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An LED Lamp or Light Emitting Diode Lamp, uses solid-state technology to illuminate, rather than a filament or gas. Unlike Incandescent or Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL), LED Lamps very small and consume very little energy. In most cases even the brightest individual LED does not equate to a standard-sized 100W Incandescent or CFL equivalent (~20W). Thus in an LED bulb usually clusters of 3-18 individual LEDs are used to simulate the equivalent in an Incandescent or CFL. Where this might seem like a great number to include in a lamp, each LED consumes barely more than 1/20th of a Watt (~49 mW or milliwatts)

One LED Light can save 300 pounds of CO2 a year

History[]

Discovered in the 1960s, diodes have been used on countless millions of electronic devices. Compared to most alternate technologies such as Neon or miniature filament lamps, LEDs were often too low on voltage and brightness to be considered useful as a normal household lamp. Although where these more traditional technologies were readily available, their longevity and power efficiency were often poor by comparison to LEDs.

Initially, LEDs were only produced in Red as the technology had not advanced to the capability of producing colors with shorter wavelengths. Later with finer degrees of production other colors in the spectrum would become available, such as Orange, Yellow, and Green. Not until the early 1990's would Blue, Violet, and Ultra-violet become available. In 1993, through the use of Gallium Nitride (GaN) would a white LED be made possible, which in turn would make LEDs available for use in the home today.

Cost Comparison[]

Suns-dusk-led-accent-light-bulb
Life Span & Energy Consumption Benefits of LED Light Bulbs vs. Incandescent Light Bulbs
60W Incandescent 2W LED Life Span (hrs) 1,000 30,000
Num. Bulbs used 30 1
Bulb Cost ($0.67 each) $20 $35
Electricity Usage (kWh) 1,800 60
Cost of Electricity ($0.10/ kWh) $180 $6
Total Cost $200 $41

8,760 hours = 1 year / 30,000 hours = 3 yrs 5 mon

The original chart can be found on CCrane.com

Links[]

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