[RobRoy]

Yeah, I’m still waiting for “cheap” LED. I am surprised by your power consumption figures though. One reason there are “led” lights powered by usb ports is because the power requirements are so low. And for bicycle headlights they are a true breakthrough.

Is this accurate - power consumption wise?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3222967/Incandescent-vs-CFL-vs-LED-Savings

I think the prices will drop pretty dramatically, eventually. Y’know, like calculators and CD players.

[SmallGovRepub]

The numbers on that chart you linked me to are very optimistic for LEDs. A typical 60 watt incandescent bulb will put off about 850 lumens, a hair over 14 lumens per watt. On that chart they are comparing 6 watts of LED light to 60 watts of incandescent lights and there are no LED lights on the market that could put out 850 lumens using only 6 watts. That would come out to almost 142 lumens per watt. A company called Cree just did a press release recently where they said they had achieved 161 lumens per watt from a white LED in their labs, but the best so far on the market are getting I believe under 80 lumens per watt.

Lumens aren't everything though. Six watts of LED light might be able to replace 60 watts of incandescent light, for instance, if you need light that is directed. With a light bulb light will come out pretty much in all directions and most of the light needs to be reflected and focused to make a narrow beam. This is a “lossy” process where light is lost. LEDs make a pretty narrow beam to begin with so less light is lost.

And they are great in really low watt applications like indicator lights on a computer or something because they put off enough lights and will generally last many thousands of hours (a lot longer than your computer) before they need to be replaced. This makes them great for traffic lights too. Also, those really low power/low watt bulbs like you might find in a traffic light or those in cheap flashlights are a lot less efficient than standard 40 or 60 watt bulbs. They'll only put off a good bit less than 5 lumens per watt. One of those expensive LED flashlights with the latest LEDs will put off a whole lot more light than an incandescent flashlight without using nearly as much power, so you get more a lot more light and the batteries last a lot longer.

LEDs are great for a lot of purposes. The people selling expensive general lighting solutions tend to try to make them sound a lot better than they really are for home lighting though. You have to take what they say with a grain of salt. Personally, I'll be waiting until efficiency improves and prices drop enough to where we start seeing all sorts of LED replacement fixtures and lights being sold at Walmarts and Lowes and other common places where people buy lightbulbs before I start putting a lot of these in my home.