Advantages of LED Lights

The future of household lighting will soon be the wide spread adoption and use of white LED light bulbs. Though the present market for finished white LED products is geared mainly towards enthusiasts and early-adopters, the efficiency and cost effectiveness of LED lighting systems will drive demand for more affordable LED lights. Opto-electronics is an exciting area and we predict, that in the near future, white LED lighting applications will be powerful and cheap enough to replace incandescent lighting for everyday use in our homes, in street lights, outdoor signs, and offices.

Advantages of LED Lights

The operational life of current white LED lamps is 100,000 hours. This is 11 years of continuous operation, or 22 years of 50% operation. The long operational life of an led lamp is a stark contrast to the average life of an incandescent bulb, which is approximately 5000 hours. If the lighting device needs to be embedded into a very inaccessible place, using LEDs would virtually eliminate the need for routine bulb replacement.

There is no comparison between the cost of LED lights vs. traditional incandescent options. With incandescent bulbs, the true cost of the bulb is the cost of replacement bulbs and the labor expense and time needed to replace them. These are significant factors, especially where there are a large number of installed bulbs. For office buildings and skyscrapers, maintenance costs to replace bulbs can be enormous. These issues can all be virtually eliminated with the LED option.

The key strength of LED lighting is reduced power consumption. When designed properly, an LED circuit will approach 80% efficiency, which means 80% of the electrical energy is converted to light energy. The remaining 20% is lost as heat energy. Compare that with incandescent bulbs which operate at about 20% efficiency (80% of the electrical energy is lost as heat). In real money terms, if a 100 Watt incandescent bulb is used for 1 year, with an electrical cost of 10 cents/kilowatt hour, $88 will be spent on electricity costs. Of the $88 expense, $70 will have been used to heat the room, not light the room. If an 80% efficient LED system had been used, the electricity cost would be $23 per year - there would be a cost savings of $65 on electricity during the year. Realistically the cost savings would be higher as most incandescent light bulbs blow out within a year and require replacements whereas LED light bulbs can be used easily for a decade without burning out.

Our white LED lights currently come in packages which contain 36 or 48 LED lamps and can be adapted for use with any power supply or casing. Our clusters allow for conversion to operate from all common caving batteries, e.g. FX5/Kirby pack down to two AA cells, in case portability is needed. We have produced a seven-LED cluster light source as an alternative to low wattage light bulbs and a possible portable light source.

The main limitation to the adoption of white LED lighting as a lighting standard is the current high cost of led bulbs. Although the cost keeps going down, LED light bulbs are still expensive. A single AC bulb (17 LED), replacing a 25 watt incandescent, will cost about $40. Although LED's are expensive, the cost is recouped over time and in energy cost savings. Factor in that it is significantly cheaper to maintain led lights, the best value comes from commercial use where maintenance and replacement costs are expensive. Traffic lights and outdoor signs, for example, are being switched over to LED's in many cities. Smaller arrays, such as those in flashlights, headlamps and small task lights are great for specialty and outdoor use. LED based automotive headlights are current being used in high end luxury cars.

It will be interesting to see what developments are coming for more residential applications of LED lights. LED lighting technology has been researched and developed for the past two decades and we are beginning to see practical applications from this work. There is already wide spread use of LED traffic signs and LED headlights where a premium is placed on a reliable light source that is cheaper and less labor intensive to maintain. We in the industry are certain that tomorrows LED lights will last longer and consume even less power than todays energy efficient bulbs. LED lighting will be used to replace virtually every type of light, bulb, and lamp that is currently in use.

Compact Fluorescent Scares – Disposal and Functionality Concerns

 

By LEORA BROYDO VESTEL, in The NY Times

SAN FRANCISCO — It sounds like such a simple thing to do: buy some new light bulbs, screw them in, save the planet.

But a lot of people these days are finding the new compact fluorescent lighting anything but simple. Consumers who are trying them say they sometimes fail to work, or wear out early. At best, people discover that using the bulbs requires learning a long list of dos and don’ts.

