LEDs emerge to fight fluorescents

[GaryC 7]

I never liked the fluorescent bulbs but if the price comes down this is a real alternative. I have a flashlight with LED's and it is great! Very bright and the batteries seem to last forever! They also don't contain mercury like a florescent, last much longer, are pretty much unbreakable and use practically no energy. I am sure, as with any technology, the price will come down quickly.

NEW YORK - The light bulb, the symbol of bright ideas, doesn't look like such a great idea anymore, as lawmakers in the U.S. and abroad are talking about banning the century-old technology because of its contribution to global warming.

But what comes next? Compact fluorescent bulbs are the only real alternative right now, but "bulbs" that use light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are quickly emerging as a challenger.

LEDs, which are small chips usually encased in a glass dome the size of a matchstick head, have been in use in electronics for decades to indicate, for example, whether a VCR is on or off.

Those LEDs were usually red or green, but a scientific breakthrough in the 1990s paved the way for the production of LEDs that produce white light. Because they use less power than standard incandescent bulbs, white LEDs have become common in flashlights.

Established players in the lighting industry and a host of startups are now grooming LEDs to take on the reigning champion of residential lighting, the familiar pear-shaped incandescent light bulb.

The light bulb has been running out of friends recently. California and Canada have decided to ban the sale of incandescent bulbs by 2012. Australia is banning them in 2010. The

European Union is looking at banning production of the bulbs. A U.S. Senate committee is working on a proposal that would phase out the light bulb in 10 years.

And in New Jersey, where the first practical incandescent bulb emerged from Thomas Edison's laboratory in 1879, a bill has been introduced to ban their use in government buildings.

Governments are gunning for the light bulb because it's much less efficient than fluorescents, using about five times more energy to produce the same amount of light.

Lighting consumes 22 percent of electricity produced in the U.S., according to the

Department of Energy, and widespread use of LED lighting could cut consumption in half. By 2027, LED lighting could cut annual energy use by the equivalent of 500 million barrels of oil, with the attendant reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide, the gas believed to be responsible for global warming.

Much of that reduction would be possible with today's technology, using compact fluorescents, or CFLs. But consumers haven't warmed to them. The light quality hasn't been satisfactory, most take time to turn on and aren't dimmable.

The LED has advantages over the CFL in most of those areas, and judging by this week's Lightfair trade show in New York, it could be a serious challenge to the CFL in a few years. What holds it back is chiefly price, but LEDs are already an economic alternative for niche uses.

In the last two years, the diodes have doubled in energy efficiency and brightness, according to Greg Merritt, director of marketing for Durham, N.C.-based LED-manufacturer Cree Inc. In particular, LEDs that produce a yellowish or "warm" light similar to incandescents have improved.

Dallas-based Lighting Science Group Corp. showed an LED "bulb" that screws into a standard medium-sized socket and produces a warm light equivalent to that of a 25-watt incandescent bulb, but consumes just 5.8 watts. It costs $50, hardly palatable to consumers who can buy a standard bulb for less than a dollar.

Polybrite International, a startup in Naperville, Ill., announced that lighting giant Osram Sylvania, a subsidiary of Germany's Siemens AG, will distribute its LED "bulbs." The intended market is mainly commercial clients, who can afford to pay $15 to $85 per unit, according to Osram Sylvania marketing manager Constance Pineault.

The energy efficiency is no doubt a draw for commercial clients like hotels, but LEDs have another big advantage: they last up to 50,000 hours, according to manufacturers. That compares to about 10,000 hours for fluorescents and 1,000 hours for incandescents. Not having to send out janitors to replace burned-out bulbs means big savings in maintenance costs.

"Right now the applications that make sense are either high maintenance or high power consumption, like parking garages, where the lights are on all the time," said Cree's Merritt.

LEDs already beat fluorescents for energy efficiency in some niche uses. For instance, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is putting LED lighting in its in-store refrigerators, where the cold dims fluorescents and incandescents produce too much heat. LEDs also starting to replace flat fluorescent backlights in liquid-crystal displays, or LCDs, where they produce better colors.

LEDs don't contain toxic mercury, which CFLs do, though the amount is very small. (Recent stories circulating on the Web about calling a hazmat team if a CFL breaks are exaggerated. The U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency recommends sweeping up, not vacuuming, the fragments, then checking out local recycling options.)

