Are LED Lamps the Future in Home Lighting?

Toronto, Canada, April 24, 2006 --(PR.com)-- LEDs or light emitting diodes are really the underdog in the world of electronics. They do thousands of different jobs and seldom get the recognition they deserve. They can be found on the numbers on digital clocks and watches, televisions, stereos, computers, and a host of other electronics.

They are beginning to appear in more obvious places like taillights and flashlights, with the most noticeable debut being LED Christmas lights. But it's going to be some time before we see them throughout our homes.

The life expectancy and the simplicity of the LED make it very desirable among many different technologies. An incandescent bulb would have to work extremely hard to produce the same amount of light that an LED is capable of producing. Because LEDs don't produce heat they use very little energy which would make them very desirable in a home atmosphere as well.

Despite the benefits of LED lamps, incandescent bulbs will remain the most common light found within the home until affordable LED bulbs become available. Currently the bulbs remain quite expensive.

There are a few types of low lighting situations that are beginning to utilize LEDs, such as porch lighting or corner lighting. There are also LED chandelier bulbs available that work well because there are enough of them to produce a bright glow.

An LED bulb lasts from 30,000 to 50,000 hours so once LED production costs drop you can see where LED's would be very beneficial in the home. For now those that have LEDs within their homes are those with a resident electronic genius who has built a custom LED lamp.

Over the past few years traffic lights have begin to switch over to LED lamps because the lights are much brighter providing an equal brightness across the entire lamp. They also last for years so maintenance costs as well as energy costs are reduced.

The energy savings alone can be huge. If a traffic light uses 100 watt bulbs and it is on for 24 hours a day it uses 2.4 kilowatt hours per day of pour. Let's say power costs 10 cent a kilowatt hour so it would cost about 24 cents a day to operate one street light or $86 a year. Each intersection has about 10 lights so that's $860 a year. It can cost a city millions of dollars a year in traffic lighting costs. LEDs consume 20 watts instead of 100 watts so that is a savings of 80% - do the math - that's millions of dollars a year a city can save.

Now translate that to home energy bills. Wouldn't it be great if our home energy costs dropped by as much as 80% a year? The LED Christmas lights are our first LED lamps for the home isn't that far away. For now all we can do is wait and hope.

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