Take the case of Karen Zuercher and her husband, in San Francisco. Inspired by watching the movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” they decided to swap out nearly every incandescent bulb in their home for energy-saving compact fluorescents. Instead of having a satisfying green moment, however, they wound up coping with a mess.

“Here’s my sad collection of bulbs that didn’t work,” Ms. Zuercher said the other day as she pulled a cardboard box containing defunct bulbs from her laundry shelf.

One of the 16 Feit Electric bulbs the Zuerchers bought at Costco did not work at all, they said, and three others died within hours. The bulbs were supposed to burn for 10,000 hours, meaning they should have lasted for years in normal use. “It’s irritating,” Ms. Zuercher said.

Irritation seems to be rising as more consumers try compact fluorescent bulbs, which now occupy 11 percent of the nation’s eligible sockets, with 330 million bulbs sold every year. Consumers are posting vociferous complaints on the Internet after trying the bulbs and finding them lacking.

Bulb makers and promoters say the overall quality of today’s compact fluorescents is high. But they also concede that it is difficult to prevent some problem bulbs from slipping through.

Experts say the quality problems are compounded by poor package instructions. Using the bulbs incorrectly, such as by screwing low-end bulbs into fixtures where heat is prone to build up, can greatly shorten their lives.

Some experts who study the issue blame the government for the quality problems, saying an intensive federal push to lower the price essentially backfired by encouraging manufacturers to use cheap components.

“In the pursuit of the holy grail, we stepped on the consumer,” said Michael Siminovitch, director of a lighting center at the University of California, Davis.

Compact fluorescents once cost as much as $30 apiece. Now they go for as little as $1 — still more than regular bulbs, but each compact fluorescent is supposed to last 10 times longer, save as much as $5.40 a bulb each year in electricity, and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from burning coal in power plants.

Much of the credit for that sharp cost decline goes to the Energy Department. The agency asked manufacturers in 1998 to create cheaper models and then helped find large-volume buyers, like universities and utilities, to buy them. That jump-started a mass market and eventually led to sales of discounted bulbs at retailers.

Consumers are supposed to be able to protect themselves by buying bulbs certified under the government’s Energy Star program. But experts and some environmental groups complain that Energy Star standards are weak, permitting low-quality bulbs with too high a level of mercury, a toxic metal contained in all compact fluorescents.

“The standard essentially establishes a floor, which sorts out the junk, with the expectation that the rest is good,” Mr. Siminovitch said. “It’s not.”

The government, which will begin enforcing tighter specifications this year, says it must seek a balance between quality and affordability to achieve its goal of getting millions of additional consumers to install the bulbs.

“Something that is perfect but not affordable wouldn’t serve the broad interests,” said Peter Banwell, the Energy Department’s manager of product marketing for Energy Star.

Alan Feit, vice president of Feit Electric, says he does not think the problems experienced by the Zuerchers indicate an overall quality problem with his bulbs. But he acknowledged the difficulty of keeping tight quality control on a cheap, mass-market item. “There are 40 to 50 components that go into these things,” Mr. Feit said. “While manufacturers try to inspect all incoming materials, one little mistake may cause a performance problem.”

Victor Roberts, an independent expert in Burnt Hills, N.Y., who conducts failure analysis testing on compact fluorescents, suspects that some suppliers — many of them in China — are using substandard components.

“Somebody decides to save a little money somewhere,” he said, “and suddenly we have hundreds of thousands of failures.”

The Program used tests Energy Star-certified bulbs to see if they still meet requirements.

In the 2007-8 tests, five of 29 models failed to meet specifications for such categories as lifespan, luminosity and on-off cycling and were removed from Energy Star’s list of qualified products. Because of performance concerns, the government is expanding the watchdog program, vowing to test samples of 20 percent of the thousands of certified bulb models each year.

In California, where bulbs have been heavily encouraged, utilities have concluded that they will not be able to persuade a majority of consumers to switch until compact fluorescents get better. That is prompting them to develop specifications for a better bulb.