The cost of LED lighting should be coming down quickly. Polybrite founder Carl Scianna said the cost of individual white-light diodes, several of which go into an LED bulb and make up much of the cost, have come down in price from about $8 to $1.50 in a year.

"They're going to keep going down," Scianna said. "By the middle of next year, they'll be priced for consumers."

Nadarajah Narendran, director of lighting research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., cautions that there are still technical issues to work out with LEDs.

While single LEDs can demonstrate very high energy efficiency in the lab, when they're combined into fixtures, their efficiency is considerably lower. In part that's a heat issue: the diodes produce less heat than incandescents, but they keep that heat in the fixture rather than radiating it, and the hotter the diodes get, the less efficient they are.

He sees screwing LED bulbs into standard sockets "as a waste of talent" that doesn't utilize the inherent properties of LEDs, like their small size and longevity.

"You could build them in as part of the furniture, part of the cabinetry," Narendran said.

Because of their high prices, he doesn't believe LEDs will be ready to replace incandescents in all their uses for the next five to 10 years, but "LEDs, good or bad, will be growing very rapidly."

[Jamie76 0]

I never liked the fluorescent bulbs but if the price comes down this is a real alternative. I have a flashlight with LED's and it is great! Very bright and the batteries seem to last forever! They also don't contain mercury like a florescent, last much longer, are pretty much unbreakable and use practically no energy. I am sure, as with any technology, the price will come down quickly.

NEW YORK - The light bulb, the symbol of bright ideas, doesn't look like such a great idea anymore, as lawmakers in the U.S. and abroad are talking about banning the century-old technology because of its contribution to global warming.

But what comes next? Compact fluorescent bulbs are the only real alternative right now, but "bulbs" that use light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are quickly emerging as a challenger.

LEDs, which are small chips usually encased in a glass dome the size of a matchstick head, have been in use in electronics for decades to indicate, for example, whether a VCR is on or off.

Those LEDs were usually red or green, but a scientific breakthrough in the 1990s paved the way for the production of LEDs that produce white light. Because they use less power than standard incandescent bulbs, white LEDs have become common in flashlights.

Established players in the lighting industry and a host of startups are now grooming LEDs to take on the reigning champion of residential lighting, the familiar pear-shaped incandescent light bulb.

The light bulb has been running out of friends recently. California and Canada have decided to ban the sale of incandescent bulbs by 2012. Australia is banning them in 2010. The

European Union is looking at banning production of the bulbs. A U.S. Senate committee is working on a proposal that would phase out the light bulb in 10 years.

And in New Jersey, where the first practical incandescent bulb emerged from Thomas Edison's laboratory in 1879, a bill has been introduced to ban their use in government buildings.

Governments are gunning for the light bulb because it's much less efficient than fluorescents, using about five times more energy to produce the same amount of light.

Lighting consumes 22 percent of electricity produced in the U.S., according to the

Department of Energy, and widespread use of LED lighting could cut consumption in half. By 2027, LED lighting could cut annual energy use by the equivalent of 500 million barrels of oil, with the attendant reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide, the gas believed to be responsible for global warming.

Much of that reduction would be possible with today's technology, using compact fluorescents, or CFLs. But consumers haven't warmed to them. The light quality hasn't been satisfactory, most take time to turn on and aren't dimmable.

The LED has advantages over the CFL in most of those areas, and judging by this week's Lightfair trade show in New York, it could be a serious challenge to the CFL in a few years. What holds it back is chiefly price, but LEDs are already an economic alternative for niche uses.

In the last two years, the diodes have doubled in energy efficiency and brightness, according to Greg Merritt, director of marketing for Durham, N.C.-based LED-manufacturer Cree Inc. In particular, LEDs that produce a yellowish or "warm" light similar to incandescents have improved.

Dallas-based Lighting Science Group Corp. showed an LED "bulb" that screws into a standard medium-sized socket and produces a warm light equivalent to that of a 25-watt incandescent bulb, but consumes just 5.8 watts. It costs $50, hardly palatable to consumers who can buy a standard bulb for less than a dollar.

Polybrite International, a startup in Naperville, Ill., announced that lighting giant Osram Sylvania, a subsidiary of Germany's Siemens AG, will distribute its LED "bulbs." The intended market is mainly commercial clients, who can afford to pay $15 to $85 per unit, according to Osram Sylvania marketing manager Constance Pineault.

