular incandescent light bulbs (lamps), LED light is produced in a completely different way. The difference makes LED a boon for the planet because of the terrific conservation of energy. This of course translates into dollar savings for the consumer. Instead of conducting electricity through a delicate filament to produce light by using heat, LED fixtures use a circuit board to direct electric voltage to a driver; the driver regulates the voltage to the chip and the chip produces the light, releasing the heat to the back of the unit along the way. Whereas the incandescent light bulb will eventually break down and completely cease to function, LED fixtures are not subject to this catastrophic failure. Well-constructed LED lighting units manage the heat dissipation in the form and housing of the fixture itself. LEDs are impervious to cold and are not subject to on/off wear. Although the lumen output (brightness you see) may degrade or become dim after some 15 or 20 years, the light will never go completely out. This means it could be close to 20 years before you need to think about changing a light bulb!
Additionally, LED fixtures can lower your electric bill—a big plus when trying to conserve your bank account as well as power! A regular 60-watt incandescent, halogen, or fluorescent lamp produces about 800 lumens. By comparison, the lumen output for one single watt from an LED fixture can produce 70 lumens. If you do the math, you can see that to achieve the same amount of bright light, less than 12 watts is necessary when LEDs are being used. In our area of Texas, the cost of electricity runs about 10.6 cents per kilowatt-hour. Considering that it takes 80% less wattage in LED lights to produce the same visible light, you can easily calculate the savings.
This long-lasting durability and energy savings makes LED lighting a perfect choice for outdoor lighting applications. Leading light fixture manufacturers are in healthy competition to create well-made and beautiful LED fixtures to take outdoor lighting into the future in a big way. At this time, the cost of each of these dynamic power-packed fixtures runs about twice as much as its low-voltage counterpart; but unlike today's financial market, this is an investment with a guaranteed return. The majority of the expense is in the production of the LED itself: circuit board, driver and chip. Additional expense comes from the permanent housing. Although you may hear a word or two out there about retrofitting an LED lamp into an incandescent fixture, avoid the temptation: the results are almost always unsatisfactory and will only add to your expenses. While LED lights for outdoor use can't be found at your local home improvement store, they are readily available from a professional landscape lighting designer.
But we'll talk about that next month…