The effort aims to address the most consumer complaints: poor dimming, slow warm-up times, shortened bulb life because of high temperatures inside enclosed fixtures, and dissatisfaction with the color of the light.

“Because of the aggressive goals in California, we have to be pushing the envelope at all times,” said Roland Risser, director of customer efficiency at Pacific Gas and Electric.

Experts and bulb manufacturers say that consumers need to play a role in solving the problems by learning more about the limitations of compact fluorescent bulbs. The Federal Trade Commission has begun to study whether it should force improvements in the labels of the bulbs.

Better labels might have helped the Zuerchers, the San Francisco couple. Initially, they put regular compact fluorescents in virtually every socket in their home, including enclosed ceiling lamps, dimmable fixtures and areas where lights are turned on and off frequently.

LED Lighting Technologies to Substitute Natural Light

Plants need light for photosynthesis, therefore for growing and in exchange they forward their energy to the animals that consume them.  Growing Plants Technology - Crop Production Systems The target of crop production systems is to develop innovative technologies that lower the costs of harvest and ensure ecologically aware crop farming. The crop production systems do not disregard important factors that influence plant development: temperature, humidity, light, carbon dioxide, water and nutrients. All these blend to create the ideal environment for a plant to grow and reproduce as well as they influence size, seeds, plant health and so on. Each plant will progress in its own manner, depending on the environment. Since a long time already biologists are studying the factors that influence vegetation’s evolution. Light is a very important factor and researchers were able to determine exactly which wavelengths are the ones plants need for their growth. Some colours in light rays are essential for good plant evolution. Vegetation mirror and receive a small amount of energy from yellow and green emissions of the visible spectrum. However the red and blue fractions of the light continuum are the most valuable energy resources for plant life, and plants necessitate more red (625 to 675 nm) than blue (400 to 470nm). Yellow (525 nm) triggers photosynthesis too, while IR influences seed spurring and UV colour and scent.
How Light Colour Influences Plant Growth Blue light: plants react to the intensity of blue light. Lessening the blue light will cause poor growth – the strength of the radiation in any other part of the spectrum is not as important as the intensity of the blue, which shapes height and quality. Red (660 nm) and infrared (730 nm) (also known as IR or far red) light: Intensifying the total of IR in relation with 660 nm red makes plants grow tall and thin. On the other hand if red is increased while IR diminished, plants will be short but thick. Plant reactions are not linear with the red/far red ratio and they can also vary in their response to red and far red light. Ultraviolet light (UV): While overexposure is dangerous, small amounts of UV light can be beneficial for the flora. In many cases UV light is a very important cause for colours, taste and aroma. But UV-C and UV-B are believed to stop plant spread and this is why they have to be removed from the light under which plants are developed in green houses by UV stabilisers or glass. Direct light from the Sun distributes the useful wavelengths only on special times of the day and in small quantum enough for a harmonious growth in some parts of the Earth, yet not enough on others. Crop production systems are dealing with such problems and find ways to replace natural light with artificial light. The idea of growing plants under artificial illuminators is not new at all. Long time ago NASA started to grow plants in space, and the results were astonishing. Nowadays we know that by using the correct wavelength plants develop harmonious and healthy, sure if they have all the other conditions ensured. Yet getting light of the correct wavelength is not an easy task, especially if one takes into account the costs and efficiency of such light sources.
LED Lighting Technologies to Substitute Natural Light To substitute natural light is quite difficult also if you consider how hard it is to obtain light near the visible part of the spectrum with traditional luminaries. Light emitting diodes are here to change that difficulty. SSL (solid state lighting) is the youngest lighting technology and by now is believed to be more efficient than incandescence and fluorescence due to the fact that SSLs produce light at or near the visible part of the spectrum and as a result the emitted light can be used straight or with minor conversion. One of the most important advantages is that SSL technology has eliminated damaging components from the light sources (remember: light emitting diodes contain no ultraviolet unless they are produced as UV LEDs). NASA is already using SSL in its space farming systems. The reasons are quite simple: incandescent or fluorescent lamps are not efficient enough for such purposes, because they consume a lot of electrical power, generate heat and contain electrodes that burn out (maintenance costs are high). This is why NASA’s plant physiologists started to work with light emitting diodes (blue and red) to grow salad plants such as lettuce and radishes. The researchers found our that blue and red light is essential for plant growth and, in general, a percentage of 8% blue LEDs and 92% red LEDs, both with the same frequency and relative intensity per LED, are enough for a harmonious evolution. Blue has a smaller influence than red; however a percentage between 1% and 20% of blue light can be selected, depending on the plants and their growth requirements. The NASA scientists have tried to create the most cost and energy efficient light sources possible, and this is why they have eliminated from the fixtures other colours normally found in white light. "What we've found basically is that we are able to limit the amount of colour we give to the plants and still have them grow as well as with white light." said the research scientist Greg Goins of Dynamac Corp. LEDs are not the only ones efficient for growing plants: sulphur microwave lamps are the most efficient light sources known to man, that can generate as much light as the noonday sun, perfect for illuminating large-scale systems such as greenhouses. For smaller applications, such as indoor gardens, LEDs seem to be the right choice. LEDs can be calibrated to emit only the light most efficient for the plants. LEDs are also a good choice, because UV filters are stopping some of the useful wavelengths too. In wintertime the weather conditions restrain crop production; this is why greenhouses need a substitute for the natural light. It makes sense to deliver plants the minimum lighting conditions for a corresponding evolution. There are some significant factors to take into account when choosing light sources for such applications and these are low costs, energy efficiency, long life, and ability to withstand voltage fluctuations, modularity in order to grant users the possibility to assemble arrays that gives as much light as needed, where needed. LEDs are pretty efficient in the conversion of electric power to light, in any case more than traditional fluorescent and incandescent lamps. Due to the fact that light emitting diodes can be manufactured to emit a specific wavelength and are expected to have a long life span (from 50000 hours up), many plant physiologists are considering using them in large applications. Compared to LEDs most of the other traditional lamps have to be replaced every two-three years. Other features such as choice of viewing angles, control options, instant turn on times, cold start and much more, recommend the semiconductor devices. It is so far clear that in order to produce efficient LED grow light systems a lot of investigation is necessary. It is not enough to mount some blue and red LEDs on a PCB and say: “that’s it; we’ve got the plant growing LED system”. Utilizing a supplier of LED Lighting Systems will help you in your decision.

