I have been studying the different lights... Incandescences are cheap and give good warm and cool lights but 85% of the cost of running them is from the heat they produce. The “squiggly” ones are also going to be phased out; which is fine with me ‘cause I hate them and they contain mercury. There is a light on the horizon coming into production that will be great when it finally gets here...it is the LEDs. They are expensive right now, but will cut your electric bill in half because they do not produce any heat at all. Also, they are suppose to last at least 10 years. Can you imagine not changing a light bulb for 10 years? Companies that have installed them are saying that they are saving from 50 to 85% cost on their lighting bills.
Finally, the LEDs are being produced in cool and warm white, and are also being made in the tube (fluorescent). I expect the cost of these lights will come down in the next couple of years....I am looking forward to that. I actually tested three bulbs...a 60w, a 60W squiggly, and a 20 Lumens LED (the equivalent); within 30 seconds the 60W was too hot to touch, the squiggly was also hot, but the LED was as cool as it was before I screwed it in. This is a wonderful thing, as it won’t rot your lampshades any more!
The bad thing about the “squigglies” is that I can’t throw them away. I have to make a trip to Lowes, put them in a plastic bag they provide, put it in a special bin they provide which I presume will be picked up by a special truck to dispose of. Don’t see much green savings here!
I hate these things.
... the LED was as cool as it was before I screwed it in. This is a wonderful thing, as it won’t rot your lampshades any more!
Heat is not the cause of the lampshade rot or the yellowing of the plastic diffusers. UV causes this, not heat.
Thanks for posting this. We replaced 40 60-90 watt Halogens in our museum with 26 LED 17 watt LED’s. The best thing in the beginning was that the air conditioning stopped constantly running and we were astounded when we got the bill. We are saving 250-300 per month. At this rate they will be quickly paid for. We paid about $40 each.
We sought the proper soft light. The ones we found are very even with no “hot” spots. This lighting is superb. Now we will see if the 50,000 hour guarantee is true. I’ll probably die first.
I have been studying the different lights... Incandescences are cheap and give good warm and cool lights but 85% of the cost of running them is from the heat they produce.3200 degrees kelvin - I used to be a photographer. Using 3200K balanced film in daylight yeilds interesting effects. Can't duplicate it with a digital camera AFAIK
The “squiggly” ones are also going to be phased out; which is fine with me ‘cause I hate them and they contain mercury.In my expreience (see below) they don't last nearly as long as old-fashioned incandescent bulbs.
There is a light on the horizon coming into production that will be great when it finally gets here...it is the LEDs. They are expensive right now, but will cut your electric bill in half because they do not produce any heat at all.Yep, as with all things give it time.
Also, they are suppose to last at least 10 years. Can you imagine not changing a light bulb for 10 years?I do not have to imagine! My house was finished ten years ago this month and all but two of the original incandescent bulbs are still in service indoors[1]. One of the blown bulbs was in a fixture that arced and flickered badly, the replacement bulb in the repaired fixture is still in service. The second was whacked with a piece of furniture while moving said furniture.
Companies that have installed them are saying that they are saving from 50 to 85% cost on their lighting bills.I'll garan-damn-tee you that people will quickly be complaining about the cold blue-white light LEDs produce.
I looked up the brightness of leds comparatively. Looks like 20 lumens led is equivalent to a 4 watt night light?
•A 100 watt Bulb is rated at approximately 1700 lumens
•A 60 watt incandescent bulb is rated at approximately 800 lumens
•A 40 watt bulb is rated at 400 lumens
•A 4 watt night light bulb is rated at 20 lumens
LEDs DO give off heat. One of the reasons they have not quickly come to the market is that to make them brighter, they need a larger current, which produces more heat. If it is high enough, the LED lifetime is cut drastically. Additionally, the electronics needed to drive some LEDs also gives off heat. Do a web search for "LED heatsink" or see this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_management_of_high-power_LEDs
The solution to this is metal heat sinks to absorb the heat and fins to radiate it. The fins aren't there for style.
Of course, LEDs ARE much more efficient than incandescent and CFLs and as production costs decline, they will be all over the place.
I have been studying the CFLs now for 15 years. For several years they have had warm and cool light, and daylight type illumination. I changed to all CFLs 15 years ago and my electric bill immediately dropped from $28 per month to $17 per month. CFLs use about 1/4th the electricity of incandescents. When I look at LED lights they never seem to say what the electric saving is, unlike the CFLs which clearly state, for example that a 60 watt bulb luminosity burns about 13 watts. I figure I have saved at least $2,000 in the past 15 years on bills alone, not to mention what I have also saved on light bulbs.
However, if people want to throw their money away on incandescents, I think they should have that right. It must be nice to have enough money to throw it away, at lease they will give me a small increase in Social Security this year for a change.
In a couple more years, the average street during Christmas, will look like the Freemont Street Experience in Vegas.
>>> They are expensive right now, but will cut your electric bill in half because they do not produce any heat at all. <<<
Fine.
I have a root cellar up here in Alaska, where the temperature can get down to -50 degrees in the winter. It needs a little extra heat to keep the cold at bay. I use one light bulb. It produces just enough excess heat to maintain a constant temperature throughout the winter of 34 degrees, give or take a degree. It is simple, elegant, requires nothing more special than a lamp or a bulb, and uses next to no electricity - which is important when you’re paying 59 cents a kilowatt hour.
Your LED lights put out almost no heat. BUT I WANT THE HEAT. In fact, if I could find a little tiny heater putting just the meager amount of heat that a light bulb puts out, maybe I’d buy it, but a light bulb and a lamp is still cheapest and best.
My point... who the hell is the Congress of the United States to tell me what bulbs I can buy? They cannot possibly legislate finely enough to predict that some guy in rural Alaska will preferentially want a bulb that produces excess heat. However, the market would be able to determine who wants what bulb for what use and allocate resources better than some attorney 4,000 miles away, and I could simply buy my bulb. Or I can go to the Walmart in Alberta next time I drive down the Alaska Highway and buy a case or two... assuming it’s not confiscated by customs.
I wish a conservative presidential candidate would ride this issue to the White House.
Otherwise, I’m with Levin. It’s a posts-Constitutional republic. God help us.
Thanks for the info.