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Incandescent vs. CFL vs. LED
| CFLs and LEDs for Energy Savings | |||||||
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By Contributing Editor Chris Clark |
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Maybe you’ve changed all of your incandescent light bulbs at home over to compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs or maybe you’re still waiting for the right time to do it. Often touted as one of the quick and easy green moves you can make, switching out your light bulbs just got a little more interesting.
Now instead of just choosing between incandescent and CFL, you can find light-emitting diode or LED bulbs for your home fixtures as well. So what’s the difference?
Incandescent bulbs are the traditional light bulbs we all grew up with, credited to Thomas Edison in 1879. Incandescent bulbs are use heat to create light. An electrical current from the light fixture passes through the carbon filament inside the bulb and produces heat, which in turn produces light.
CFLs use gases and mercury vapor to produce light. CFLs are being billed as energy-saving lights because they use less power than incandescent bulbs and last longer. The difference is that CFLs cost more and due to the small amount of mercury in each bulb require special disposal. Recently the cost of CFL bulbs has been coming down but, it’s a buyer beware situation. If you go too cheap you may get an inferior product, which will give you the disposal issue of CFLs without the benefits of longer life than an incandescent bulb.
Newest on the scene for home lighting is the LED bulb. LEDs use electronics to produce light. Electrons moving around in the bulb recombine with holes which produces energy. That energy is released as light. LEDs can produce more light per watt than incandescent bulbs and therefore require less power for similar lighting results. The lifespan of an LED bulb is usually expected to be even longer than that of a CFL and LED bulbs do not contain any mercury or other toxic chemicals.
For comparison a typical incandescent light bulb might last up to 2,000 hours a CFL might last up to 15,000 and an LED could last from 35,000 to 50,000 hours. (from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led)
LED bulbs cost more than CFL or incandescent bulbs but considering they should last more than twice as long as a CFL and 30 times as long as an incandescent the investment is obviously worth it – especially for those hard to reach places that require a ladder and some stretching to reach!
LED lights emit 500% more light per Watt than incandescent lights. In addition LEDs have lenses that control the light. This eliminates wasted light and gives you better control over your lighting. For this reason LEDs have better lighting rendition: a useful advantage for a variety of purposes such as product display, and spot lighting. In addition to being much brighter per Watt LEDs also last much longer about 50,000 hours which is 48,000 hours longer than an incandescent light. LED lights have no flicker on startup, and do not generate as much heat. Finally, LEDs do not contain mercury common in fluorescent lights. We have a variety of products and are ultimately working towards getting an LED light for every home lighting possibility. We encourage you to join the lighting revolution.
LED lights last longer than either incandescent lights or CFL lights. LED lights use less energy than either incandescent or CFL lights. These two facts are the reason why when including energy and replacement costs LED lights actually save money compared to any alternative. LED lights also pollute less. They do not contain toxic mercury found in CFL lights.
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