Fluorescent lights release toxic mercury directly into the environment

There is an international campaign to ban the incandescent bulb in favor of alternative sources of lighting, most notably fluorescents. Unfortunately, fluorescents contain noxious chemicals including argon and mercury that are contaminating the environment, specifically through their accumulation in landfill waste. IN an effort to fight the effects of global warming and save precious energy, federal and state governments are attempting to find the best way to dispose of or recycle fluorescent light bulbs.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), approximately 800 million fluorescent lamps are disposed of every year. It only takes a single gram of mercury to contaminate a two-acre pond and cause potential ecological damage through water pollution. Therefore, 800 million lamps produce enough mercury to contaminate about 20 million acres of water.
When the bulbs break, mercury can contaminate the environment, including soils, people and animals in the surrounding the area. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can severely harm the human nervous system through either ingestion, inhalation or skin absorption. It is a highly toxic heavy metal that acts as a cumulative poison similar to lead or DDT. Exposure presents the greatest hazard for infants, children and pregnant mothers. Physical symptoms may include an inability to coordinate body movement, an impairment of hearing, vision and speech, skin rashes and kidney damage.
When the bulbs are recycled, a special hazardous waste company generally carries out the process of collecting the unbroken bulbs, crushing them and capturing both the remaining mercury gas and the spent mercury solids. These companies then ship the mercury-bearing waste, using an EPA-permitted hazardous waste transporter, to an EPA-approved hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility.
But most compact fluorescent lights simply end up in landfill and are not recycled at all. That's because most consumers simply throw them in the trash rather than recycling them.
Changes are being made slowly to lower the amount of mercury we may be potentially exposed to. Low energy light bulbs called compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) contain 4-15mg of mercury compared to normal fluorescent lights, which contain approximately 20 mg of the toxic metal.
"The compact fluorescent light bulb is a product people can use to positively influence the environment to…prevent mercury emissions as well as greenhouse gas emissions. And it's something that we can do now -- and it's extremely important that we do it," said Wendy Reed, the manager of the EPA's Energy Star program. "And the positive message is, if you recycle them, if you dispose of them properly, then they're doing a world of good." The trouble is, of course, that the vast majority of consumers don't recycle them or dispose of them properly, and so fluorescent lights have become a significant source of mercury pollution.