The energy efficiency is no doubt a draw for commercial clients like hotels, but LEDs have another big advantage: they last up to 50,000 hours, according to manufacturers. That compares to about 10,000 hours for fluorescents and 1,000 hours for incandescents. Not having to send out janitors to replace burned-out bulbs means big savings in maintenance costs.

"Right now the applications that make sense are either high maintenance or high power consumption, like parking garages, where the lights are on all the time," said Cree's Merritt.

LEDs already beat fluorescents for energy efficiency in some niche uses. For instance, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is putting LED lighting in its in-store refrigerators, where the cold dims fluorescents and incandescents produce too much heat. LEDs also starting to replace flat fluorescent backlights in liquid-crystal displays, or LCDs, where they produce better colors.

LEDs don't contain toxic mercury, which CFLs do, though the amount is very small. (Recent stories circulating on the Web about calling a hazmat team if a CFL breaks are exaggerated. The U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency recommends sweeping up, not vacuuming, the fragments, then checking out local recycling options.)

The cost of LED lighting should be coming down quickly. Polybrite founder Carl Scianna said the cost of individual white-light diodes, several of which go into an LED bulb and make up much of the cost, have come down in price from about $8 to $1.50 in a year.

"They're going to keep going down," Scianna said. "By the middle of next year, they'll be priced for consumers."

Nadarajah Narendran, director of lighting research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., cautions that there are still technical issues to work out with LEDs.

While single LEDs can demonstrate very high energy efficiency in the lab, when they're combined into fixtures, their efficiency is considerably lower. In part that's a heat issue: the diodes produce less heat than incandescents, but they keep that heat in the fixture rather than radiating it, and the hotter the diodes get, the less efficient they are.

He sees screwing LED bulbs into standard sockets "as a waste of talent" that doesn't utilize the inherent properties of LEDs, like their small size and longevity.

"You could build them in as part of the furniture, part of the cabinetry," Narendran said.

Because of their high prices, he doesn't believe LEDs will be ready to replace incandescents in all their uses for the next five to 10 years, but "LEDs, good or bad, will be growing very rapidly."

LEDs are basically at the point CFLs were when they first came out. They are expensive and somewhat bulky. I think in a few years, LEDs will start picking up in popularity. Another nice thing about LEDs is they don't contain mercury. Although the amount in CFLs is pretty small, the total amount from all the CFLS out there is pretty high. I can't see all bulbs being disposed of properly.

I do like how both Australia and Canada are banning the use of incandescent bulbs in favor of CFLs. I really wish they would do the same thing here in the States...well all states.

Edited May 12, 2007 by Jamie76

[russ 1]

The best thing about LED lighting is color temperature. LEDs can be manufactured to produce light at around 5400 K, which is perfect. Tungsten bulbs have a very red cast. Flourescents are too blue.

Right now, LEDs are about as efficient as Flourescents. The longer life makes them cheaper already though. The better color temps are enough for me to pay a premium, though it is hard to find bulbs that are bright enough now.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It sounds promising. I now have two nightlights that are LED's and according to the packaging, they take up a miniscule amount of electricity (we were turning on the bathroom light at night).

[StarProg 0]

I've never liked the fluorescent bulbs either. The blinking light they produce real bothers my eyes. I can't read a book by the light of a single fluorescent bulb. As for the LEDs, being a former electronics technician and hobbyist, their emergence as a new alternative to lighting interests me. I'm skeptical that they can be made bright enough, but then my prediction long ago that LCDs could never be used for color displays turned out to be incorrect, so I could be wrong again.

Oh yeah, I have an LED nightlight in the bathroom. It cycles between about 5 different colors, and is kinda fun. Its plenty bright for a nightlight, except for the red cycle.

Edited May 12, 2007 by StarProg

[mawilson 2,133]

Light bulbs contribute to global warming? #######? Are these people nuts?

[Niels Bohr 72]

LED lightbulbs replacing common household bulb have been known a few months now. LED can last upto 50 years versus conventional and flourescent bulbs. Not only that, the operation cost for some may range between 8 USD to 20 USD per year in energy cost.