Regulations regarding fluorescent lights

All fluorescent light bulbs are supposed to be disposed of properly, which means recycling these products instead of throwing them in the trash. But these rules are never enforced. There isn't a single recorded case of a person being arrested or fined for throwing a fluorescent light bulb in the trash.

Cap and Trade Laws – Why low wattage LED lighting makes sense.

A Costly Proposition

These measures would set a limit, or cap, on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use. Plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. The effect of such a cap would be to impose rationing of coal, oil, and natural gas on the American economy. Each covered utility, oil company, and manufacturing facility would be given allowances based on past emissions or some other formula. Those companies that emit less carbon dioxide than permitted by their allowances could sell the excess to those that do not; this is the trade part of cap and trade. Over time, the cap would be ratcheted down, requiring greater cuts in emissions.

Each proposal differs from the others on specifics: the stringency of the cap, the number and type of companies covered, the ground rules for allocating and trading allowances, and other detail. Its requirement that emissions decline to 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020--even in the face of a growing population and rising energy demand--sets a very difficult target. This is not a political statement just stating the facts on utilizing low wattage, low heat, long lasting and safe lighting alternatives.

Legislation(s) that target carbon emissions aggressively will be costlier than those that give the economy more time to adjust to the energy constraints. For example, over the long term, energy companies may find ways to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions underground, rather than emit them into the air, or switch to lower-emitting alternative energy sources as they are developed. But most experts see these advances as taking decades--much longer than the initial targets in any of the current proposed legislation allow. In fact, these targets may actually complicate the development of longer-term innovations, as they will divert resources to near-term fixes.

Carbon dioxide is the unavoidable byproduct of fossil fuel combustion, which currently provides 85 percent of America's energy. Thus, it will be very costly to move away from this preferred energy source. A study by Industry think tank puts the cost (in terms of reduced household spending per year) at $900 to $1,600 per household by 2015, rising to $1,500 to $2,700 by 2050. Electricity prices could jump by 36 to 65 percent by 2015 and 90 to 145 percent by 2050.

In fact, European efforts have racked up significant costs while failing to reduce emissions. Nearly every European country participating has higher emissions today than when the treaty was first signed in 1997. Further, despite ongoing criticism of the current system emissions in many of these nations are actually rising faster than in the United States.

The underlying fact is your electric bill IS going up maybe by 65% in the next 5 years. Make an investment in the future and save yourself a great deal of money by using LED lights.

LED Technology to Change the Lighting Industry Soon 

Technology overview of LED lights from Wikipedia. 

Comparison to other lighting technologies
Incandescent lamps (light bulbs) create light by running electricity through a resistive filament, thereby heating the filament to a very high temperature so that it glows and produces visible light. A broad range of visible frequencies are naturally produced, yielding a pleasing warm yellow or white color quality. Incandescent light however, is highly inefficient, as over 98% of the energy input is emitted as heat. A 100 watt 120 VAC light bulb produces about 1,700 lumens, about 17 lumens per watt.
Fluorescent lamps (light bulbs) work by passing electricity through mercury vapor, which in turn produces ultraviolet light. The ultraviolet light is then absorbed by a phosphor coating inside the lamp, causing it to glow, or fluoresce. While the heat generated by fluorescent lamps is much less than its incandescent counterpart, energy is still lost in generating the ultraviolet light and converting this light into visible light. If the lamp breaks exposure to mercury can occur. Linear fluorescent lamps are typically five to six times the cost of incandescent lamps, but have life spans around 10,000 and 20,000 hours. Lifetime varies from 1,200 hours to 20,000 hours compact fluorescent lampsFluorescent tubes with modern electronic ballasts commonly average 50 to 67 lm/W overall. Most compact fluorescents rated at 13 watts or more with integral electronic ballasts achieve about 60 lumens/watt. Those with "iron" ballasts flicker at 100 or 120 Hz, and are less efficient. Most fluorescent luminaires are not compatible with dimmers. The quality of the light tends to be a harsh white because of the lack of a broad band of frequencies. To prevent mercury release, fluorescent tubes should be recycled by specialist routes rather than included in general refuse.

• SSL/LEDs LEDs come in multiple colors, which are produced without the need for filters. A white SSL can comprise a single high-power LED, multiple white LEDs, or LEDs of different colors mixed to produce white light. Advantages include:
  • High efficiency - LEDs are now available that reliably offer over 100 lumens from a one-watt device, or much higher outputs at higher drive currents
  • Small size - provides design flexibility, arranged in rows, rings, clusters, or individual points
  • High durability - no filament or tube to break
  • Life span - in properly engineered lamps, LEDs can last 50,000 - 60,000 hours
  • Full dimmability – unlike fluorescent lamps, LEDs can be dimmed using pulse-width modulation (PWM - turning the light on and off very quickly at varying intervals). This also allows full color mixing in lamps with LEDs of different colors.^[2]
  • Mercury-free - unlike fluorescent and most HID technologies, LEDs contain no hazardous mercury or halogen gases

However, some current models are not compatible with standard dimmers. It is not currently practical to produce high levels of room lighting. As a result, current LED screw-in light bulbs offer either low levels of light at a moderate cost, or moderate levels of light at a high cost. In contrast to other lighting technologies, LED light tends to be directional. This is a disadvantage for most general lighting applications, but can be an advantage for spot or flood lighting.  

US Department of Energy

In May 2008 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced details of the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize competition. The L Prize is the first government-sponsored technology competition designed to spur lighting manufacturers to develop high quality, high efficiency solid-state lighting products to replace the common light bulb. The competition will award cash prizes, and may also lead to opportunities for federal purchasing agreements, utility programs, and other incentives for winning products.

The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 authorizes DOE to establish the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize competition. The legislation challenges industry to develop replacement technologies for the most commonly used and inefficient products, 60W incandescent lamps and PAR 38 halogen lamps. The L Prize specifies technical requirements for these two competition categories. Lighting products meeting the competition requirements would consume just 17% of the energy used by most incandescent lamps in use today. A future L Prize program announcement will call for development of a new “21st Century Lamp,” as authorized in the legislation.

The EISA legislation establishes basic requirements and prize amounts for each category. The legislation authorizes up to $20 million in cash prizes.

DOE is launching the Energy Star program for solid-state lighting products later in 2008. NIST scientists assisted DOE by providing research, technical details and comments for the Energy Star specifications. The Energy Star certification assures consumers that products save energy and are high quality and also serves as an incentive for manufacturers to provide energy-saving products for consumers.

The solid-state lighting community is continuing to develop LED lighting standards for rating LED lamp lifetime and for measuring the performance of the individual high-power LED chips and arrays. NIST scientists are taking active roles in these continuing efforts.

NIST is working with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support its goal of developing and introducing solid-state lighting to reduce energy consumption for lighting by 50 percent by the year 2025. The department predicts that phasing in solid-state lighting over the next 20 years could save more than $280 billion in 2007 dollars.

Philips Lighting has ceased research on compact fluorescents, and is devoting the bulk of its R.& D. budget, 5 percent of the company’s global lighting revenue, to Solid State Lighting (LED Lighting).