[Portlander 0]

Another MAJOR advantage of LEDs is that they don't start fires. LED Christmas lights is a gold idea - safe and cheap and durable. (Some enterprising person could just go down to Radio Shack, pick up some wire + LEDs, and make it themselves quite easily) It is possible to make an entire board emit light with LEDs, and you will be able to make the entire cieling / room emit low level light, so that there are no shadows in the room, and you can't tell where the light is coming from. No need for lamps at all! Many traffic lights are now LEDs in Portland. Its an idea whose time has come (after being around for decades)

Light bulbs contribute to global warming? #######? Are these people nuts?

They're right! I recommend a basic science course, mawilson. The energy used to power the ightbulbs equals 500 million barrels of oil / day. While we don't burn oil to power the lightbulbs, many areas do burn coal. There are increasing "green" power plants (hydro, geothermal, wind etc) but chances are the energy you run your clothes dryer with still comes from coal. Coal is a fossil fuel.

Fossil essentially means it comes from fossils - from old biomass that died and has since turned into oil, coal, peat, whatever. Its really the same thing as living plants, except that a fair amount of processing has already occured and, because the material in the oil was not circulating in the environment, you contribute to the amount of greenhouse gasses when you burn it. This is why "biofuel" (oil from recently living plants, not fossilized plants) does not contribute to global warming - the CO2 released when you burn it was free floating around in the atmosphere a month before. It just circulates the CO2 from the plant to the air to the plant again.

[de_sjiem 0]

We just bought a 3 watt LED maglight flashlight.. and that thing is crazy bright.. Our Christmas tree last year also had LED lights on it.. They are very bright, and make a nice bright light.. I really like them..

That said, I also have no problems with flourescent bulbs.. they even have some that sorta mimic daylight.. those ones are pretty nice.. it is certainly a lot cheaper!

[homesick_american 1]

Light bulbs contribute to global warming? #######? Are these people nuts?

Nope, because they do.

We've never used traditional light bulbs in this house; they suck electricity and they're always burning out. We got all high-energy bulbs and the light in this house is plenty warm. We also have lower leccy bills than the neighbor even though our house has 200 square feet more than his does. Haha, he sucks.

They're right! I recommend a basic science course, mawilson. The energy used to power the ightbulbs equals 500 million barrels of oil / day. While we don't burn oil to power the lightbulbs, many areas do burn coal. There are increasing "green" power plants (hydro, geothermal, wind etc) but chances are the energy you run your clothes dryer with still comes from coal. Coal is a fossil fuel.

PWND

[Heracles 417]

The biggest issue with CFL is that these light globes contain mercury. The consequences of this breaking inside a house is disastrous. I remember hearing about a case where a lady who bought a CFL ended up with a $2,000 cleanup bill due to it breaking inside her house. LED lighting is the way to go..

The other inconvenient truth many band-wagon hippies forget is that the quickest and easiest way to dramatically reduce carbon emissions is to convert all fossil fuel burning power plants into nuclear plants. As well as create on a mass scale completely electric zero emission cars, which are charged using emissionless nuclear power...

Edited May 13, 2007 by Infidel

[mawilson 2,133]

Light bulbs contribute to global warming? #######? Are these people nuts?

They're right! I recommend a basic science course, mawilson. The energy used to power the ightbulbs equals 500 million barrels of oil / day. While we don't burn oil to power the lightbulbs, many areas do burn coal. There are increasing "green" power plants (hydro, geothermal, wind etc) but chances are the energy you run your clothes dryer with still comes from coal. Coal is a fossil fuel.

Well duh. The energy used to power the lightbulbs (and the way it's generated) is what

contributes to global warming, not the puny amount of heat that the lightbulbs themselves

generate.

[mawilson 2,133]

They're right! I recommend a basic science course, mawilson.

Thanks mate, I'll take that under advisement.

[Cassie 8]

I personally don't like LED lights, especially LED Christmas lights, they have no warmth and are too bright.

We are slowly changing out our regular bulbs with fluorescents and we really like them. I don't find they flicker, other than when I turn on the fan with three bulbs, and it takes a split second for it to turn on. I am looking forward to checking out how our electric bill is impacted over time.

With that being said, I am all for any kind of improvements that are more energy efficient.

Edited May 13, 2007 by Cassie

[GaryC 7]

I personally don't like LED lights, especially LED Christmas lights, they have no warmth and are too bright.

Speaking of Christmas lights I sure miss the big light bulb Christmas lights! When I was a kid we had the attachments that looked like colored water was boiling up and we had ornaments that spun. Shows just how much heat they put out and I am sure they were mega-dangerous but I still love them. One of my favorite childhood memories.